59030 eb i-224 .pdf

medicine lends its color and shape to different plants, and is made ser-

viceable through pulverization.

AV 1:5.24.1

Rajan ̄ı (√rañj, ‘to color’) refers to the medicinal plant turmeric: Curcuma
Longa. It is generally called Haridra ̄ in the Caraka-samhitaÓ. Following is
an example of a m ̄antric or prayer approach to healing:

O maladies, whether ye result from physical or ancestral ailments, or

the company of ignoble persons, or are sprung out of cherishing evil

thoughts, get ye away from here.

AV 1:3.14.5

Prayers or incantations—often incorporating images of nature, as is char-
acteristic of Vedic texts—may accompany medical procedures, such as a
surgeon’s opening a patient’s obstructed urinary passage:

Just as the pent-up water of a lake is let loose by cleaving its dam, so do

I, O patient open thy urinary passage. May that urine of thine come out

completely, free from check.

AV 1:1.3.7

Environmental factors are not merely metaphoric, but are important in
Vedic etiology and therapeutics, as evident in this prayer for the
physician’s success:

O physician, so thou release this man from headache, free him from

cough which has entered into all his limbs and joints. One should resort

to forests and hills for relief from diseases resulting from excessive rains,

severe wind and intense heat.

AV 1:3.12.3

Åyurvedic medicine abandons the ancient Vedic religio-magical thera-
peutics. However, the role of the environment in the cause and cure of ill-
ness remains central. Francis Zimmermann’s study of Åyurveda, The Jun-
gle and the Aroma of Meats: An Ecological Theme in Hindu Medicine,
presents Åyurveda as grounded in ecological theory that conceives of the
land and the human body as the two kinds of place. Prognosis was in-
formed by knowledge of the influences of climate, season, diet, and cus-
tom. Therapeutic intervention had the double purpose of:

1. Rendering the environment appropriate to the needs of the patient
   (by relocating the patient to a climate suitable to his constitution and
   malady).

body and philosophies of healing 39