Drum Example

[Stephen Hodge]

Thank you and Jan for the useful reply.  I would never have though that 
Susruta would mention a "remedy" like that.   Though, now I think about it, 
it I should have considered that possibility since this cycle of texts is 
chock-a-block with teaching examples based on ayurveda -- more so than any 
other Buddhist material I have seen elsewhere.  Indeed, I have wondered 
whether the target audience was the medical profession.

Actually, in connection with this, would you know if the term "uttaratantra" 
was first used in connection with the Samhita or had it been used previously 
?   The texts I am dealing with are probably the first Buddhist ones to do 
so and they should be dated c80 - c120CE.

Many thanks,
Stephen Hodge



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dominik Wujastyk" <ucgadkw at UCL.AC.UK>
To: <INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk>
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 3:43 PM
Subject: Re: Drum Example


oh, how interesting!  This thing about beating smeared drums for health
occurs in the Susrutasamhita too, in a section of the Kalpasthana on
curing poisoning that may affect a population as a whole.  The caustic
paste is smeared on drums, banners and doorways in the town.


I mention this briefly in Roots of Ayurveda, 3rd ed., pp.78--9.


-- 
Dr Dominik Wujastyk
Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow
University College London