Abstract
“THE most primitive witchcraft,” says Sir Alfred Lyall, “looks very like medicine in the embryonic state.” This is pre-eminently the case in ancient India, where it is not difficult to trace the history of medical science—such as we find it in scientific works on medicine, like the Charaka or Susruta—back to its early beginnings in the charms and witchcraft practices of the Atharva-veda, the most ancient compendium of sorcery.
Article PDF
References
See W. G. Black, "Folk-Medicine," p. 32 seq.
See "Sacred Books of the East," vol. xvii. p. 41 seq.
"Asiatic Studies," 1884, p. 76.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
WINTERNITZ, M. Folk-Medicine in Ancient India. Nature 58, 233–235 (1898). https://doi.org/10.1038/058233b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/058233b0