Ayurvedic anatomy · First Professional (Prathama Varsha) · AyUG-RS
2papers
8units
52practice questions
12study sections
The structure of the body as Sushruta described it, taught alongside modern anatomy and dissection.
Papers
Paper I — Rachana Sharira (Garbha, Asthi, Sandhi, Marma)
Paper II — Rachana Sharira (systemic and regional anatomy)
Units in this subject
Garbha sharira — embryologyAsthi, Sandhi, Peshi, SnayuSira, Dhamani, SrotasMarma — the vital pointsKostha and AshayaIndriyaRegional and systemic modern anatomyDissection and osteology
Study notes
Anatomy, classical and modern, taught with dissection. Sushruta's anatomical counts are examined as counts, so they have to be learned as numbers — and the numbers differ between Charaka and Sushruta, which is itself a question.
The counts
Asthi: Sushruta 300, Charaka 360. Say which.
Sandhi: 210. Peshi: 500, and 520 in women by Sushruta's count, which adds twenty for the reproductive organs. Snayu are 900 — a different count entirely, and the two are easy to swap. Snayu: 900. Sira: 700. Dhamani: 24. Srotas: Charaka 13.
Marma: 107, classified by structure (mamsa, sira, snayu, asthi, sandhi), by region, and by effect (sadyah pranahara, kalantara pranahara, vishalyaghna, vaikalyakara, rujakara).
Kostha: koshthanga are fifteen. Ashaya are seven in men and eight in women, the eighth being garbhashaya.
Garbha Sharira
Formation from shukra and shonita with atma, and the panchabhautika composition.
Month-wise development; the third month as the point at which all parts manifest together.
Garbha vriddhikara bhava and the six bhava that contribute: matrija, pitrija, atmaja, satmyaja, rasaja, sattvaja.
Placenta, cord and the classical account of fetal nutrition.
Modern anatomy
Osteology, arthrology, myology; the upper and lower limb.
Thorax, abdomen, pelvis, head and neck, brain and spinal cord.
Histology and embryology in outline.
Dissection is the practical, and the viva usually turns on surface anatomy and on marma correlation.
Asthi, Sandhi, Peshi, Snayu
Asthi: five types by Sushruta — kapala, ruchaka, taruna, valaya, nalaka.
Sandhi: 210, classified as cheshtavanta (movable) and sthira (immovable), and by shape into eight types — kora, ulukhala, samudga, pratara, tunnasevani, vayasatunda, mandala, shankhavarta.
Peshi: 500, with twenty more in women. Snayu: 900, in four types — pratanavati, vritta, prithu, sushira.
Modern correlation: asthi with bone, sandhi with joints, peshi with muscle, snayu with ligament and tendon — approximate, not exact.
Sira, Dhamani, Srotas
Sira: 700, carrying the four — vata, pitta, kapha and rakta — in stated proportions.
Dhamani: 24, arising from the nabhi and running upward, downward and transversely.
The classical distinction between sira, dhamani and srotas is disputed among commentators; say so rather than asserting a clean division.
Siravedha: the classical venesection, its sites and its contraindications.
Surgical significance: Sushruta's instruction to avoid marma in incision, and the consequences described for each class.
Indriya
Five jnanendriya with their adhishthana, artha and devata; five karmendriya; manas as ubhayendriya.
Indriya panchapanchaka: the five-fold grouping of five — indriya dravya, indriya adhishthana, indriya artha, indriya buddhi, indriya.
Each indriya is dominated by one mahabhuta: chakshu by tejas, shrotra by akasha, ghrana by prithvi, rasana by ap, sparshana by vayu.
Dissection and osteology
Sushruta's method of preparing a body for study by immersion, described in Sharirasthana — the earliest systematic dissection protocol recorded.
Practical: bone identification, articulation, side determination.
Surface anatomy and its relation to marma sites, which is what the viva usually turns on.
Twacha, Kala and the counts the texts disagree about
TWACHA: Sushruta gives SEVEN layers — avabhasini, lohita, shweta, tamra, vedini, rohini, mamsadhara. Charaka gives SIX. Say which text you are answering from; the disagreement itself is the examinable point.
Each layer has its own diseases: sidhma and padmakantaka in avabhasini, tilakalaka and nyaccha in lohita, charmadala in shweta, kilasa and kushtha in tamra, kushtha and visarpa in vedini, granthi and arbuda in rohini, vidradhi and bhagandara in mamsadhara.
Layer thickness in Sushruta: avabhasini one-eighteenth of a vrihi, and so on down — the vrihi fractions are asked verbatim.
KALA SEVEN: mamsadhara, raktadhara, medodhara, shleshmadhara, purishadhara, pittadhara and shukradhara. A kala is the membrane between a dhatu and its ashaya, and the seven are a certain question.
Charaka counts 360 asthi; Sushruta counts 300. Both are right within their own text and the candidate must name which. Sushruta's 300 breaks into 120 in the extremities, 117 in the trunk and 63 above the neck.
Sira, Dhamani, Srotas and the structural counts
SIRA 700 in total. By dosha: 175 vatavaha, 175 pittavaha, 175 kaphavaha, 175 raktavaha. The even division is the point.
DHAMANI 24 arising from the nabhi: ten upward, ten downward, four transverse. The upward ten branch to 30, the downward to 30, the transverse to 400.
SNAYU 900: 600 in the extremities, 230 in the trunk, 70 above the neck. Four kinds — pratanavati, vritta, prithu and sushira.
PESHI 500 in men, and 520 in women — the extra twenty being ten in the breasts and ten in the genital tract. That difference is a classic question.
Kandara 16, Jala 16, Kurcha 6, Rajju 4, Seevani 7, Sanghata 8, Simanta 14, Asthi sandhi 210, Marma 107. The counts are a block and are asked as a block.
SANDHI 210, of eight kinds: kora, ulukhala, samudga, pratara, tunnasevani, vayasatunda, mandala and shankhavarta. Cheshtavanta (movable) and sthira (fixed) is the functional division.
Where the texts disagree
Asthi: Sushruta 300, Charaka 360. Sushruta counts cartilage and teeth differently; say which text you are answering from.
Twacha: Sushruta gives seven layers, Charaka six. Sushruta's layers are named with their thickness in vrihi; Charaka's are not.
Srotas: Charaka gives thirteen, Sushruta eleven pairs. Charaka includes manovaha; Sushruta does not enumerate it the same way.
Peshi: 500 in a man for both, but Sushruta adds twenty in a woman for the breasts and yoni, giving 520.
Kosthanga: Sushruta gives fifteen. The lists in other texts differ in what they group as one organ.
Marma: the count of 107 is agreed, but the regional distribution is given differently by commentators.
Commonly confused
Snayu (900) and Sira (700) - two different counts, easily swapped.
Sandhi (210) and Marma (107) - both are junctions in ordinary speech and are not the same thing.
Kandara (16) and Snayu (900) - kandara are a type of snayu, not a separate count.
Pitrija and matrija bhava - asthi is from the father, mamsa from the mother, and the list is asked in both directions.
The counts differ between texts and sometimes between recensions of the same text. An answer that gives a number and names its source is stronger than one that gives a number alone.
Written to the NCISM subject outline. Where texts disagree on a count or an attribution, the explanation says so rather than picking one silently.
Practise it, and prove it
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