ABSTRACT

The simples were either brought from great distances and traded or they were collected by the healer-apothecary himself: the healer invoked various herbs which he knew were spread all over the earth.2 Many of these had to be brought to him from great distances,3 most notably from the Aitgiras, people who lived in the mountains.4 Elsewhere, we noticed that the mountain-grown ku~fha-plant was brought and traded.5 Likewise, the gulgulu (guggulu)-plant was known to have been transported by sea.6 In addition to the acquisition of herbs by trade, the healer also engaged in the uprooting and collection of auspicious plants from his local flora which, from the context, appears to have been in the plains? During this collecting process,

he propitiated the herbs, because of the harm he cause<! to them by uprooting them, indicating an early example of the later doctrine of nonviolence (ahitt~stf) to all living things.8