ABSTRACT
The ancient Hindus developed a conception of the nervous system, which is mainly to be found in the medical works of Caraka and Suśruta, and in the works on Tantra. Caraka and Suśruta regarded the heart as the seat of consciousness, but the Tāntric writers transferred the seat of consciousness to the brain. Caraka had a clear conception of the sensory nerves (manovahā nāḍī) and the motor nerves (ājñāvahā nāḍī). The Tāntric writers ‘constantly referred to the centres of different kinds of consciousness. They not only distinguished between the sensory nerves and the motor nerves, but also recognized different kinds of sensory nerves: the olfactory nerves (gandhavahā nāḍī), the optic nerves (rūpavahā nāḍī), the auditory nerves (śabdavahā nāḍī) the gustatory nerves (rasavahā nāḍī), and the tactile nerves (sparśavahā nāḍī). 1
