Beginning: – The circulation of blood is often credited in Western
medical history to William Harvey (1578–1657), whose work in the early
17th century revolutionized our understanding of the human body.
However, long before Harvey, the sages of India had already woven the
concept of blood movement into the framework of Ayurvedic thought.
Ancient seers did not merely see the body as a machine but as a living,
conscious flow of prana (life force), carried through channels (srotas)
rooted in the heart.
In 1914, during a session of the Mumbai Vaidya Sabha (Bombay, India),
the esteemed Ayurvedic scholar Dr. Popatbhai Prabhuram Vaidya reminded
his colleagues of this deep heritage, citing the Charaka Samhita’s
reference,
“Dasha Moola Mahata Mahamula Dash…”
Meaning: Ten great ducts connected with their root, the heart, circulate
the blood, charged with vitality, throughout the entire body.
This profound statement bridges millennia, showing how Vedic thought
anticipated the anatomical and physiological insights that modern
science would only later confirm.
The Vedic Conception of Circulation: – The Ayurveda classics,
particularly the Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita, describe networks
of channels known as srotas. These channels convey different bodily
substances food essence (ahara rasa), blood (rakta), lymph, and more
ensuring nourishment and vitality across the body.
Charaka’s teaching on the ten great vessels (Dasha Dhamanis)
emphasizes their root in the heart (Hridaya). The heart is not merely a
pumping organ but the seat of consciousness (Chetana sthana), life
(prana), and mind (manas). From this center, lifeblood infused with
prana flows through the ducts to every extremity, supporting the
body’s strength, immunity, and awareness.
Thus, where Harvey spoke of ventricles, arteries, and veins, Charaka,
and Sushruta spoke of dhamanis and srotas different in language but
parallel in truth.
Harvey and the Vaidya’s, Two Traditions, One Reality: – Harvey’s
Contribution (1628): Harvey demonstrated experimentally that blood moves
in a closed circuit, propelled by the contractions of the heart. His
findings dismantled earlier European theories that blood was consumed as
fuel and constantly replenished.
The Vedic Contribution (1000 BCE – 200 CE): Centuries earlier, Vedic
texts declared that lifeblood, originating from the heart, flows
endlessly through channels and returns to its source, a cycle
inseparable from breath (prana) and consciousness.
Both traditions converge on the recognition that circulation is central
to life. Yet the Vedic perspective offered more than mechanics it tied
circulation to cosmic rhythms, ethics, and spiritual well-being.
Dr. Popatbhai Prabhuram Vaidya’s Legacy: – At the Bombay Vaidya Sabha
in 1914, Dr. Popatbhai Prabhuram Vaidya invoked these ancient references
to remind scholars and practitioners of Ayurveda’s scientific depth.
His assertion carried both pride and purpose to show that Ayurveda was
never primitive folklore, but a disciplined science rooted in
observation, logic, and truth.
By highlighting Charaka’s teaching on the “ten great ducts,” he
reclaimed a heritage that linked India’s medical tradition with modern
anatomical science long before colonial narratives reduced Ayurveda to
superstition.
The Spiritual Dimension of Circulation: – In the Vedic worldview, blood
was not simply red fluid; it was the carrier of vitality (Ojas),
consciousness, and karma. The uninterrupted circulation of blood
symbolized the eternal cycle of time (kala), life, and death, genetics,
and epigenetics. Just as rivers nourish the earth, blood nourishes the
body. Obstruction in these channels leads not only to disease but to
disharmony of body, mind, and spirit.
This holistic understanding situates the circulation of blood within a
broader truth: health is not just the mechanics of the heart but the
harmony of all flow’s material, mental, and cosmic.
In the End: – The discovery of blood circulation by William Harvey was
indeed a turning point in Western medicine. Yet, as Dr. Popatbhai
Prabhuram Vaidya reminded his audience in 1914, the Vedic sages had
already recognized this truth centuries earlier. Their description of
the heart as the root of ten great vessels circulating vital blood is a
testimony to Ayurveda’s profound insight into the unity of life and
physiology.
This convergence between Harvey and the Vedas demonstrates a universal
principal truth, once discovered, shines across cultures and times.
Science may use experiments, while the Vedas used intuition and
observation but both arrived at the same reality.
I always believe very strongly and say… ||रक्तस्य
परिसञ्चरणं न केवलं जैविकं
भवति; ब्रह्माण्डीयम् इति ।
जीवनस्य नृत्यम् अस्ति|| meaning
circulation of blood is not only biological; it is cosmic. It is the
ballet of life.
Dr. Bharat Vaidya
Dr. Vaidya is a skilled Advanced Ayurvedic Physician who received his Ayurvedic degree (B.A.M.S.) and advanced medical training in Mumbai. He obtained a medical degree (M.D.) from the prestigious Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, Europe. He has practiced medicine in India, Europe and in the U.S. He currently runs his practice in Superior, Colorado. Renowned Ayurvedic Physician, Dr. Vaidya, offers students an advanced and in-depth study of Ayurved. Ayurved Sadhana is approved by the Department of Higher Education as a Professional Occupation School inthe State of Colorado.
