Abstract
This chapter discusses the physiological concepts in ancient and medieval India. Inquisitiveness about life and the living body was as common in ancient India as anywhere else, but it was oriented more toward medicine or philosophy than to an independent study of physiology. The technique of examination of pulse for diagnosis was first introduced in India in the 12th century A.D. The technique subsequently developed into a more sophisticated discipline under the influence of Hatha yogic physiology that provided it with a theoretical base. The ancient Indians were keen observers, bent on rational speculation rather than experimentation. The medico-philosophical motive led to the study of the internal balance of the body—a balance that represents health on one hand and a philosophically conceived harmony between the outer macrocosm and the bodily microcosm on the other. Several theories were put forward to explain the balance. An experimental attitude began to appear only in a section of Hatha yogins in the medieval India with a spectacular harvest of achievements in a short time.
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