Chapter 30a - The Ten Great-rooted Arteries (Dasha-mahamula) in the Heart (Artha)

1. We shall now expound the chapter entitled “The Ten Great-rooted Arteries (Dasha-mahamula—daśa-mahāmūla) in the Heart (Mahat or Artha)”.

2. Thus declared the worshipful Atreya

The Synonyms for ‘The heart’

3. In the heart (artha) the ten great-rooted arteries (dasha-mahamula) bearing, great fruits (Mahaphala—mahāphala) are well-embedded. The great or Mahat and the Cardia or Artha are the two equivalent terms by which the heart is spoken of by the learned.

The Importance of the heart as source of arteries

4. The body with its six limbs, the understanding, the senses, the five sense-objects, the spirit with its attributes, the mind and the mental concept, are all dependent on the heart

5. The heart is regarded by the cardiologists as the support of all these above mentioned factors, even as the central pole is of the thatchwork of a wigwam.

6. If it is but slightly injured, one falls into a swoon; if seriously injured, death follows. This is so because sensation which is otherwise called animation is based on it.

7. Further, it is the seat of the supreme vital essence; in it, too, is the seat of the consciousness. Therefore is the heart called the Mahat and Artha by the physicians.

The Arteries are the Ten Great Roots

8. By virtue of having this great organ as their root, the ten main arteries are spoken of as the great-rooted ones (mahamula). Carrying the vital essence, they spread through the whole length and breadth of the body.

The actions of the vital essence and the definition of vein, artery and vessel

9-12. They are styled the great fruiters because they have for their fruit as it were that vital essence (ojas) whereby all the embodied creatures subsist, being nourished; that in whose absence the life of all beings would cease to be; that which is the primary essence of the embryo,. that which is the quintessence of the fetal life, that which first enters the embryonic heart as it begins to develop; that on whose destruction the destruction of the organism ensues; that which is the support stationed in the heart; that which is the unctuous element of the body-fluid and that wherein the life-breaths are established, Or, it may be, the arteries are so styled, because they fruition in great many ways. They are called (Dhamanya) arteries because they pulsate, (srotānsi [srotāṃsi—srotas]) channels because they convey the essential juices and (sirāḥ [sirāḥ—sirā]) vessels because they conduct the blood etc., from one place to another.

Things to be practised and avoided in the protection of the heart etc.

13. He who wishes to protect front harm that great organ, the heart, those great-rooted ones (mahamula), the channels, and the vital essence, should scrupulously avoid all that causes affliction to the mind.

14. Moreover, he should have diligent recourse to whatever is good for the heart, good for the vital essence, and is purificatory of the vessels. Similarly, he should have recourse to quiet and wisdom.

[Chapter 30b. Definition of Ayurveda]