Note 235 — Chapter IV · THE MEDICINE OF THE HINDUS.
Reading edition
The first fine is the lowest, i.e. two hundred and fifty panas. In the Atharvaveda also physicians are spoken of in disrespectful terms. “Various are the desires of men; the wagoner longs for wood, the doctor for diseases.” A Brahman by the code of Menu was forbidden to follow the profession of a physician, as it was classed amongst those which were most impure.236 At certain funeral ceremonies the same Code excluded such persons as “physicians, atheists, thieves, spirit drinkers, men with diseased nails or teeth, dancers, etc.”237