The Trachea: the Sun in the Puranas

The “sun” is the code for “trachea” in the Puranas. Strictly speaking, it must be the respiratory epithelium contained within the wall of hyaline cartilage that must be so called; the sun, the respiratory conduit, divides itself up into several parts in the form of bronchi; these constitute the rays of the sun. The respiratory epithelium rides, as it were, the “chariot” of the trachea and the bronchi. The walls of the tracheal and the bronchial airways constitute the chariot of the sun; however, for convenience’s sake, we may simply refer to the sun as “trachea” (and his rays as “bronchi”).

Figure 1 "Surya in chariot." https://www.rarebooksocietyofindia.org/postDetail.php?id=196174216674_10152421277051675

The two halves of the lungs may be considered to be the two portions of the earth-globe. The trachea (sun) is stationed right between these two halves in the mediastinum—the antariksa—which, apart from being the “solar sphere,” is also the realm of the “moon” (the left atrium of the heart) and the other “celestial luminaries!”

The symmetry of the lungs coupled with the central position of the heart provides the philosopher-scientists of the Puranas with a great opportunity to translocate astronomical concepts into the microcosm, the body of man.