The Metaphorical Language of the Anatomists

The language used by the anatomists and men of science delving into the mysteries of the human body in the ancient and medieval periods, was extremely metaphorical. Below, Willis (Cerebri Anatome) maps several entities onto one organ, namely, the brain. An internal world mirroring the reality of the external is, in this manner, created.

The authors of the Puranas also adopted this strategy of translocation, to weave a (microcosmic) narrative that would appear to the readers as a narrative of the external (historical) world.