Varaha, Bronchial Arteries and Three Balls of Rice

 "In an instance in the Mahabharata after raising the earth, Vishnu as Varaha, shakes his tusk and three balls of mud fall in the South, which he declares as the three pindas (riceballs) to be given to the Pitrs (ancestors)."

The three balls of mud appear to be the bronchial arteries (going to the three lobes of the lungs on the right (south?) side. We have already deciphered in connection with Jambunada, the river of gold, that by the entity "clay" (or "earth"), the bronchial arterial conduit is meant. It is the last among the maha bhutas, formed immediately after that of "water," the pulmonary veins, and it is endowed with the essential property (guna) of "smell." Now, food also is endowed with smell! The bronchial arterial flow, by virtue of its nourishing and nutritive qualities, is also referred to as the "food" of the microcosm. The pulmonary venous flow represents food in unprocessed form. If it is symbolised by paddy, then the flow in the bronchial arterial conduit surely is rice! Again, as we have seen, one of the strategies adopted by the Puranics is to present the higher level conduits, whether it be bronchial or the vasculature, as the clumped or concealed versions of the lower level ones. Therefore, "balls of mud" would invariably mean the bronchial arteries at the topmost level of the hierarchy.