The "Pyramid" Represents the Human Bronchial Tree

The "pyramid" of ancient Egypt, in the opinion of this author, is an intelligent representation of the bronchial tree [see: importance of the cardio-respiratory apparatus in the ancient world; in my earlier posts]. The bronchial tree may be imagined as having four sides.

A pyramid of ancient Egypt.

An image of a portion of the human bronchial tree below which is written, "The bronchial tree is hierarchical." An image of a pyramid appears below these words.

There is a hierarchy of bronchial conduits. The bronchi branch dichotomously (albeit irregularly) at each level so that each consecutive airway gives rise to two progressively smaller airways. Due to this branching pattern, we have a pyramidal hierarchy of conduits.

And the ancient pyramid is a representation of this hierarchy present within the human bronchial tree.

As the branching pattern of the human bronchial tree is held to be DICHOTOMOUS (each parent bronchus gives rise to two child bronchi), it generates a pyramidal structure as shown in the diagram below.

Dichotomous branching: simplified model. Image source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Bronchial-tree-pattern-left-monopodial-and-right-dichotomic_fig5_262387669

Diagram illustrating the branching structure of the lung airways. Image source: https://musculoskeletalkey.com/anatomy-and-physiology-of-the-respiratory-system/

The number of bronchi at various levels of this pyramidal hierarchy would be 1 (if we include the trachea), 2, 4, 8, 16, ...

If one were to (architecturally) represent the bronchi using equal-sized bricks, one would probably get a STEP PYRAMIDAL structure like in the image below.

A step pyramidal structure. Diagram made by this author.

Now, the earliest Egyptian pyramids were STEP PYRAMIDS! "Step pyramids are structures which characterized several cultures throughout history, in several locations throughout the world. " Whether it be the Ziggurat of Ur, the Pyramid of Djoser, El Castillo, Chichen Itza, Mexico or the seven‑tiered pyramid of Koh Ker, Cambodia, the step pyramidal structure is ubiquitous and almost inextricably bound with religion in the ancient world. Even some of the Vedic sacrificial altars (vedi) have this distinct pyramidal design.

Pyramid of Djoser

seven‑tiered pyramid of Koh Ker, Cambodia

El Castillo, Chichen Itza, Mexico

Stepped pyramids in Teotihuacan, Mexico

Vedic sacrificial altar. Image source: https://www.hinduwebsite.com/rites.asp

Therefore, if the estimation of this author is correct, then this architectural representation is endowed with a special esoteric meaning. It relates to the MICROCOSM, the lung and the human BRONCHIAL TREE in particular. There is a kind of microcosmic emulation going on with the participants (such as the pharaohs) representing the entities within the cardio-respiratory system such as the neural entities.

One other interesting aspect with regard to the bronchial tree (and, therefore, the pyramids) is that it was this tree that was referred to by the ancients as the tree of (material) life / existence!

A portion of the human bronchial tree

Deciphering an Ancient Egyptian Creation Motif

In the ancient intellectual world, the respiratory apparatus played a very important role [it served as a philosophico-scientific model] and was reflected in several visual representations.

 
In one of the Egyptian ones, we have a circular " mound of creation." 

This, in the opinion of this writer, represents the lung [why this is so I have already written in one of my earlier posts]. The "sun" that "rises" over this mound is the bronchus. It has several "rays" spreading out in all directions. The "goddesses" that appear as pouring "waters" around it are the personification of the pulmonary flows, one oxygenated and the other deoxygenated.

Metaphors Associated with Branching

Someone may raise the question as to how such a wide range of phenomena and behavior could be incorporated into this static model. In the Puranas, we have characters moving, fighting, begetting children, etc. There could be many interactions between subject and object besides of course a large variety of phenomena and physical processes. How could all these be possibly represented through this model? The answer: by means of the “behavior” of the constituent units of the cardio-respiratory apparatus. This “behavior,” from the perspective of the philosophy underlying this model, would be the manifestation of the supreme lord’s creative activity.

The branching of the conduits

Metaphors Associated with Branching

A key design feature of the respiratory system is branching. The branching of the bronchial tree along with the pulmonary arterial and venous conduits provides the author of the Puranas endowed with rich imagination with a vast storehouse of options to fit into his narrative. As one moves from the hilum of the lungs to its distal ends, the bronchial conduits go on branching in patterns that are held to be either dichotomous (albeit of irregular kind) or monopodial. When the anatomist "travels" in this direction (from root to distal end), it is the movement of creation--the unfolding of the world-lotus.

Branching and division of the bronchi and the arterial and venous conduits can be used to translocate a variety of phenomena, interactions and activities; and it supplies the author of the Purana with an extremely wide array. Specifically, it may be used to indicate, inter alia:

1. Expansion, increase in parts: this is applicable mostly in the case of entities that have parts such as the sun and the moon (composed of rays).

2. Emaciation: e.g. Ananta became all skin and bones when he visited Puskara and other places.

3. Slaying: as in the case of the Asuras etc.

4. Crushing.

5. Disintegration.

6. Proliferation: one entity may divide itself and become many (multiplicity).

7. The begetting of children.

8. Dissipation, vaporization.

9. Yawning (separation of mouth) etc.

10. Subduing, humbling, diminution of status.

We have also to keep in mind that the ancient anatomists considered the entire lung as a kind of coordinate system for time. This is still being deciphered by this author but it is quite apparent that each point on the bronchial tree starting from the hilum, the origin of this system (also representing the origin of creation of the three lokas of bhu, bhuvar and svar?), is also a point in time.

By following this ingenious strategy the author of the Purana succeeds in translocating the phenomena of the external world and also the behavior of entities. While the various anatomical components and structures themselves stand for the entities of the world, it is their design features that represent the behavior of entities and the interactions between them.

Anatomical unit → External entity

Anatomical feature → Behavior, interaction, phenomenal change

The Pulmonary Flows are the Female Characters

 The different (pulmonary) flows of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood represent the various female characters including the goddesses. These are the various forms and roles of prakrti. The pulmonary arterial flow, for instance, may represent the “ghora” (terrible) rupa of prakrti as it is concentrated with the life-negating substance—the poison (visa) of carbon-dioxide—while the pulmonary venous flow stands for prakrti in her “beatific” or “salvific” form; in this form she is the great sustainer and nourisher, the mother, as it were, of the entire universe, as she floods the world with the nectar, the life-sustaining substance (oxygen), drinking which the neural entities rejuvenate and renew themselves.

Ganga is the personification of the pulmonary flow. Seated on the alligator she represents the flow of deoxygenated blood in the pulmonary arterial conduit. "She" travels, as it were, on this conduit. 

The pulmonary flows, together with their conduits, stand for the “bhutas” (basic substances) of the material world. To be specific, the flows themselves would represent the qualities while the conduits would be the bhutas proper. Different portions of the arterial and venous network represent different substances.

While naming these portions (of the pulmonary networks), one gets the feeling that we have also a reference to the systemic network. For example, the relation that a blood vessel has to its target organ or the entity that it nourishes imparts to it the motherly character of the earth. This relationship would not be present in the pulmonary apparatus where the pulmonary veins do not nourish the neural entities. But still the appellation of “prthivi” (earth)—the final basic substance (bhuta)—is applied to them. This is in imitation of the systemic network. Therefore the author is conscious of the systemic role of the oxygenated blood also while describing metaphorically the pulmonary venous flow.

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.

The Dik-gajas (Elephants of the Quarters)

The research into the descriptions of the Puranas done by this author coupled with an understanding of respiratory anatomy is indicating that the famous "dik-gajas" (Elephants of the Quarters) could mean either the lobar or the segmental bronchi of the "respiratory lotus" (lung / bronchial tree).

In any case, it is pretty apparent that these elephants are the zoomorphised version of the heavier bronchi, excluding, of course, the primary bronchus. They are regarded as elephants because they are relatively heavy structures. Moreover they are strong because they support the (respiratory) world on their backs (or, trunks). This conception of support has without doubt a physiological underpinning as well.


Now, with regard to direction (dik), the respiratory anatomists of the ancient world seemed to have regarded these bronchi as some sort of compass for determining the "direction" or anatomical location ("superior," "inferior," etc.) within the lung. Therefore, taking into account all these features, these bronchi are the "dik-gajas," the "direction-elephants."


As the bronchi branch in a pattern known as dichotomous branching, in an idealized model, the four lobar bronchi can be said to give rise to eight sub-lobar bronchi and, in that case, it is perhaps these eight that would be referred to as the "asta dik-gajas," the eight elephants of the quarters. Or, it may be the case that only one lung is considered and it is the eight segmental bronchi of the left lung that is taken to mean the eight dik-gajas?

Why is the Cosmic Egg said to Float on Water?

 

The cosmic egg of the ancient esoteric literature is often described as floating in the waters. The bronchial tree touches the realm of the waters (oxygenated blood) only at the level of the alveoli so why is it then that the entire egg (bronchial tree) is said to rest upon the waters? One reason might be that the "waters" in this case refer not to the flow of oxygenated blood in the pulmonary veins but to the pulmonary arterial flow. Normally the arterial flow is, by virtue of being the "poisonous" flow, referred to in the lower reaches of the bronchial tree as "fire" and only after being transformed by the "milk" pouring forth from the udders (alveoli) of the cow-like respiratory bronchioles does it assume the form of water. But there can surely be some flexibility in definition and it could be that in the passages relating to the cosmic egg, it is the arterial flow that is referred to as the waters.