Why does one wind stay after death?

To mark the difference between a body and a living person. The claim is doctrinal rather than observational, and it does specific work in a tradition where breath and life share a word.

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Minor wind

Dhananjaya

Dhanañjaya · धनञ्जय

The winner of wealth. Associated with the tissues, with swelling and with what happens to a body after the other nine winds have gone, which the texts say is this one's remaining work.

tissues swelling after death persistence

Group: One of the five upa-pranas
Governs: Cellular vitality, the heart valves, tissue maintenance
Distinctive: Said to remain in the body after death
Name means: Winner of wealth, an epithet of Arjuna
Related wind: Vyana
Sources: Gheranda Samhita, Ayurvedic compendia

What it does

In life dhananjaya is credited with cellular vitality, with the opening and closing of the heart valves, with swelling and with the maintenance of the tissues. It is the least dramatic of the ten and the one with the strangest claim attached.

That claim is that it does not leave. The other nine winds disperse at death; dhananjaya is said to stay with the body and to be responsible for what happens to it afterwards.

Why the tradition keeps it

The point of the claim is a distinction. Prana is not the person, and a body with prana still in it is not therefore alive. Listing a wind that outlasts the other nine is the system's way of separating the two, which matters in a tradition where breath and life are the same word.

Dhananjaya is also an epithet of Arjuna in the Mahabharata, one who wins wealth. The commentaries do not explain the borrowing.

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Its main wind

Vyana

The pervading wind it most resembles.

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Its group

Naga

The minor wind of belching.

Frequently asked questions

: To mark the difference between a body and a living person. The claim is doctrinal rather than observational, and it does specific work in a tradition where breath and life share a word.

Devadatta

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