Surgery in ancient India (Study)
by P. P. Prathapan | 2011 | 50,270 words
This essay studies Surgery in ancient India based on Sanskrit sources.—The Sushruta Samhita details the practice of surgery known to ancient Indian traditional medicine, which showcases an advanced development in this field as well as theoretical and practical knowledge of hygiene rivaling contemporary routine practices. The present thesis further ...
5. Description of the Sushruta Samhita
The Indians greatly improved upon and supplemented the primitive beliefs about medicine in the Atharvaveda, and came to 159
apply to the art of healing the same subtlety of intellect and penetrating study that characterize many other technical branches of Indian learning. The body of literature that gradually grew up on the subject of medicine is called the Ayurveda literally, the 'knowledge of life.' The most important medical manuals grouped under the generic name Ayurveda are the Caraka Samhita or 'compendium of Caraka', and the Susruta Samhita or collection of Susruta. Susruta Samhita is mainly devoted to surgery, 22 it also includes. medicine, pathology, anatomy, midwifery, biology, ophthalmology, hygiene, and not a little psychology and understanding of what would today be called the 'bedside manner.' Susruta attempted to arrange 23 systematically experiences of older surgeons, and to collect scattered facts about medicine into a workable series of lectures or manuscripts. Susruta divides his Samhita into six parts, covering all the branches of medicine, including hygiene, midwifery, ophthalmology, toxicology, psychosomatic ailments and materiamedica. Susruta considers surgery the first and foremost branch of medicine and states: 'Surgery has the superior advantage of producing. 160
instantaneous effects by means by means of surgical instruments and appliances. '24 Hence, it is the highest in value of all the medical tantras. It is eternal and a source of infinite piety, imports fame and opens the gates of heaven to its votaries. It prolongs the duration of human existence on earth and helps men in successfully fulfilling their missions and earning a decent competence in life. 25 The Susruta Samhita pays special attention to surgery. The work primarily deals with salya and salakya, two of the eight divisions of Ayurveda. As defined in the Susruta Samhita, salya treats of the extraction of arrows and other foreign bodies from wounds. caused by them. It also teaches the use of blunt instruments, cutting instruments, caustic and cautery, together with the diagnosis and treatment of inflammation. Salakya treats of diseases of the ears, eyes, mouth, nose, and other parts of the body above the clavicle. Thus, the Susruta Samhita is the most important source of information on surgery in ancient India.