Sushruta

Suśruta (, ) is the listed author of the '' Suśruta Saṃhiāa'' (''Suśruta's Compendium''), considered to be one of the most important surviving ancient treatises on medicine. It is also considered a foundational text of Ayurveda. The treatise addresses all aspects of general medicine, including diet, surgery, nosology, anatomy, developmental biology, therapeutics, toxicology, pediatrics and other subjects. The inclusion of particularly impressive and historically important chapters on surgery has wrongly led some to believe that this is the work's primary focus. The treatise consists of 186 chapters.

The ''Compendium of Suśruta'' locates its author in Varanasi, India.

Authorship

The printed editions of the work normally contain the phrase "as Lord Dhanvantari declared" (Sanskrit ''यथोवाच भगवान्धन्वन्तरिः'') at the start of each chapter, framing the work as Dhanvantari's discourse. However, the earliest manuscripts of the work omit this attribution, framing the work instead as the work of Divodāsa, king of Varanasi.

Rao in 1985 suggested that the author of the original "layer" was "elder Sushruta" (''Vrddha Sushruta''), although this name appears nowhere in the early Sanskrit literature. The text, stated Rao, was redacted centuries later "by another Sushruta, then by Nāgārjuna, and thereafter a later collection of chapters called the Uttara-tantra was added as a supplement".Ramachandra S.K. Rao, Encyclopaedia of Indian Medicine: historical perspective, Volume 1, 2005 Reprint (Original: 1985)
pp 94-98
Popular Prakashan It is now generally accepted by scholars that there were several ancient authors who contributed to this text.

The translator G. D. Singhal called Suśruta "the father of plastic surgery" on account of the detailed accounts of surgery in the work as well as the now passée style of attributing metaphorical fatherhood to male innovators.

Date

The early scholar Rudolf Hoernle proposed that some concepts from the ''Suśruta-Saṃhitā'' could be found in the '' Śatapatha-Brāhmaṇa'', which he dated to the 600 BCE. However, during the last century, scholarship on the history of Indian medical literature has advanced substantially, and firm evidence has accumulated that the ''Suśruta-saṃhitā'' is a work of several historical layers. Its composition may have begun in the last centuries BCE, completed in its present form by another author who redacted its first five chapters and added the long, final chapter, the "Uttaratantra". It is likely that the ''Suśruta-saṃhitā'' was known to the scholar Dṛḍhabala, a contributor to the Charaka Samhita that wrote between the fourth and fifth centuries CE. Additionally, several ancient Indian authors used the name "Suśruta", resulting in potential misattribution.

Citations

In 1907, an influential translator of the ancient Indian epic '' The Mahabharata'', named Bhishagratna, argued that Suśruta was one of the sons of the ancient sage Vishvamitra. Bhisagratna also asserted that Sushruta was the name of the clan to which Vishvamitra belonged. In Chapter 7 of the five-volume ''History of Indian Medical Literature'', published in 1999, physician-scholar Gerrit Jan Meulenbeld covers a variety of theories on Suśruta's identity and the ''Sushruta Samhita'''s publication history.

The name Suśruta is listed as one of ten Himalayan sages in a treatise on medicinal garlic that was included in the sixth century CE '' Bower Manuscripts''.

Followers

Sushruta attracted a number of disciples who were known as ''Saushrutas'' and required to study for six years before beginning hands-on surgical training. Before starting their training, they took a solemn oath to devote themselves to healing and to do no harm to others, often compared to Hippocratic Oath. After the students had been accepted by Sushruta, he would instruct them in surgical procedures by having them practice cutting on vegetables or dead animals to perfect the length and depth of an incision. Once students had proven themselves capable with vegetation, animal corpses, or with soft or rotting wood – and had carefully observed actual procedures on patients – they were then allowed to perform their own surgeries. These students were trained by their master in every aspect of the medical arts, including anatomy.

Sushruta on medicine and physicians

Sushruta wrote the ''Sushruta Samhita'' as an instruction manual for physicians to treat their patients holistically. Disease, he claimed (following the precepts of Charaka), was caused by imbalance in the body, and it was the physician's duty to help others maintain balance or to restore it if it had been lost. To this end, anyone who was engaged in the practice of medicine had to be balanced themselves. Sushruta describes the ideal medical practitioner, focusing on a nurse, in this way:

That person alone is fit to nurse, or to attend the bedside of a patient, who is cool-headed and pleasant in his demeanor, does not speak ill of anyone, is strong and attentive to the requirements of the sick, and strictly and indefatigably follows the instructions of the physician. (I.34)

Legacy

Sushruta's medical prowess is exhibited through his writings on rhinoplasty, involving nasal reconstructions using skin from the patient's forehead or cheek, often for criminals punished with amputations. Based on reports in the October 1794 edition of ''The Gentleman's Magazine'', published in London, Indians maintained Sushruta's surgical practices until the late 18th century. Sushruta is also credited as the first to attribute malaria to mosquitoes, link the spread of plague to rats, and making an early diagnosis of diabetes by tasting the urine of affected individuals; describing it as having a sweet taste similar to honey.
''Sushruta: The Father of Indian Surgical History''
PMID 38596573 PMC11000756 DOI: 10.1097/GOX.0000000000005715

See also

* Vagbhata
* Charaka

Notes

References

External links

SutrasthanaNidanasthanaSharirasthanaCikitsasthanaKalpasthanaUttaratantra
''English translation, proofread, correct spelling, interwoven glossary''

The Suśruta Project
a Canadian research project at the University of Alberta aimed at establishing a new Sanskrit text of the Suśrutasaṃhitā based on recently discovered medieval manuscripts in Nepal

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sushruta
Ayurvedacharyas
Indian surgeons
Ancient Indian physicians
Ancient ophthalmologists
Ancient Indian writers
Scientists from Varanasi
Scholars from Varanasi
Writers from Varanasi
8th-century BC Hindus
People from the Kāsī Kingdom