Glimpse of Surgery and Cadaveric Anatomy in Ayurveda: An Incredible Contribution of Acharya Sushruta

Abstract

It is a general truth worldwide that Ayurveda deals with general medicine mainly and very few people know that it has the descriptions of surgical procedures too. And the Sushruta Samhita is the ancient Indian Ayurvedic text book of surgery. 184 chapters of Sushruta Samhita have description of 1120 illnesses, 700 medicinal plants, a detailed study on anatomy, 64 preparations from mineral sources and 57 preparations based on animal sources. Still, it retains the pioneer and foremost position in the field of surgical texts of ancient world. Except the worldwide known work of historical significance on plastic surgery, there are many similar unique contributions on numerous aspects of surgical treatments, such as fracture and dislocations, urinary stones, skin diseases, Pancha Karma procedures, toxicology, pediatrics, eye diseases, psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, etc. There is very limited conceptual work which has been done on the few concepts of Sushruta Samhita. Thus to review, a conceptual study has been carried out on some surgical descriptions and cadaveric anatomy of Sushruta Samhita. Outcome of this study shows that Sushruta Samhita is written in the maxim form and the procedures described in it are highly in line with technical capabilities of the times. It is the need of age to explore the hidden facts by deciphering the versions of the Ayurveda texts for the persistence of globalization.

Keywords: Ayurveda, Sushruta Samhita, anatomy, Rachana Sharir, cadaveric

Cite this Article

Dharmendra Mishra, Shalinee Kumari Mishra, Sunil Kumar, et al. Glimpse of Surgery and Cadaveric Anatomy in Ayurveda: An Incredible Contribution of Acharya Sushruta. Research and Reviews: A Journal of Ayurvedic Science, Yoga and Naturopathy. 2017; 4(2): 5–10p.