Sushruta or Suśruta (Sanskrit: सुश्रुत, IAST: Suśruta, lit. "well
heard") was an ancient Indian physician known as the main author of the
treatise The Compendium of Suśruta (Sanskrit: Suśruta-saṃhitā). The
Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic text, represents him as a son of
Vishvamitra, which coincides with the present recension of Sushruta Samhita. Kunjalal Bhisagratna opined that it is safe to
assume that Sushruta was the name of the clan to which Vishvamitra belonged.[4]
He is one of a number of individuals described as the "Father of
surgery" and "Father of Plastic Surgery".
The Sushruta Samhita is one of the most important surviving
ancient treatises on medicine and is considered a foundational text of
Ayurveda. The treatise addresses all aspects of general medicine, but the
translator G. D. Singhal dubbed Suśruta "the father of surgery" on
account of the detailed accounts of surgery to be found in the work.
The Compendium of
Suśruta locates its author in Varanasi.
], that he dated to the sixth century BCE, and this dating
is still often repeated. 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 and
it was 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 (fl.
300–500 CE), which gives the latest date for the version of the work that has
come down to us today. It has also
become clear through historical research that there are several ancient authors
called "Suśruta" and that they should not be conflated.
Citations
The Mahābhārata lists Suśruta amongst the sons of Viśvāmitra,
the legendary sage. The same connection with Viśvāmitra is also made in the
Suśruta-saṃhitā itself. The name Suśruta
appears in later literature in the Bower Manuscript (sixth century CE), where
Suśruta is listed as one of the ten sages residing in the Himalayas.
Suśruta-saṃhitā
The Suśruta-saṃhitā, in its extant form, in 184 chapters
contains descriptions of 1,120 illnesses, 700 medicinal plants, 64 preparations
from mineral sources and 57 preparations based on animal sources. The text
discusses surgical techniques of making incisions, probing, extraction of
foreign bodies, alkali and thermal cauterization, tooth extraction, excisions,
and trocars for draining abscess, draining hydrocele and ascitic fluid, removal
of the prostate gland, urethral stricture dilatation, vesicolithotomy, hernia
surgery, caesarian section, management of haemorrhoids, fistulae, laparotomy
and management of intestinal obstruction, perforated intestines and accidental
perforation of the abdomen with protrusion of omentum and the principles of
fracture management, viz., traction, manipulation, apposition and stabilization
including some measures of rehabilitation and fitting of prosthetic. It
enumerates six types of dislocations, twelve varieties of fractures, and
classification of the bones and their reaction to the injuries, and gives a
classification of eye diseases including cataract surgery.
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