Sushruta’s Sushruta Samhita [1000 BCE] written in Sanskrit, describes the ancient tradition of surgery in India. Sushruta Samhita is one of the foundations of Ayurveda – India’s medical science being developed since ancient times.
Sushruta, who is regarded as the Father of Surgery, also commented on diabetes, referring to it as madhu-meh (मधुमेह). He also wrote that “any one wishing to acquire a thorough knowledge of anatomy, must prepare a dead body and carefully observe and examine all its parts”.
Sushruta developed surgical techniques for reconstructing noses, earlobes and genitalia. He developed the forehead flap rhinoplasty procedure that remains contemporary plastic surgical practice; also the otoplastic technique for reconstructing an earlobe with skin from the cheek.
Sushruta developed Extraocular Expulsion of lens material called “Cataract Surgery” in non-medical terms.
Regarding anaesthesia Sushruta wrote “Wine should be used before operation to produce insensibility to pain. The patient who has been fed, does not faint, and he who is rendered intoxicated, does not feel the pain of the operation.” From this we also understand that Sushruta can also be regarded as the Father of Anaesthesia.
Sushruta is considered to be the first surgeon to have removed cataracts, describing varieties of cataracts along with the depression method of couching by the anterior root.
Sushruta Samhita was translated into Arabic as Kitab-Shaw Shoon-a-Hindi and Kitab-i-Susrud in the eighth century A.D. on orders of the Mansur [753 – 774 A.D.]. The first European translations only appeared in the early 19th century A.D.. The first complete English translation was done by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna in three volumes in 1907 A.D. at Kolkata.
Today, The Scientific Indian salutes Sushruta who stood taller than the tallest in the field of medical science more than 3000 years ago.
