Ayurveda is the treasure house of Indian medical knowledge & Surgery. It is worshiped as Upaveda to Rigveda and in Atharvaveda many verses deal with the Ayurvedic knowledge.
This "knowledge-chest" is a gift to world from the great seers of yore like Bharadwaj, Atreya, Agnikaya, Charaka, Dhanvantari, Sushruta and many others. In fact, it is an eternal gift of India to the world.
In Rigveda the verses (1.116.14&15), mention that, a woman warrior called "Vischala" the queen of king Khela, had been fitted with an artificial Iron leg by the Ashwini physicians, when she lost her leg in the war. These physicians were adored for eye transplantation in the next verse.
Indians pioneered surgery ages ago, Sushruta (500B.C) was the World's earliest Surgeon. He learned the skills of surgery from Dhanvantari (considered to be God Vishnu) and wrote a treatise on surgery and Ayurveda called "Sushruta Samhita" which had stood the test of time and is even now being followed.
In his text he had divided the methods of surgery into eight parts
1. Chedya - cutting
2. Lekhya - separating
3. Vedhya - removing the toxic objects from the body
4. Ishya - probing the blood capillaries for finding the cause of disease.
5. Aharya kriya - eliminating the production of harmful elements in the body.
6. Visradavya - removing water from the body
7. Civya - suturing
8. Bedhya kriya - making holes and performing surgery
This "knowledge-chest" is a gift to world from the great seers of yore like Bharadwaj, Atreya, Agnikaya, Charaka, Dhanvantari, Sushruta and many others. In fact, it is an eternal gift of India to the world.
In Rigveda the verses (1.116.14&15), mention that, a woman warrior called "Vischala" the queen of king Khela, had been fitted with an artificial Iron leg by the Ashwini physicians, when she lost her leg in the war. These physicians were adored for eye transplantation in the next verse.
Indians pioneered surgery ages ago, Sushruta (500B.C) was the World's earliest Surgeon. He learned the skills of surgery from Dhanvantari (considered to be God Vishnu) and wrote a treatise on surgery and Ayurveda called "Sushruta Samhita" which had stood the test of time and is even now being followed.
In his text he had divided the methods of surgery into eight parts
1. Chedya - cutting
2. Lekhya - separating
3. Vedhya - removing the toxic objects from the body
4. Ishya - probing the blood capillaries for finding the cause of disease.
5. Aharya kriya - eliminating the production of harmful elements in the body.
6. Visradavya - removing water from the body
7. Civya - suturing
8. Bedhya kriya - making holes and performing surgery
We find the mention of advanced level of surgery, the plastic surgery mostly Rhenoplastary in Sushruta Samhita. These surgeries were performed to reconstruct the noses and ears. He performed many eye surgeries. There are many referances about Caesarean operation. Indians not only performed surgeries, but also studied the human Anatomy by dissecting dead bodies. In Sushruta Samhita, we find many methods of preserving dead bodies for dissection. Sushruta had mentioned about 125 surgical instruments in his treatise.
In Bhoja Prabandha (927AD), it had been mentioned that king Bhoja had undergone a surgical treatment, for getting a tumor removed from the brain. King had been administered Anesthesia called "Sammohini" while the surgery was being performed.
Gautham Buddha's physician called Devaka had performed many surgeries. Buddhistic texts mention about them. "Vinaya Pitika" a buddhistic text reveals that germs in the brain were removed by perfoming a surgery.
Ayurvedic knowledge adopts surgery as a last measure in treatment, but it focuses mostly on prevention than cure. It laid stress on bio-medical remedies though aware of chemical pharmacology and surgical interventions. All the books like "Charaka Samhita", "AstangaHridaya", and "Bhavaprakasa" including "Sushruta Samhita" mention about medicinal plants. Today, Western world had understood it's potentiality and has become crazy after medicinal plants. Madhava's "Nidana Sastra" contains diagnosis of various diseases by observing human gestures and smells that emit from the body.
-Contributed by Prasanna.
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