Sushruta - The Father of Surgery

 Sushruta: The Father of Surgery

India is a country renowned for many feats, most of which are not known to most people because they have been shrouded behind foreign achievements for centuries now. This is why I’ve decided to start a series on Indian history, covering and unmasking achievements, dynasties and famous people. 

To kick this series off, I’m starting with the medical genius, Sushruta. Maharshi Sushruta was an Indian medical genius and is regarded as the father of surgery. In and around the year 500 BC, Sushruta and his fellow peers, believed to have studied with him under the grace of Maharshi Vishvamitra, conducted years’ worth of research into surgeries like cesareans, artificial limbs, cataracts, removing urinary stones, fixing fractures and advanced plastic surgery. They compiled all this research into what would become the Sushruta Samhita. The book also contains descriptions of over 101 blunt instruments and 20 sharp surgical instruments, which are remarkably similar to what surgeons of today’s age use. Sushruta, however, made an important note that the hand is every surgeon’s most important tool. 

(Indus Scrolls, 2020)

The book has two parts: the Purvatantra and the Uttaratantra. These two parts combined cover an incredible range of medical specialties, such as geriatrics, pediatrics, ear, eye, throat and nose diseases, psychiatry and toxicology. After its “publishing”, Sushruta became extremely well-known across the globe and his book was translated into Arabic, Latin and recently, English.

The Purvatantra focused on the Ayurvedic side of things, while the Uttaratantra focused on the 4 main branches of surgery (according to Sushruta). These two parts were expertly compiled by Sushruta and his ‘colleagues’. He also thought that etiology was extremely important, and quintessential for a doctor to master. 

He wrote books that were chock full of information regarding surgeries, but how exactly did he influence modern-day medicine? Undeniably, his greatest contribution to modern medicine has to be his plastic surgery techniques and laying down the fundamentals for almost every plastic surgery performed today. He invented the cheek flap for nasal reconstruction surgery and shared his knowledge with everyone. In my opinion, Sushruta is the largest contribution to modern medicine, and we wouldn’t be where we are now without him. 

M.facebook.com. 2021. You’re Temporarily Blocked. [online] Available at: <https://m.facebook.com/worldwellnessayurveda/posts/the-father-of-surgery-maharishi-shushruta-is-a-legendry-scholar-of-the-indian-me/843769899093558/> [Accessed 29 December 2021].

C, M., D, A. and C, S., 2021. Sushruta: father of plastic surgery. [online] NIH. Available at: <https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23788147/> [Accessed 29 December 2021].

Indus Scrolls, 2020. A diagram of his operations. [image] Available at: <https://indusscrolls.com/ima-to-resist-centres-move-to-allow-ayurveda-docs-to-perform-surgeries-here-is-what-you-have-to-know-about-sushruta-who-is-the-father-of-surgery/> [Accessed 29 December 2021].