An English Translation of the Sushruta Samhita, Vol. I: Sutrasthanam — trans. Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna (1907)

A perusal of the Chapter on Marma Shiriram world leave no doubt for the conclusion that anatomical kt\psP/, ledge was cultivated by surgeons and soldiers alike, la jr.. knowledge about the locations of the vulnerable joints, iir nerves, or vein anastomoses where a blow or a little pressure may enable him to make short work of his man could not but be dearly prized by the soldiery at a time when the fate of a war was often decided by the success of a single champion, and we have reasons to belieVe that a scientific system of wrestling was formulated in the light of the Sushruta Samhita, and practised by the gentry of ancient India much like

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Charaka SamhitS.

INTRODUCTION. XXXIX

• > the Jiujitsu (Skr. Yuyutsu, t,he intending fighter) of modern Japan, (i). '

Sushnita's Physiolo^ ."— But if Sushruta is admired so much for his practical and scientific jt!ast of mind, it is his writings on Physiologv, ''which is practicalh- the same as the one adopted by all schools of the Ayurveda) which , have appeared as a stumbling block to the intelligence of many a Western and and Eastern scholar. European Sanskritists have thought fit to translate "Vayu," "Pittam'' and "Kapham" (the three main physiological functions) as air, bile and phlegm. B\l\ nothing could be more misleading, or erroneous than that. A right understanding of the science of the Ayurvedic medicine, in all its branches, hinges on a right conception of the Vayu. Pittam and Kapham, so we should like to clear up the nature of these three physiological factors before proceeding farther in our enquiry.

Antiquity of the division:— A reference to these three physiological factors of Vayu, Pittam and Kapham, under the name of Tridhatu. is first met with in the

Rikveda, (3). Sayana explains the term as a synonvm for

Vayu, Pittam and Kapham. The Vedic physicians possessed at least a considerable knowledge of the process of digestionf4), the circulation of gas in the human organism, and of

(i) It is anions that the phonetic and etymological resemblance between Sanskrit "Juyutsu" and Japanese ''Jiujitsu" (would be fighter) should be so close. Perhaps it was the Buddhist missionaries (and they were not always peaceful hermits) who had carried with them a system of scientific wrestling from India, which was subsequently developed in Japan. Compare with the complete Kano, Jiu-jitsu (Jeudo) by H. Irving Hancock and Katsukuma Higashi. Chart I and III.

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Rik. Samhita. I. 3, 6. Sayana explains it as

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Chhandagya Brihmana.

Xl ^ INTCiODUCTlON.

the properties and functioiv> of flesh, fat, muscles, tendons, ligaments and cartilages. But to the Acharyas of the Ayurveda belongs the glor\' of "nrs^. formulating a systematic physiological science, to which end Sushruta as a surgeon did con<;ribute no mean a quo'.a. In the light of Western science the actionsr of living matter, varied as they are, may be reduced to three categorief, viz. (a) Sustentative, {d) Generative, and (c) Correlative functions. The second is not co-extensive with the entire existence of a living organism, Sushruta observes some such distinction among the functions of a living organism when he denominates the living body as the "three supported one" (Tristhunam), and describes the normal Vayu, Pittam and Kapham as its three supports. We wonder how the term Vayu, meaning nerve force, can be confounded with the same term meaning air, since Sushruta derives the former from the root "Va," to move, to spread. Vayu, according to Sushruta, is so called from the fact of its sensory and motor functions such as, smelling, &c. But the Vayu in the Ayurveda is not wholly a physical or organic force, it has its spiritual aspect as well which does not legitimately fall within the scope of our enquiry. It is safe to aver however, that the Ayurvedic physiology, like its sister science in modern Europe, is concerned more with the invisible molecular components of the human organism, than with the workings of its gross members. The holy Agnivesha warns the students of physiology against the danger of regarding the human system as something other than the aggregate of molecules (i).

* Charaka Saniliit^ ShArirasthAnam, Chap. VII.

INTRODUCTI9N. xli