An English Translation of the Sushruta Samhita, Vol. II — trans. Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna (1911)
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The translator’s English as printed (Kunja Lal Bhishagratna). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
That is the primitive fluid that is endued with motion in its evolution of Life gets knotted into five divisions, viz , Prdna, Apdna, Samdna, Uddna and Vydna, and this acting on any aggregated living matter is called Prana. So what we call Prana is not the Vayu itself, but a particular mode of its motion. Hence the question of identity and non-identity is a matter of choice. Shortly speaking, this is the Biology of the Hindus. This too is the sum and substance into which (as a department of Biology), Physiology unfolds itself.
This too evidently serves as the line of Biology forms the demarcation between ^urg: and ^:WTi:i iM^^Tlevetpta fen,: -d •^^.. From this too as so much col- Health and Disease, Hygiene and lateral branches. ^^^^^^^^t, Psychology and Sociology have all their origin and start. In fact, Biology forms the basis upon which the great edifice of the Indian Medical Science, as a collateral branch, has been developed.
Conclusion. rpj^^ general truths of Biology ae all there in the Ayurveda ; but the special truths from medicine
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have been given so great a prominence that the real character of the book has been over-shadowed and it has been transformed into a Science of Medicine.
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With a view to convey to the minds of our readers an idea of the different branches of the Medical Science which developed as a'coUateral branch of this great Science of Life, we would here touch upon a few of them in passing.
Magnetism had formed its way into the therapeutics of the ancient Hindus and animal magneMagnetism. ,. ^ . , .• j • tism was very extensively practised in
India long before they were recognised by Mesmer in Germany and subsequently by John EUiotson in England.
The Indian writers on Medical Science of the good old days have described in length the
Hydropathy. ,• • , r , medicinal properties of the waters of the principal rivers, lakes, water-falls and mineral springs of the country that were known at the time and their respective curative powers as applied to various ailments that human flesh is heir to. This goes a long way to establish the fact that Hydropathy was known in India long before it was even dreamt of in the Western world.
The ancient Hindu sages from time immemorial had been cognizant of the benefits of massage and shampooing and taken to practising them. Whereas, it is but of late that the advantages of these methods have begun to be appreciated by the Western Medical School and it no longer hesitates to acknowledge them as efificacious therapeutic agents.
The Science of begetting healthy and beautiful children, which is just beginning to receive attenGenesiology. ...
tion in other countries was not unknown to the ancient Hindus, and Manu in his Mdnavadharma-Sdstra has laid down special injunctions which still form an integral part of the doniestic life of the orthodox section of the community. As a matter of fact, they knew
Xli INtRODUCtlON.
that mental impressions of the parents at the time of con ception exercise a great influence over the future destiny of the child in embryo.
Thus we read in the Sastras : — "A woman, though at a distance, conceives a child of the shape of the person she loves ardently and thinks of at the time. Just as a tree that grows is not different from the parent tree whether we plant a branch or sow a seed, so the main features of the child partake of the features of its father, though there might be slight changes due to the soil."
The subtle soul co-operates with the Manas (the mind) ; the mind co-operates with the senses ; the senses perceive objects ; all this takes place in little or no time. The above is the connection between the soul and objects around us. What is there which the mind cannot comprehend ? Therefore, wherever the mind enters, the soul follows it.
"The soul being subtle, whenever it enters another soul, requires some time and an effort of the mind to know the latter. The soul, which intensely meditates on an object, assumes the shape of that object.'' etc, etc.
In a book entitled Bhoja-Prabandha being a collection of the anecdotes realating to the reign
Anaesthetics. ^^ ^^^.^^ p, ..^^ ^^ Pandita Ballala there is narrated the detail of an interesting surgical operation which had been performed on the Raja, who was suffering from an excruciating pain in the head. All the medical aid obtaining at the same time was availed of, but in vain and his condition became quite critical when two brother physicians accidentally arrived in Dhar, who were duly called in. These physicians, after carefully examining the patient, held that unless surgically treated no relief could possibly be afforded to the Royal patient. Accordingly they administered an anaesthetic called Sammohini with
* Vide—'B^xh.h& Mihit's Brihat Samhita Book, II. Chapter IxxvVerses 1-3.
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