Illustrations on Ayurvedic Surgery and Pharmaceutics (MIS-2)

The students of Ayurveda encounter great difficulty in visualizing various tools and apparatuses related to surgery and the pharmaceutical practices. These tools have been described at many places across the classical texts as well as in various modern writings. However, on occasions, narrative through pen suffers from certain limitations. But where pen fails to convey the idea, pencil comes to our rescue. It has been realized that there is indeed need of a handy manual on these illustrations.

The present book is an attempt to present the visuals pertaining to the surgical tools and the pharmaceutical apparatuses and mentioned in the Ayurvedic classical texts. The drawings in the book have been based on these descriptions. The surgical instruments presented in the work are mainly based on their descriptions in the Susruta Samhita and Astanga Hridayam, the later Ayurvedic texts like the Bhava Prakasa, Sarangdhara Samhita and Astanga Hridayam, the later Ayurvedic texts like the Bhava Prakasa, Sarangdhara Samhita and Madhava Nidana and on the works of various commentators on the classical texts like Acarya Dalhan and Cakrpani Datta. The pharmaceutical apparatuses have been on the details available in the works like the Rasaratna Samuccaya and Rasasraja Sundara.

The pictures in the present work have been designed on the basis of imagination as per whatever details are available in the texts. The problem of achieving accuracy in terms of designing the actual tools has been further tackled with the support of seminal contribution to the theme by scholars like Sri Girinath Mukhopaddhyaya.

For the first time, the tools relates to surgery as well as pharmaceutics have been treated under a single cover. No doubt the book would serve greatly students of Ayurveda in both the branches.

About the Author

Dr. Kanjiv Lochan, Chairman of the Centre for Ayurveda, Delhi, is a regular contributor to Ayurvedic literature. He is credited with the first English translation of the complete Bhaisajya Ratnavali. Sanskrit edition of the Astanga Hridaya, and a critical history of Ayurveda under the title, Medicines of Early India.

Preface & Acknowledgement

The students of Ayurveda use to encounter great difficulty in visualizing various tools and apparatus related to surgery and the pharmaceutical practices. The surgical instruments have been described copiously across the Susruta Samhita and Astanga Hridayam, the later Ayurvedic texts like the Bhava Prakasa, Sarangdhara Samhita and Madhava Nidana and on the works of various commentators on the classical texts like Acarya Dalhan and Cakrpani Dutta. The pharmaceutical apparatus have been likewise, detailed in the works like the Rasaratna Samuccaya and Rasasraja Sundara.

Nonetheless, on occasions, a narrative through pen suffers from certain limitations. This observation is particularly true in terms of the descriptions of tools and equipments. Nonetheless, where pen fails to convey the idea, pencil comes to our rescue. Then, it is realized that there is indeed need of a handy manual on these illustrations. Hence, this humble attempt.

The present book has been greatly facilitated by the works of Sri Girinath Mukhopaddhyaya and Prof. Dole. Even though the graphics present in the work have been worked upon independently, I feel it appropriate to tender my gratitude to both of them. With their support only I could concretize the otherwise vague idea about various tools.

Secondly, I wish to acknowledge the support of Ch. Guddu Kumar for his computer graphic works. I have also used the drawing excellence of friend Kamalesh Kumar Pandey. All the visuals related to the Upayantras are courtesy of Pandey ji. Suman Tirkey of Gumla, Jharkhand have been helpful in presenting the Svastika Yantras. His support is also acknowledged.

Finally, I acknowledge the support of Sravasri Rajendra Gupta, Ritesh Gupta and Jitesh Gupta. I believe they are in the line of publication mainly due to their commitments for the cause of Ayurveda. I have found them greatly encouraging and cooperative in appreciating my points of view with regards to a new approach to Ayurvedic studies.

The kind readers are requested to enlighten us regarding typographic and other shortcomings of the present edition.

Introduction

The book is an attempt to present the visuals pertaining to the surgical tools and the pharmaceutical apparatus mentioned in the Ayurvedic classical texts. The pharmaceutical apparatus have been detailed in the works like the Rasaratna Samuccaya and Rasasraja Sundara. The drawings in the book have been based on these descriptions. The surgical instruments presented in the work are mainly based on their descriptions in the Susruta Samhita and Astanga Hridayam.

As one could note it in the cases of modern medical textbooks as well, the surgical tools have not been treated in great details. Similarly, the ancient Ayurvedic texts have not described in details various tools used in the surgery. In the classical works of Susruta, Caraka and Vaghbhata numerous tools have been named. Nonetheless, their detailed descriptions have been elusive, by and large. Various commentators on the classical texts like Acarya Dalhan and Cakrpani Datta have tried to elaborate the references of surgical tools. Beside, the later Ayurvedic texts like the Bhava Prakasa, Sarangdhara Samhita and Madhava Nidana have also referred to the surgical equipments here and there.

But the major source of the theme are countable. They include:
1. Chapter 7 of the Sutra Sthan of Susruta Samhita.
2. Chapter 8 of the Sutra Sthan of Susruta Samhita.
3. Chapter 25 of the Sutra Sthan of Astanga Hridayam
4. Chapter 26 of the Sutra Sthan of Astanga Hridayam 5. Scant references to surgery are also available there in the 12th and 25th chapters of the Cikitsa sthan of the Caraka's Text. (For the benefit of the students, we have appended all these sections including the original Sanskrit texts, to the present work.)

It may also be noted that various names appearing in the texts are difficult to identify. For example, the Svastika Yantras as referred in the text of Susruta (Ch.7, Sutra sthan) are 24 in number. The fauna named in this list of Sutsruta included certain species which were not identified even at the time of Dalhana, the commentator on Susruta Samhita who wrote Nibandha Sangraha around 12c AD. Possibly, the species such as the Mrigaivaruka, Anjalikarna and Kanka that were available to the public gaze in the yore became extinct with the passing of time. Out of the 24 svastika Yantras, the 9 are named after the animals like lion. The rest 15 are named after various birds. Those tools named after the animals are large in size and thus they could be used in extracting the visible and sizeable external elements in body. Those Yantras that are named after varions birds were apparently thinly shaped and pointed. They could have been used in removing the deep and invisible external elements pierced in the body.

The pictures in the present work have been designed on the basis of imagination as per whatever details are available in the texts. The problem of achieving accuracy in terms of designing the actual tools has been further compounded due to the fact that none of the ancient tools (minus certain Anjana Salakas) have been archaeologically discovered.

The tools were generally made out of the iron. They failed to appear during archaeological excavations in the country partly because of the fact that the iron is very prone to get rusted and thus destroyed. Other reasons could include the fact that they were very less in number and were possibly recycled through the traditional blacksmiths who found it more profitable to change the shape of the discarded surgical tools.