Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India c7.s2.17

c7.s2.17

In emperor Jahangir's *Tarikh-i-Salim Shahi*, surgical operations by Bengalis, Portuguese and others are described at length along with the description of alchemy and magic.⁸² But there may have been some remedy available to cure, to some extent at least, the disabilities of the mutilated. Jahangir talks of his expert, excellent and loyal physicians but they were not surgeons.⁸³ However, his own son Khusrau, who had been blinded had his eyes partially restored.⁸⁴ Similarly, slit noses could be repaired to look almost like the original through plastic surgery.⁸⁵ Niccolao Manucci gives a detailed description of such an operation of rhinoplasty during the Bijapur-Mughal war under Aurangzeb, when the Deccanis used to cut off noses of Mughal soldiers and send them bleeding to the Mughal camp.⁸⁶ But there is no case cited of one who had lost his hand or leg being restored to normal health in medieval India.