Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c8.33

c8.33

§ 8. Susruta :— The Bower MS (§ 13 ) shows that Suśruta, like Ātreya and Hārīta, was respected not only as one of the oldest Ṛṣis in the field of medicine in the fifth century, but also as the mythical author of a work on garlic and other therapeutic substances, the contents of which (as well as of the other medical works of the Bower MS) stand in close relation to those of the well known Suśruta Saṃhitā (Āyurvedaśāstra) composed by Suśruta, son of Viśvāmitra. In the interior parts of India the name of Suśruta was proverbial as that of a distinguished Vaidya at the time of king Yaśovarman of Kamboja (889-910), as is shown by the play on words in the inscriptions of this king¹. About 900, Suśruta was cited in an Arabic translation of the famous Arabian physician Razi (Rhazes) in such a way that one feels that this translation could well have been based on Suśruta Saṃhitā². The Indian-Arabic work of Sanaq on poisons (Circa 910-20) strongly reminds us of Su. 5.1.³ Barmakide Yahya Ibn Chalid (C. 805) who was descended from Buddism had already ordered for the translation of Suśruta. The accounts of the Chinese traveller I-tsing (cf. § 10) also prove the existence of a work similar to our Suśruta at least in the 7th century. The dates adduced in § 5 f. to which the mention of Suśruta in the Mahābhārata may be added, are affirmed by this external evidence.