Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c8.46

c8.46

Whether and how far this tradition possesses a historical kernel, cannot at present be decided. Su 1.1.6 says that the original work of Brahman was composed in 100,000 verses and 1000 chapters and was reduced to those eight parts only in view of the limited grasping power of men. This account has a striking similarity with the original Manusmṛti which is said to have consisted of 100,000 verses and was reduced to its present extent gradually in successive manipulations⁵. The close relation of Suśruta to surgery did not exist originally, as the Bower MS shows.