A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c23.s2.4

v1.c23.s2.4

A scholar distinguishing four layers in the Suśrutasaṃhitā is P.V. Sharma,63 who put forward that Ādyasuśruta, the earliest one, also called Vṛddhasuśruta, belongs to the period of the Upaniṣads. The description of the initiation of students (Su.Sū.2) is regarded as deriving from this age, although the text as it is known shows that changes have been introduced, as attested by the passage mentioning that, according to some authorities, śūdras may be admitted (Su.Sū.2.5).64 P.V. Sharma highlights in particular agreements between passages from the Śvetāśvataropaniṣad and chapters one and nine of Suśruta’s Śārīrasthāna.65 The Sāṃkhya doctrines of Suśruta (Śā.1) betray in his view, in spite of their being mostly in line with Īśvarakṛṣṇa’s Sāṃkhyakārikā, influences from an earlier stage, represented by the Śvetāśvataropaniṣad.66 Suśruta divides the twenty-four tattvas into a group of eight, belonging to prakṛti, and a group of sixteen vikāras (Śā.1.6), whereas Īśvarakṛṣṇa adheres to a threefold classification: mūlaprakṛti, seven prakṛtivikṛtis, and sixteen vikṛtis.67 One need not agree with P.V. Sharma on this point, since Suśruta’s classification of the tattvas was not necessarily influenced by the Śvetāśvataropaniṣad; the same classification is found in the Mahābhārata, the Tattvasamāsa, 68 Aśvaghoṣa’s Buddhacarita, and the Bhāgavatapurāṇa.69