A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c23.s6: Suśruta outside India
A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c23.s6
- Language
- English
Suśruta outside India
v1.c23.s6.1
The references to Suśruta known from outside India do not shed additional light on the chronological position of his saṃhitā.
v1.c23.s6.2
Suśruta was known to the Khmer king Yaśovarman I (A.D. 889 to about 900);³³¹ one of his inscriptions compares the beneficial effects of the king’s moral exhortations to those of Suśruta’s medical treatments. ³³²
v1.c23.s6.3
The Suśrutasaṃhitā was rendered into Persian or Arabic by an Indian physician who is often called Manka,³³³ who lived at the court during the reign of the ‘Abbāsid caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd (A.D. 766–809). This translation was made at the request of the Barmakid Yaḥyā ibn Ḳhālid.³³⁴
v1.c23.s6.4
Arabic authors referring to Suśruta or quoting him are:³³⁵ ‘Alī ibn Sahl al-Ṭabarī in his Firdaws al-ḥikma,³³⁶ Ibn al-Nadīm in his Fihrist al-‘ulūm,³³⁷ Wādiḥ al-Ya‘qūbī,³³⁸ al-Rāzī in his Kitāb al-ḥāwī,³³⁹ al-Bīrūnī in his Kitāb al-ṣaydana fī’l-ṭibb,³⁴⁰ and Ibn Abī Uṣaybi‘a.³⁴¹
v1.c23.s6.5
The Suśrutasaṃhitā was one of the souces of the Ma‘din al-Shifā’.³⁴²
v1.c23.s6.6
Suśruta is known as a medical authority in Tibetan literature, where his name is rendered as Legs-thos. He is the first one on a list of twenty-four great sages (maharṣi; Tibetan: draṅ-sroṅ chen-po) in the Mahāvyutpatti.³⁴³ The Tibetan translation of Śālihotra’s Aśvāyurveda mentions him as the son and pupil of Śālihotra.³⁴⁴
Cites (3)
- Suśrutasaṃhitā — Suśruta & Nāgārjuna (siddha/alchemist), Sanskrit
- Mahāvyutpatti — Sanskrit
- Aśvāyurveda — Gaṇa, Sanskrit