History of Indian Medicine, containing Notices, Biographical and Bibliographical, of the Ayurvedic Physicians and their Works on Medicine v2.c19.1

v2.c19.1

Viśvāmitra is the name of an ancient physician who with other Ṛṣis, is mentioned to have learned the Science of Medicine from Bharadvāja. He flourished during the Vedic times and is said to have composed many Vedic hymns. He was contemporary to Vasiṣṭha, with whom he often quarrelled. He was a King, a Kṣatriya rāja, but by severe penance and austerities became a Brāhmaṇa afterwards. His deeds are described in detail in the Rāmāyaṇa and the Purāṇas. He is the father of Suśruta, the disciple of Dhanvantari and the famous author of Suśruta Saṃhitā. In Susruta Saṃhitā, V. viii; he is said to have once gone to the hermitage of Vasiṣṭha, whom he caused to be angry. In anger the sage perspired, and drops of perspiration and other excrementitious matter fell on dried grass; and thus the different kinds of spiders are said to have been formed.