A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c9.s1.66

v1.c9.s1.66

The period when the Susruta received its final cast must always remain an open question. Vágbhata in his Ashtángahridaya makes copious extracts both from the Charaka and the Susruta. The latter must therefore have existed in their present form prior to the 9th century A. D. Mádhavakara in his Nidána quotes bodily from the Uttaratantra, and as the Nidána was one of the medical works which were translated for the Caliphs of Bagdad (see below), it can safely be placed in the 8th century at the latest. In is thus evident that the present redaction of the Susruta must have existed anterior to that date, and that it had become at that age stereotyped as it were. The Vágbhata and the Nidána are simply summaries of the Charaka and Susruta,¹ and were written at a time when the latter had become very old, and were therefore studied by few experts, and their abstracts were likely to be prized by the general practitioners.