Hindu Medicine c7.166

c7.166

Associated primarily with warfare, surgery for a long while remained a special branch, distinct from the civil science of longevity. It needed a particular effort, a stroke of genius, to break down the barriers of traditional specialization, and to merge surgery with the science of macrobiotics. This step is accomplished through the work of Suśruta. In Suśruta’s encyclopedia surgery has achieved a leading position as an indispensable element of general medical training. And one may say that his emphatic statement of its incomparable value for a correct understanding of anatomy reflects a triumph in the evolution of Hindu medicine. A fruitful union of what traditionalism had formerly held apart is here effected.