In the ancient India surgery was pioneered by
Ayurveda. Shalya Chikitsa is a significant branch of Ayurvedic science.
The name of the sage-physician Susruta is synonymous with surgery. From
his treatise Susruta Samhita we come to know that thousand of years ago
sophisticated methods of surgery were practiced in India. Topics of
intestinal obstructions, bladder stones, and the use of dead bodies for
dissection and learning were taught and practiced in ancient India. The
original text of Susruta discusses in detail about an exhaustive range
of surgical methods including about how to deal with various types of
tumors, internal and external injuries, fracture of bones, complications
during pregnancy and delivery, and obstruction in intestinal loop.
Susruta was the first surgeon to develop cosmetic surgery. His surgical
treatment for trichiasis can be to some of the modern operative
techniques used for this eye disease.
The use of various surgical instruments is also described in the
Susruta Samhita for the treatment. The instruments described were made
from stone, wood and other such natural materials. The treatment of
Shalya Tantra was popular because this could give fast relief as
compared to the slow process of recovery from medicines or herbs.
Diseases, which requires instant treatment in those cases shalyachikitsa
was the best method. Charaka the best-known physician of Ayurvedic
medicine also recommended for Shalya Tantra in treatment of certain
diseases, which required immediate attention like hemorrhoids. The long
foreign rule in India and lack of promotion stalled the progress of
Ayurvedic surgery in the middle of the second millennium. This is the
branch of Ayurveda, which deals with the treatment of Agni.
