lated in thecage of the Vedas and Brahmanas, and we shall present; see how from these scanty and confused materials Sushruta created a science and a Sanjhita which invite the admiration of the world even after thousands of years of human progress.
Origin of Ayurvedic Surgery:—In India, as in all other countries, curative spells and hewing mantras preceded medicine (i); and the first man of medicirte in India was a priest, a Bhisag Atharvan, who held a superior position to a surgeon in society. The first Aryan setLlements in the Punjab were often assailed by the dark aborigines of the country, and in the wars that ensued surgeons had frequently to attend to the Aryaa chiefs and soldiery. So in the Rigveda (2) we find that legs were amputated and replaced by iron substitutes, injured eyes were plucked out, and arrow shafts were extracted from the limbs of the Aryan warriors. Nay we have reasons to believe that many difficult surgical operations were successfully performed, though some of them sound almost incredible. But although the aid of surgery was constantly sought for, surgeons were not often allowed to mix in the Brahmanic society of Vedic India. This is hinted at by our author when he says that it was during the wars be tween the gods and demons that the Ashvins, the surgeons of heaven, did not become entitled to any sacrificial oblation till they had made themselves eligible for it by uniting the head of the god of sacrifice to his decapitated body. The story of the progress of Ayurvedic surgery is long and interesting, but it must suffice here to mention that with the
(1) Bedroe's Origin of the Healing Art, and Sir John Lubbock's Prehistoric times.
(2) (
Indic characters)
Rik Samhita I A. 8 Ad. 186 S. 116. 5.
