REVIEW STUDY OF YANTRA, SHASTRA AND ASHTAVIDHA KARMA IN SHALAKYA TANTRA

Dr. Priyanka Satapathy*, Dr. Manjiri Keskar, Dr. Shalaka More and Dr. Shivkant Sharma

ABSTRACT

Importance of Ayurveda is increasing day by day and people are looking towards Ayurveda as an alternative to contemporary medicine. Wide description is available in Ayurvedic classics regarding various surgical instruments (Yantra, Shastra) used in different branches of Ayurveda for carrying out clinical examination; medical and operative procedures. Hasta (Hand)1is considered as the Pradhantamam yantra because surgical instruments are in many ways simply extension of human hand. Surgical instruments such as forceps, dilators, speculums etc are similar to the 101 Yantras and 20 Shastras mentioned in Ayurveda e.g., Samdansha Yantra, Naadi Yantra, Shalaka Yantra, Mandalagra Shastra, Vetasapatra Shastra, Suchi, Shararimukha Shastra etc. To perform various procedures in Shalakya Tantra, use of blunt and sharp instruments are described in detail. In this article we have discussed about those Yantras (Blunt instruments) and Shastras (sharp instruments) and various Shastra karmas used in Shalakya tantra.

Keywords: Yantra, Shastra, Shastra karma.