A LITERARY STUDY OF ABDOMINAL SURGICAL INTERVENTION IN SUSHRUTA SAMHITA

*Dr. Neelam Sajwan

ABSTRACT

Acharya Sushruta, our ancient Indian surgeon, describes in Sushruta samhita over 120 surgical instruments, 300 surgical procedures, classifies human surgery in 8 categories, and describes various surgical procedures viz. Cosmetic, ophthalmic, dental, orthopaedic and abdominal operations. He describes eight kinds of surgical procedures viz. Chedya (excision), bhedya (incision), lekhya (scarification), vedhya (puncturing), esya (probing), aharya (extraction), vishravya (evacuation) and seevya (suturing), which have withstood the test of time. All the operative manoeuvres carried out by the present day surgeon involve one or more of these techniques only and not anything beyond these. Acharya Sushruta has divided the procedures in to three parts: poorva-karma, pradhan karma and paschat karma. Poorva- karma, which are required for the proper conduct of main procedures, “the preparation”; pradhan karma are those which are to be done, “the execution”; paschat karma are those needed to prevent any danger of the main action and ensures success, “the protection”.

Keywords: Acharya Sushruta, vishravya (evacuation) and seevya (suturing).