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Art of Surgery
| Historical
background
Decline of Ayurvedic
Surgery |
Surgery (Shalya Tantra) |
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Ayurvedic surgery includes accurate, precise and detail knowledge about surgery. The prehistoric literature of India i.e. the Vedic scriptures give many examples of surgery, which include both general surgery as well as plastic surgery
i.e. the causes of limb amputations, eye ball extractions or burns, even though there is no description about the surgical procedure or the instruments used in those times.
Lord Dhanvantari was the pioneer of the school of Ayurvedic surgery. He obtained the knowledge about the medical science from lord Indra and introduced the art of surgery to many.
Sushruta was the 1st disciple of this school. He was a genius, who not only enriched the science of surgery but also became acknowledged worldwide as the father of surgery. He is still respected world wide as the
"Supreme Lord" of Surgery.
Ancient Indian surgery also describes in detail about the pre-operative procedures, general procedures, post-operative procedures, marma's (vital points) and also about anaesthesia. The description of the types of bandages, shastra (sharp instruments), yantras (blunt instruments), and sutures (stitches) has been described.
Surgically treated diseases like haemorrhoids, urinary calculi, fistula in ano and hydrocele, abscess, foreign body and its removal also have been described. It also includes description of special surgical techniques like plastic
surgery i.e. rhinoplasty, auroplasty, kshara sutra etc. Information about wounds and their management, descriptions of para surgical procedures like Agni karma (cauterization) and Kshara karma (caustics), description of the qualities of a good surgeon, managing nursing homes, surgical wards, the main eight surgical procedures and the principles of experimental surgery are also explained in detail.
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Description of an ideal Nursing home
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The clinic or the nursing home should be built on a clear land. Care should be taken to keep the place hygienic and germ free. It should be protected from direct wind and direct sunlight at the same time the clinic should be airy and well lit.
The patient's bed should be covered with well-washed and clean bed covers. The pillow should be kept facing towards east direction. The clothes of the patient and bed cover and pillow cover should be changed regularly. They should be washed and dried in sunlight and kept for some time in indirect smoke of guggul, etc. to sterilize it.
Relatives and friends should be allowed to meet the patient for recreation purposes.
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Ideal diet for the patient
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- Diet for the patient should be devoid of heavy food items like black grams, sesame, horse grams, deep fried food recipes, milk and all milk products; alcohol; very hot sour and bitter food recipes; meat recipes, etc.
- Intake of cold water should be avoided; boiled water is beneficial as it is free of bacteria.
- The favourable diet for the patient includes rice, ghrta (ghee / saturated fat), meat soups, vegetable soups, bitter gourd, radish, brinjal, pomegranate, juice of embolic myrobalan, green grams etc.
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Precautions
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- The movements of the patient should be restricted depending upon the site of the wound, because excessive movements can cause delay in the healing process.
- Patient should not be allowed to sleep during daytime since it increases the inflammation and discharge from the wound.
- Close contact with one's spouse should also be avoided.
- Patient should also avoid going out in direct sunlight, windy or dusty atmosphere, winter mornings, unclean and unhygienic places, as these conditions might cause secondary infection in the wounds.
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Personal Hygiene
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The patient should take bath everyday
and wear clean clothes. Patient's hair and nails should be regularly cut. If the nails are grown or contain dust and dirt; then chances of secondary infection are very high due to scratching of the wound during healing process.
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Stages of Surgery
