Sushruta

Suśruta
A statue dedicated to Suśruta at Haridwar
Fields	Medicine Plastic surgery Dentistry Obstetrics and gynaecology
Known for	author of Sushruta Samhita

Sushruta, or Suśruta (Sanskrit: सुश्रुत, lit. "well heard") was an ancient Indian physician, known as the main author of the treatise The Compendium of Suśruta (Sanskrit: Suśruta-saṃhitā) (ca. 600 BCE). The Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic text, represents him as a son of Rishi Vishvamitra, which coincides with the present recension of Sushruta Samhita. Kunjalal Bhisagratna opined that it is safe to assume that Sushruta was of the clan of Vishvamitra.

The Suśruta-saṃhitā is one of the most important surviving ancient treatises on medicine and is considered a foundational text of Ayurveda. The treatise addresses all aspects of general medicine, but the translator G. D. Singhal dubbed Suśruta "the father of surgery" on account of the extraordinarily accurate and detailed accounts of surgery to be found in the work. He has also been called "the first plastic surgeon". He is regarded to have been lived in the coastal region of the present state of Andhra and also regarded to have imparted knowledge to Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam physicians who later claim to have expertise

The Compendium of Suśruta locates its author in Varanasi, and recounts that Suśruta learned medicine and surgery from the king of that city, Divodāsa, who was an incarnation of the god of medicine Dhanvantari.

The early scholar Rudolf Hoernle proposed that some concepts from the Suśruta-saṃhitā could be found in the Śatapatha-Brāhmaṇa, that he dated to the sixth century BCE, and this dating is still often repeated. However, during the last century, scholarship on the history of Indian medical literature has advanced substantially, and firm evidence has accumulated that the Suśruta-saṃhitā is a work of several historical layers. Its composition may have begun in the last centuries BCE and it was completed in its present form by another author who redacted its first five chapters and added the long, final chapter, the "Uttaratantra." It is likely that the Suśruta-saṃhitā was known to the scholar Dṛḍhabala (fl. 300-500 CE), which gives the latest date for the version of the work that has come down to us today. It has also become clear through historical research that there are several ancient authors called "Suśruta" and that they should not be conflated.

The Mahābhārata lists Suśruta amongst the sons of Viśvāmitra, the legendary sage and progenitor of all Brāhmaṇas. The same connection with Viśvāmitra is also made in the Suśruta-saṃhitā itself. The name Suśruta appears in later literature in the Bower Manuscript (sixth century CE), where Suśruta is listed as one of the ten sages residing in the Himalayas.