{{Short description|Ancient Indian physician and surgeon}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date = April 2017}}
{{Infobox academic
| name = Sushruta
| image = Susruta. Pen drawing. Wellcome V0006619.jpg
| caption = 17th-century sketch of Sushruta
| birth_name = Sushruta
| birth_date = {{circa|mid 1st millennium BCE}}
| birth_place = [[Kannauj|Kanyakubja]]<ref>{{Cite book|author = Ashirbadi Lal Srivastava|title = Panchal (Part 9) Ed. By Dr. A. L. Shrivastav 1996|url= https://archive.org/details/orrz_panchal-part-9-ed.-by-dr.-a.-l.-shrivastav-1996-kanpur-panchal-sodh-samsthan/page/n46/mode/1up?q=%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%AC%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%9C+%E0%A4%AC%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B9%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%A3|publisher = Kanpur Panchal Shodh Sansthan|page = 47}}</ref><ref>''Compendium of Suśruta''</ref>
| death_date = mid 1st millennium BCE
| death_place = [[Varanasi]]
| body_discovered = Cremated
| alma_mater = Benares University
| discipline = {{hlist |[[Medicine]]|[[Dentistry]]|[[Obstetrics and gynaecology]]}}
| occupation = [[Medical doctor]]
| known_for = Author of ''[[Sushruta Samhita]]''
| native_name_lang = Sanskrit
| sub_discipline = [[Ayurveda]]
| workplaces = Banaras University<ref>{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1177/0967772016643463|title = Sushruta: Father of plastic surgery in Benares|year = 2019|last1 = Bath|first1 = Khushbir|last2 = Aggarwal|first2 = Sourabh|last3 = Sharma|first3 = Vishal|journal = Journal of Medical Biography|volume = 27|issue = 1|pages = 2–3|pmid = 27885151|s2cid = 6074657}}</ref>
| honorific_prefix = [[Maharshi]]<br /> [[Pandit]]
}}

'''Suśruta''' ({{langx|sa|सुश्रुत|lit=well heard}}, {{IAST3|Suśruta}}<ref>{{Cite book|title = A Sanskrit-English Dictionary|last = Monier-Williams|first = Monier|publisher = Clarendon Press|year = 1899|location = Oxford|pages = 1237|url = http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/monier/serveimg.pl?file=/scans/MWScan/MWScanjpg/mw1237-suvarNya.jpg}}</ref>) was an ancient Indian [[Medical doctor|physician]] and surgeon, who made significant contributions to the field of [[Plastic surgery|plastic]] and [[cataract]] surgery. He was the author of the ''[[Sushruta Samhita|Suśruta Saṃhitā]]'' (''Suśruta's Compendium''), considered to be one of the most important surviving ancient treatises on medicine.{{refn|group=nb|The Samhitas represent later revised versions (recensions) of their original works.<ref>Lock, Stephen etc. (200ĞďéĠĊ1). ''The Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine''. US: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-262950-6}}.</ref>}} It is also considered a foundational text of [[Ayurveda]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wujastyk |first1=Dominik |title=The Roots of Ayurveda |date=2003 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-044824-5 |oclc=708372480 }}{{page needed|date=April 2023}}</ref> The treatise addresses all aspects of general medicine, including diet, surgery, nosology, anatomy, developmental biology, therapeutics, toxicology, paediatrics and other subjects. The inclusion of particularly impressive and historically important chapters on surgery has wrongly led some to believe that this is the work's primary focus.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kansupada |first1=K. B. |last2=Sassani |first2=J. W. |title=Sushruta: the father of Indian surgery and ophthalmology |journal=Documenta Ophthalmologica. Advances in Ophthalmology |date=1997 |volume=93 |issue=1–2 |pages=159–167 |doi=10.1007/BF02569056 |pmid=9476614 |s2cid=9045799 }}</ref> The treatise consists of 186 chapters.

Acharya Sushruta was born in [[Kannauj|Kanyakubja]] and he later moved to [[Varanasi]], where he wrote The ''Compendium of Suśruta''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Singh |first1=Vibha |title=Sushruta: The father of surgery |journal=National Journal of Maxillofacial Surgery |date=2017 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=1–3 |doi=10.4103/njms.NJMS_33_17 |pmid=28761269 |pmc=5512402 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

== Authorship ==

The printed editions of the work normally contain the phrase "as Lord [[Dhanvantari]] declared" (Sanskrit ''यथोवाच भगवान्धन्वन्तरिः'') at the start of each chapter, framing the work as Dhanvantari's discourse.  However, the earliest manuscripts of the work omit this attribution, framing the work instead as the work of [[Divodasa|Divodāsa]], king of Varanasi.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Wujastyk |first1=Dominik |title=On the plastic surgery of the ears and nose: the Nepalese recension of the Suśrutasaṃhitā |last2=Birch |first2=Jason |last3=Klebanov |first3=Andrey |last4=Parameswaran |first4=Madhu K. |last5=Rimal |first5=Madhusudan |last6=Chakraborty |first6=Deepro |last7=Bhatt |first7=Harshal |last8=Lele |first8=Vandana |last9=Mehta |first9=Paras |date=2023 |publisher=Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing |isbn=978-3-948791-63-6 |location=Heidelberg}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Birch |first1=Jason |last2=Wujastyk |first2=Dominik |last3=Klebanov |first3=Andrey |last4=Parameswaran |first4=Madhu |last5=Rimal |first5=Madhusudan |last6=Chakraborty |first6=Deepro |last7=Bhatt |first7=Harshal |last8=Shenoy |first8=Devyani |last9=Lele |first9=Vandana |date=2021-10-08 |title=Further Insight into the Role of Dhanvantari, the physician to the gods, in the Suśrutasaṃhitā |url=https://www.academia.edu/56668282 |journal=Academia Letters |language=en |doi=10.20935/AL2992 |issn=2771-9359}}</ref>

[[S. K. Ramachandra Rao|Rao]] in 1985 suggested that the author of the original "layer" was "elder Sushruta" (''Vrddha Sushruta''), although this name appears nowhere in the early Sanskrit literature. The text, stated Rao, was redacted centuries later "by another Sushruta, then by Nāgārjuna, and thereafter a later collection of chapters called the Uttara-tantra was added as a supplement".<ref name="Rao">Ramachandra S.K. Rao, Encyclopaedia of Indian Medicine: historical perspective, Volume 1, 2005 Reprint (Original: 1985), [https://books.google.com/books?id=QRvzRGn9QqkC&pg=PA94 pp 94-98], Popular Prakashan</ref> It is now generally accepted by scholars that there were several ancient authors who contributed to this text.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Meulenbeld |first1=G.J. |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004646582 |title=Studies on Indian Medical History |last2=Wujastyk |first2=Dominik |date=1987-01-01 |publisher=BRILL |doi=10.1163/9789004646582 |isbn=978-90-04-64658-2}}</ref>

The translator G. D. Singhal called Suśruta "the father of plastic surgery" on account of the detailed accounts of surgery in the work as well as the now passée style of attributing metaphorical fatherhood to male innovators.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Susruta |title=Susruta-samhita |last2=Singh |first2=K. P |last3=Singh |first3=L. M |last4=Singhal |first4=G. D |last5=Udupa |first5=K. N |date=1972 |publisher=G.D. Singhal |location=Allahabad |language=Sanskrit |oclc=956916023}}{{page needed|date=April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Singhal |first1=G.D. |title=Toxicological Considerations in ancient Indian surgery |last2=Dwivedi |first2=R.N. |date=1976 |publisher=Singhal Publications |series=Ancient Indian Surgery Series; 7 |hdl=2027/mdp.39015019929879 |oclc=581768392}}{{page needed|date=April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Champaneria |first1=Manish C. |last2=Workman |first2=Adrienne D. |last3=Gupta |first3=Subhas C. |date=July 2014 |title=Sushruta: Father of Plastic Surgery |journal=Annals of Plastic Surgery |volume=73 |issue=1 |pages=2–7 |doi=10.1097/SAP.0b013e31827ae9f5 |pmid=23788147}}</ref>

== Date ==
The early scholar Rudolf Hoernle proposed that some concepts from the ''Suśruta-Saṃhitā'' could be found in the ''[[Shatapatha Brahmana|Śatapatha-Brāhmaṇa]]'', which he dated to the 600 BCE.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jolly |first=J. |date=January 1908 |title=Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India. Part I: Osteology, or the Parts of the Human Body. By A. F. Rudolf Hoernle, C.I.E. |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/s0035869x00037576 |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=228–232 |doi=10.1017/s0035869x00037576 |issn=0035-869X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>  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, 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, a contributor to the [[Charaka Samhita]] that wrote between the fourth and fifth centuries CE.<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last1=Meulenbeld |first1=Gerrit Jan |title=A History of Indian Medical Literature |date=1999 |publisher=E. Forsten |isbn=978-90-6980-124-7 |pages=333–357 }}</ref> Additionally, several ancient Indian authors used the name "Suśruta", resulting in potential misattribution.<ref name=":1" />

== Citations ==
In 1907, Kunja Lal Bhishagratna, a translator of the ''Suśrutasaṃhitā'', asserted that Suśruta was one of the sons of the sage [[Vishvamitra]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Bhishagratna|first=Kunjalal|url=https://archive.org/stream/englishtranslati01susruoft#page/n17/mode/2up/search/Vishvamitra|title=An English Translation of the Sushruta Samhita, based on Original Sanskrit Text|publisher=Calcutta|year=1907|location=Calcutta|pages=ii (introduction)|ref=bhishagratna}}</ref> Bhisagratna also asserted that Sushruta was the name of the clan to which [[Vishvamitra]] belonged.<ref name=":0" /> In Chapter 7 of the five-volume ''History of Indian Medical Literature'', published in 1999, physician-scholar [[Gerrit Jan Meulenbeld]] covers a variety of further theories on Suśruta's identity and the ''Sushruta Samhita''<nowiki/>'s dating and publication history.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Meulenbeld |first=Gerrit Jan |url=https://archive.org/details/Meulenbeld-HIML/HIML%201A%20/page/332/mode/2up |title=History of Indian Medical Literature |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Egbert Forsten Publishing]] |year=1999 |isbn=978-90-6980-124-7 |volume=1A |location=Groningen |pages=333–357 |language=English |oclc=165833440}}</ref>

The name Suśruta is listed as one of ten Himalayan sages in a treatise on medicinal garlic that was included in the sixth century CE ''[[Bower Manuscript]]s''.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title = The Roots of Ayurveda|last = Wujastyk|first = Dominik|publisher = Penguin|year = 2003|isbn = 978-0140448245|location = London etc.|pages = 149–160|ref = wuja-root}}</ref>  This is likely derived from the origin story at the start of the ''Suśrutasaṃhitā'' that makes this statement.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zysk |first=Kenneth G. |title=Categorisation and Interpretation |publisher=Göteborg University |year=1999 |isbn=91-630-7978-X |location=Göteborg |pages=125–145 |chapter=Mythology and the Brāhmaṇization of Indian Medicine: Transforming Heterodoxy into Orthodoxy}}</ref>

== Followers ==
Sushruta attracted a number of disciples and required to study for six years before beginning hands-on surgical training.  After the students had been accepted by Sushruta, he would instruct them in surgical procedures by having them practice cutting on vegetables or dead animals to perfect the length and depth of an incision. Once students had proven themselves capable with vegetables, animal corpses, or with soft or rotting wood – and had carefully observed actual procedures on patients – they were then allowed to perform their own surgeries. These students were trained by their master in every aspect of the medical arts, including anatomy.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Mark |first1=Joshua J. |title=Sushruta|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/sushruta/|access-date=2021-05-15|website=World History Encyclopedia|date=12 January 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=HS Shukla|first=M Tewari|title=Sushruta:'The Father of Indian Surgery'|url=http://www.bioline.org.br/pdf?is05075|journal=Indian Journal of Surgery|volume=67|pages=2}}</ref>

== The ''Suśrutasaṃhitā'' on medicine and physicians ==
[[File:Ancient Hindu text Sushruta samhita yantra, surgical instruments 4 of 4.jpg|thumb|Publisher's reconstruction of some of the surgical instruments described in the ''Suśrutasaṃhitā''. From K. L. Bhishagratna, ''An English Translation of the Sushruta Samhita in Three Volumes'' (Calcutta, 1907)'','' v.1, after p. LXVII.|363x363px]]
The ''Compendium of Suśruta'' (''Suśrutasaṃhitā'') is an instruction manual for physicians. Suśruta described the nurse, in this way:<blockquote>That person alone is fit to nurse, or to attend the bedside of a patient, who is cool-headed and pleasant in his demeanor, does not speak ill of anyone, is strong and attentive to the requirements of the sick, and strictly and indefatigably follows the instructions of the physician. (I.34)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lal Bhishagratna|first=Kaviraj Kunja|url=https://www.rarebooksocietyofindia.org/book_archive/196174216674_10154370772061675.pdf|title=THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA|year=1907–1916}}</ref></blockquote>

== Legacy ==
{{See also|Sushruta Samhita#Reception}}
Sushruta's medical prowess is exhibited through his writings on [[rhinoplasty]], involving nasal reconstructions using skin from the patient's [[forehead]] or [[cheek]], often for criminals punished with [[amputation]]s. Based on reports in the October 1794 edition of ''[[The Gentleman's Magazine]]'', published in [[London]], Indians maintained Sushruta's surgical practices until the late 18th century.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Roots of Ayurveda: selections from Sankskrit medical writings |date=2003 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-044824-5 |editor-last=Wujastyk |editor-first=D. |edition=Rev. |series=Penguin classics |location=London; New York}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Wujastyk |first1=Dominik |url=https://hasp.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/catalog/book/1203 |title=On the Plastic Surgery of the Ears and Nose |last2=Birch |first2=Jason |last3=Klebanov |first3=Andrey |last4=Parameswaran |first4=Madhu K. |last5=Rimal |first5=Madhusudan |last6=Chakraborty |first6=Deepro |last7=Bhatt |first7=Harshal |last8=Lele |first8=Vandana |last9=Mehta |first9=Paras |date=2023 |publisher=Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing |language=en |doi=10.11588/hasp.1203 |isbn=978-3-948791-62-9 }}</ref> Sushruta is credited with an early diagnostic observation related to diabetes (madhumeha), describing the sweetness of urine as an indicator of the disease, a condition historically associated with urine attracting ants.[citation needed]

The bronze statue in honor of Sushruta was unveiled at the [[Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh]] in July 2026.<ref>{{Cite web |title=RCSEd Celebrates Surgical Heritage and Global Collaboration Through New Legacy Initiatives {{!}} RCSEd |url=https://www.rcsed.ac.uk/news-resources/rcsed-news/2026/june/rcsed-celebrates-surgical-heritage-and-global-collaboration-through-new-legacy-initiatives |access-date=2026-06-29 |website=rcsed.ac.uk}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Dhanvantari]] 
* [[Vagbhata]]
* [[Charaka]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=nb}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-1-sutrasthana Sutrasthana], [https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-2-nidanasthana Nidanasthana], [https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-3-sharirasthana Sharirasthana], [https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-4-cikitsasthana Cikitsasthana], [https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-5-kalpasthana Kalpasthana], [https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-6-uttara-tantra Uttaratantra]: ''English translation, proofread, correct spelling, interwoven glossary''
* [http://sushrutaproject.org The Suśruta Project], a Canadian research project at the [[University of Alberta]] aimed at establishing a new Sanskrit text of the Suśrutasaṃhitā based on recently discovered medieval manuscripts in Nepal

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sushruta}}
[[Category:Ayurvedacharyas]]
[[Category:Indian surgeons]]
[[Category:Ancient Indian medical doctors]]
[[Category:Ancient ophthalmologists]]
[[Category:Ancient Indian writers]]
[[Category:Scientists from Varanasi]]
[[Category:Scholars from Varanasi]]
[[Category:Writers from Varanasi]]
[[Category:8th-century BC Hindus]]
[[Category:People from the Kāsī Kingdom]]