Page:A History of Hindu Chemistry Vol 1.djvu/43

 The Susruta is par excellence a treatise on surgery as the Charaka is on medicine proper. Ancient India must have acquired considerable skill in the handling of the lancet; for in the Charaka we find a distinction drawn between the "Káyachikitsakas," i. e. the physicians properly so called, and the "Dhanvantvarisampradáyas" i. e. followers of Dhanvantvarí or the Chirurgeons—a distinction which we have already noticed in the beginning of the Vedic Age.

The age of Susruta has been the subject of animated controversy for a long time past. The Hindus regard this branch of Ayurveda as a direct revelation from the Asvins or the Divine Surgeons (see p. i, Intro.). The origin of this myth can be traced to the Rigveda as already seen. In the Mahábhárata, Susruta is spoken of as the son of the sage Visvámitra and in the "Várttikas" of Kátyáyana (about 4th century B. C.) we