Textbook of Shalya Tantra: Surgery in Ayurveda, Volume 1

According to Sushruta, the great surgeon of ancient India, the qualities of good surgeon is a person who possesses courage and presence of mind, a hand free from perspiration, tremor less grip of sharp and blunt instruments and who carries his operations to the success. The ancient India the surgical science was known as shalyatantra. Shalya means any object foreign to the body which causes pain both in body and mind and tantra means maneuver. Shalyatantra deals with all processes, liming at the removal of factors responsible for producing pain in the body or mind. Sushruta is the father of surgery. If the history of science is traced back to its origin, to probably starts from an unmarked era of ancient time. Although the science of medicine and surgery has advanced with startlingly rapid progress today, many techniques practised today have still been derived from the practices of the ancient Indian scholars.