INTRODUCTION.

Sushruta: His age and personality: A few preliminary observations regarding the technique of the Ayurvedic system of medicine are necessary at the start to correctly understand the aim and scope of the Sushruta Samhita. Who was Sushruta? When and where did he live and flourish? These are questions that would naturally suggest themselves to the readers of the following pages; but they can only be imperfectly answered, like all similar questions regarding the lives of our ancient figures of merit. In a country like India, where life itself was regarded simply as an illusion, the lives of kings or commoners were deemed matters of little importance to the vital essence of the people; and all histories and biographies were looked upon as the embodiment of the trivial vanities of life. The lives of saints and canonized kings were used in certain instances as themes for national epics. But they were intended more to explain or state the doctrines of certain schools of Ethics or Metaphysics than to record any historical fact or event. We have no authentic history beyond chronicles of state events and royal names in some instances; and those which are usually found in the Sanskrit Puránas are strange combinations of myths and legends, which often contradict each other. Therefore, it is completely futile to attempt to explain a historical fact by the light of a votive medal or tablet unearthed, perhaps, from the ruins of one of our ancient cities. Such an effort serves, in most cases, only to make the "darkness visible" and the confusion even greater.