The Sushruta Samhita Vol. 1 (English translation)

the principal centers for disseminating Brahmanic culture in distant lands. Hippocrates, though he did his utmost to liberate medical science from the bondage of speculative philosophy, might still have thought it necessary to retain only those truths of the Ayurveda which Pythagoras and the Buddhist brotherhood might have imported into his country, and which do not specifically belong to the domain of pure metaphysics. Of course, it is quite possible for men of different nationalities to arrive at the same truth or conclusion independently. There are coincidences in science as in art and philosophy. (1) Gravitation and the circulation of blood (2) were known to the Indians long before the births of Newton and Harvey in Europe. The celebrated atomic theory was preached in the Gangetic valley some five hundred years before the birth of Christ (3). But we may well ask those who still cling to this Greek-centric view to look at the other side of the picture as well. It may be stated, without the slightest fear of contradiction, that the Charaka and Sushruta, through the channel of Arabic, Persian, and Latin translations, still form the

(1) आकृष्टशक्तिश्च मही तया यत् खस्थं गुरुत्वाभिमुखं स्वशक्त्या।
आकृष्यते तत्पततीव भाति समे समन्तात् क्वरियं यतः खे ॥

(2) धातूनां पूरणं सम्यक् स्पर्शज्ञानमसंशयम्। स्वसिरासुचरद्रक्तं कुर्या-
च्चान्यान् गुणान् अपि ॥ यदातु कुपितं रक्तं संवत्ते स्ववहा सिराः, तदास विविधा
रोगा जायन्ते रक्तसम्भवाः। भावप्रकाशम्। (Bhavaprakasha).

The Harita Samhita, which according to certain scholars is older than the Sushruta Samhita, refers to the circulation of blood when describing Panduroga (Anemia). The disease, he observes, is caused by eating clay, which blocks the interior of the veins and obstructs the circulation of blood. Bhavamisra, the celebrated author of Bhavaprakasha who lived a century before Harvey, wrote the above couplets concerning the subject.

(3) Vaiseshika Darshana by Kanada.