The Sushruta Samhita Vol. 1 (English translation)

"wisdom and experience." Dallana has used all the commentaries in revising and collating the texts of the Suśhruta Samhitá.

Origin and History of the Áyurveda:—In the science of medicine, as in all other branches of study, the ancient Áryans claim to have derived their knowledge from the gods through direct revelation. Suśhruta, in his Samhitá, has described the Áyurveda as a subdivision (Upánga) of the Atharvan (1), while according to others, the science of the Áyurveda has its origin in the verses of the Rik Samhitá (2). Indeed, the origin of the science is lost in dim antiquity. Death and disease have existed in the world since the arrival of man; it was by following the examples of lower animals in sickness that our primitive ancestors acquired, by chance, knowledge about the properties of many valuable medicinal drugs. There is a verse in the Rigveda which shows that the lower animals were the teachers of man in matters of selecting foodstuffs and medicinal simples (3). Individual experiences in the realms of cure and hygiene were collected and codified, and thus formed the basis of the present Áyurveda. The verses in the Vedas clearly mark each step in the progress of medical knowledge. The properties of a new drug were always praised in a Vedic verse with a regularity which enables us to pinpoint the very time when a particular drug of our Materia Medica first came to be of service to man (4).

(1) Suśhruta Samhitá. Sutrasthánam. Ch. I. 3.

(2) ऋग्वेदस्यायुर्वेद उपवेद:

Charana Vyuha by Vyása.

(3) गोभिर्यवं चर्कृषत् । ऋग्वेद १० म । ९२ । १५

(4) A. शर: शर: अवशिष्टादिवज्ञाता वीरुच्छपथरोगणी ।
वभोरर्जुगकाण्डस्य यवस्यते पलाश: तिलस्य तिलोपिविष्टा ॥

Atharvan Samhitá

B. See also Ibid I 2 II. 4. 7. 9. 25, 27 and 36.