Review of The Legacy of Susruta

The Legacy of Susruta
M. S. Valiathan
Published by Orient Longman

M. S. Valiathan’s new book on the Suśrutasamhita has been constructed on the same principles as his The legacy of Caraka published for the first time in 2004. The contents of the Samhita are rearranged in fifteen sections and eighty-seven chapters by collecting the material on particular subjects usually found scattered in the original treatise. Most chapters are therefore composite as can easily be ascertained by consulting the references at the end of each. Several chapters on particular diseases, for example, derive the text from the Nidanasthana (aetiology, symptomatology, etc.) and the Cikitsasthana (treatment). The position of the sthanas themselves has also been reorganized. The Śarirasthana, for example, ahs been moved towards the end.

Recapitulating briefly my impressions, Valiathan’s new book on the Suśrutasamhita is a valuable addition to the already existing translations by bringing together related but scattered information and by presenting complex material in tables.

G. J. Meulenbeld, Bedum, The Netherlands MEDICAL HISTORY, April 2008, 52 (2)