Institutions of higher learning – medicine and surgery
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- The data on exact number of colleges that were offering medical sciences qualifications are not reliably available
- The educators and practitioners of surgery were often of the ‘Shudra’ class. Amongst them the Nayi jati was considered to the best by the British. In the ‘modern’ era, however Nayis are considered to be marginal barbers[ii] [iii].
- The education in ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine) was based on ancient texts such as Charaka Saṃhitā.
- Sutra Sthana (General principles), Nidana Sthana (Pathology), Vimana Sthana (training of a physician, ethics, etc), Śarira Sthana (embryology and anatomy of the human body (with a section on other living beings)), Indriya Sthana (sensory organ based prognosis), Cikitsa Sthana (therapeutics), Kalpa Sthana (pharmaceutics and toxicology), Siddhi Sthana (success in treatment)
- Other text books : Sham Raj, Nighant, Sharang Dhar, Bhashya Parichehed, Madhava Nidan, Vagbhat
- The education of surgery was based on ancient texts such as medico–surgical compendium Suśruta Saṃhitā (c. 500 BC), which were written by the ayurvedic physician Sushruta (c. 800 BC) who is considered the father of modern Surgery. It covers anatomy, treating fractures, general surgery, reconstructive plastic surgery, anaesthetics, rhinoplasty, perineal lithotomy, the suturing of wounds, and the extraction of foreign objects etc. The level of detail it covers goes into describing how foetus develops seven layers of skin, naming each layer and the specific diseases which may affect that layer in adult life, which is unimaginable for that era and made possible today only by high-powered microscopy and ultrasonography.
- ‘Cutting of nose’ or “naak kata leyna” has traditionally been considered as a sign of shame in India. There have been numerous cases when a British officer, a high ranking officer, or his subordinate, lost his nose partially or completely during war (with an Indian kingdom), as a sign of shame inflicted on him. Battles between Haider Ali and Colonel Coote being noteworthy examples[iv]. Sometimes the cut nose was completely burned to avoid being surgically fixed. Even such cases were treated by a complete reconstruction of nose along with nostrils. But it was only possible by an Indian surgeon (or Nayi). Interestingly such surgeons were available at the village level. In current era it is unimaginable to find a surgeon let alone a plastic surgeon in an Indian village. The Indian surgical practises were not
only advanced they involved use of anaesthesia[v], which was unknown to the west. As such the surgical operation was not barbarous or painful as it was in the west.
8. Education and the practice of surgery was not limited to the male population. For example – W Adam, in his report, pp 119 – 122, for district Purneah, described an old woman surgeon who had become highly reputable for her speciality in extracting stones from the bladder.
9. The practical value of this traditional system of education of medical science and surgery was the presence of low cost yet reliable medical facilities even at the village level. W Adam for example in his report describes the Thana of Nattore in the district of Rajshahy. The population was 1,20,928; it had 485 villages had 123 native general medical practitioners, 205 village doctors, 21 smallpox inoculators, 297 women-midwives[vi]. In modern India, in 1973, the Kartar Singh Committee of the Government of India had recommended that there should be 1 midwife (auxiliary nurse midwife – ANM) available per 10,000-12,000 people[vii]. For Thana of Nattore as surveyed by W Adam, the ratio was amazingly 1 midwife per 408 people. This is 2456% more than what the government is recommending in the so-called ‘modern’ era. This shows that the availability of healthcare specialists and paramedics was amazing in the pre-British era. In the so-called ‘modern’ era the child mortality rate in India is extraordinarily high, at 48 per 1000 population, for the year 2015[viii].
10. Smallpox inoculation (vaccination) is said to be the first vaccination developed, and Edward Jenner (in 1796) is credited to be the founding father. However, much like how the intellectual property (IP) for plastic surgery was obtained (stolen) from India, the IP for smallpox inoculation was as well learnt from India. It was a practice in India since time immemorial [ix] [x] [xi] [xii] [xiii] [xiv]. However, unlike in surgery the credit has not been given to its Indian origin.
[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nai_(caste)#cite_note-29 People of India Gujarat Volume XXI Part Three edited by R.B Lal, P.B.S.V Padmanabham, G Krishan & M Azeez Mohideen pages 1415-1418 [iii] [vi] The Beautiful Tree, Shri. Dharampal, Page 35, Page 52 These surveys began to be made from 1812 onwards, and their main purpose was to find out what number of such medical men were in receipt of assignments of revenue. Some details of the castes of these practitioners may be found in Madras Board of Revenue Proceedings of 17 September 1821, and of 9 March 1837, and other proceedings referred to therein. [iv] J. C. Carpue, ‘An Account of Two Successful Operations for Restoring a Lost Nose from the Integuments of the forehead...to which are prefixed Historical and Physiological Remarks on the Nasal Operation including Descriptions of the Indian and Italian Methods,’ London, 1816, pp.36-38 AND SOME NARRATIONS ON INDIAN AGRICULTURE, PLASTIC SURGERY, TANK IRRIGATION SYSTEM, CHRONOLOGY AND ARCHITECTURE, INDIAN COTTON TEXTILE INDUSTRY AND OIL WELLS IN
BURMA –Dharampal Collected Writings Volume II, pp.7-9 http://samanvaya.com/dharampal/frames/downloads/vol2.PDF [v] Sushruta (1907). “Introduction”. In Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna. Sushruta Samhita, Volume1: Sutrasthanam. Calcutta: Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna. pp. iv. [vii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auxiliary_nurse_midwife [viii] http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.DYN.MORT [ix] India Science and Technology in the eighteenth century – ShriDharampal, Page 2,Also see mid-eighteenth century Tracts on Inoculation in the British Museum [x] Fenner F, Henderson DA, Arita I, Jezek Z, Ladnyi ID. Geneva: World Health Organization; 1988. Smallpox and its eradication; pp. 369–71 Dowdle WR. The principles of disease elimination and eradication. Bull World Health Organ. 1998;76(Suppl 2):22–5. [xii] Fitchett JR, Heymann DL. Smallpox vaccination and opposition by anti-vaccination societies in 19 th century Britain. Hist Med. 1995;2:E17. [xiii] Riedel S. Edward Jenner and the history of small pox and vaccination. BUMC Proc. 2005;18:21–5 [xiv] The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. The history of vaccines. Available from: http://www.historyofvaccines.org .