title: Anatomy in ancient India: a focus on the Susruta Samhita.
abstract: This review focuses on how the study of anatomy in India has evolved through the centuries. Anatomical knowledge in ancient India was derived principally from animal sacrifice, chance observations of improperly buried human bodies, and examinations of patients made by doctors during treatment. The Vedic philosophies form the basis of the Ayurvedic tradition, which is considered to be one of the oldest known systems of medicine. Two sets of texts form the foundation of Ayurvedic medicine, the Susruta Samhita and the Charaka Samhita. The Susruta Samhita provided important surgical and anatomical information of the understanding of anatomy by Indians in the 6th century BCE. Here we review the anatomical knowledge known to this society.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine, St George's University, Grenada, West Indies. mloukas@sgu.edu
authors.forename: Marios
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Loukas
authors.forename: Alexis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lanteri
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ferrauiola
authors.forename: R Shane
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Tubbs
authors.forename: Goppi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Maharaja
authors.forename: Mohammadali Mohajel
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Shoja
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yadav
authors.forename: Vishnu Chellapilla
authors.initials: VC
authors.lastname: Rao
mesh_terms: D000715:Anatomy / Q000266:history*; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008515:Medicine, Ayurvedic / Q000266:history*