Abstract

A CRITICAL REVIEW ON AYURVEDIC AND MODERN METHOD OF PRESERVATION AND DISSECTION OF DEAD BODY

Vinod Ranga, Sneh Ranga*, Rekha Jakhar and Mamta

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Abstract

The author of the Sushruta Samhita, Mahrishi Sushruta, was an ancient surgeon who lived during the second century BC. Sushruta is credited as being the founder of surgery in Ayurveda. Sushruta describes dissection and preservation in the Sushruta Samhita. According to Acharya Charaka, knowledge of Shuksam and Sathul Shariris are very necessary for the Sharir Rachana. As per Shusruta to become a best Physician & Surgeon the dissection of the dead body is very necessary. About 5000 BC, evidence of body preservation is recorded in the Ramayana chapter Ayodhya Kanda. Similarly, the Ayurvedic Classics, specifically the Sushruta Samhita, describe body preservation and are the first to discuss the preservation and selection of cadavers. The Ancient Egyptians also believed that the preservation of the mummy empowered the soul after death, which would return to the preserved cadaver. Arsenic was widely employed as an embalming fluid in the 19th and early 20th centuries, although other more potent and less hazardous compounds have since replaced it. The Need for Preservation was for Long before early practitioners of medicine in India began dissecting cadavers to study the human body. Modern preservation method is different from the ayurvedic method of preservation.

Keywords: Mahrishi Sushruta, Dead body preservation, Dissection.