Sushruta Statue Unveiled in Edinburgh

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The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in Scotland recently unveiled a bronze statue of the ancient Indian physician Maharishi Sushruta.
This gesture honors India's historical contributions to the fields of surgery and medical science.
King James IV established the institute in 1505, making it one of the oldest surgical institutions in the world.

Artisans at Swamimalai in Tamil Nadu crafted the statue using traditional Indian methods.
They used the traditional lost-wax method and a single bronze casting technique to preserve ancient sculptural craftsmanship.

Maharishi Sushruta was an ancient Indian physician and surgeon who lived around the 7th to 6th century BCE and is closely associated with Varanasi.
People widely call him the Father of Surgery and Father of Plastic Surgery because of his early work in reconstructive and operative surgery.
Traditional stories describe him as a student of Dhanvantari, who is connected with Ayurveda and linked to the Navratnas of King Vikramaditya or Chandragupta II.
He wrote the Sushruta Samhita, which remains one of the earliest known texts on plastic surgery.

The Sushruta Samhita forms a core part of Ayurveda's Great Trilogy, alongside the Charaka Samhita and Astanga Hridaya.
He performed and recorded over 300 surgical procedures, covering rhinoplasty or nose rebuilding, cataract removal, fracture treatment, and caesarean delivery.
His medical records also include Oshtha Sandhan for lip repair and Karna Sandhan for earlobe reconstruction.
His surgical guidelines covered anatomical observations, treatment methods, surgical instruments, cleanliness, cadaver dissection, and anaesthesia-related practices.
He gave great importance to practical training by making students practice on inanimate objects and dead animals before treating living humans.