The first detailed description of plastic surgical procedures is found in the clinical text on Indian surgery, the Sushruta Samhita which incorporates details of surgical tools and operative techniques. Sushruta wrote, based on the lectures of his teacher, the famous surgeon king, Devadas. He taught his pupils to try their knives first on natural as well as artificial objects resembling diseased parts of the body before undertaking the actual operations. It is interesting to note that modern surgery stresses so much upon simulation, models and cadaver training before actual performance to increase and improve patient safety. He stressed on both theoretical and practical training and had famously remarked once: "The physician who has only the book of knowledge (Sastras) but is unacquainted with the practical methods of treatment or who knows the practical details of the treatment but from self-confidence, does not study the books, is unfit to practice his calling." Sushruta considered surgery to be the most important branch of all the healing arts and had performed and described in detail several complicated operations. This includes operations for intestinal obstruction, hernia repairs, bladder stone, but more importantly, several plastic surgical operations, including those for cleft lip and nose reshaping, which are performed virtually unchanged even today from his descriptions about 3000 years ago!

The paragraph focuses on the

• evolution of medicine in India

• life of Sushruta and his work

• India's contribution to medical science

• methods of plastic surgery in India

The first detailed description of plastic surgical procedures is found in the clinical text on Indian surgery, the Sushruta Samhita which incorporates details of surgical tools and operative techniques. Sushruta wrote, based on the lectures of his teacher, the famous surgeon king, Devadas. He taught his pupils to try their knives first on natural as well as artificial objects resembling diseased parts of the body before undertaking the actual operations. It is interesting to note that modern surgery stresses so much upon simulation, models and cadaver training before actual performance to increase and improve patient safety. He stressed on both theoretical and practical training and had famously remarked once: "The physician who has only the book of knowledge (Sastras) but is unacquainted with the practical methods of treatment or who knows the practical details of the treatment but from self-confidence, does not study the books, is unfit to practise his calling." Sushruta considered surgery to be the most important branch of all the healing arts and had performed and described in detail several complicated operations. This includes operations for intestinal obstruction, hernia repairs, bladder stone, but more importantly, several plastic surgical operations, including those for cleft lip and nose reshaping, which are performed virtually unchanged even today from his descriptions about 3000 years ago!

Sushruta's training consisted of.

• acquiring complete theoretical knowledge

• apprenticeship under a guru

• practice on objects similar to human body parts

• focusing on non-surgical procedures

The first detailed description of plastic surgical procedures is found in the clinical text on Indian surgery, the Sushruta Samhita which incorporates details of surgical tools and operative techniques. Sushruta wrote, based on the lectures of his teacher, the famous surgeon king, Devadas. He taught his pupils to try their knives first on natural as well as artificial objects resembling diseased parts of the body before undertaking the actual operations. It is interesting to note that modern surgery stresses so much upon simulation, models and cadaver training before actual performance to increase and improve patient safety. He stressed on both theoretical and practical training and had famously remarked once: "The physician who has only the book of knowledge (Sastras) but is unacquainted with the practical methods of treatment or who knows the practical details of the treatment but from self-confidence, does not study the books, is unfit to practise his calling." Sushruta considered surgery to be the most important branch of all the healing arts and had performed and described in detail several complicated operations. This includes operations for intestinal obstruction, hernia repairs, bladder stone, but more importantly, several plastic surgical operations, including those for cleft lip and nose reshaping, which are performed virtually unchanged even today from his descriptions about 3000 years ago!

The passage gives us details about

• how to perform certain types of surgery

• how to become a good surgeon

• how surgery can replace other treatments

• how patients have to be treated after surgery

The first detailed description of plastic surgical procedures is found in the clinical text on Indian surgery, the Sushruta Samhita which incorporates details of surgical tools and operative techniques. Sushruta wrote, based on the lectures of his teacher, the famous surgeon king, Devadas. He taught his pupils to try their knives first on natural as well as artificial objects resembling diseased parts of the body before undertaking the actual operations. It is interesting to note that modern surgery stresses so much upon simulation, models and cadaver training before actual performance to increase and improve patient safety. He stressed on both theoretical and practical training and had famously remarked once: "The physician who has only the book of knowledge (Sastras) but is unacquainted with the practical methods of treatment or who knows the practical details of the treatment but from self-confidence, does not study the books, is unfit to practise his calling." Sushruta considered surgery to be the most important branch of all the healing arts and had performed and described in detail several complicated operations. This includes operations for intestinal obstruction, hernia repairs, bladder stone, but more importantly, several plastic surgical operations, including those for cleft lip and nose reshaping, which are performed virtually unchanged even today from his descriptions about 3000 years ago!

The closest meaning of the word 'undertaking' is

• experimenting on

• taking up

• trying out

• venturing to

The first detailed description of plastic surgical procedures is found in the clinical text on Indian surgery, the Sushruta Samhita which incorporates details of surgical tools and operative techniques. Sushruta wrote, based on the lectures of his teacher, the famous surgeon king, Devadas. He taught his pupils to try their knives first on natural as well as artificial objects resembling diseased parts of the body before undertaking the actual operations. It is interesting to note that modern surgery stresses so much upon simulation, models and cadaver training before actual performance to increase and improve patient safety. He stressed on both theoretical and practical training and had famously remarked once: "The physician who has only the book of knowledge (Sastras) but is unacquainted with the practical methods of treatment or who knows the practical details of the treatment but from self-confidence, does not study the books, is unfit to practise his calling." Sushruta considered surgery to be the most important branch of all the healing arts and had performed and described in detail several complicated operations. This includes operations for intestinal obstruction, hernia repairs, bladder stone, but more importantly, several plastic surgical operations, including those for cleft lip and nose reshaping, which are performed virtually unchanged even today from his descriptions about 3000 years ago!

A word or phrase that can replace 'virtually unchanged' in the text is

• literally unknown

• very well known

• factually unaltered

• slowly evolving

The first detailed description of plastic surgical procedures is found in the clinical text on Indian surgery, the Sushruta Samhita which incorporates details of surgical tools and operative techniques. Sushruta wrote, based on the lectures of his teacher, the famous surgeon king, Devadas. He taught his pupils to try their knives first on natural as well as artificial objects resembling diseased parts of the body before undertaking the actual operations. It is interesting to note that modern surgery stresses so much upon simulation, models and cadaver training before actual performance to increase and improve patient safety. He stressed on both theoretical and practical training and had famously remarked once: "The physician who has only the book of knowledge (Sastras) but is unacquainted with the practical methods of treatment or who knows the practical details of the treatment but from self-confidence, does not study the books, is unfit to practise his calling." Sushruta considered surgery to be the most important branch of all the healing arts and had performed and described in detail several complicated operations. This includes operations for intestinal obstruction, hernia repairs, bladder stone, but more importantly, several plastic surgical operations, including those for cleft lip and nose reshaping, which are performed virtually unchanged even today from his descriptions about 3000 years ago!

An antonym of the word 'complicated' is 

• facile

• stressful

• unknown

• mysterious

The first detailed description of plastic surgical procedures is found in the clinical text on Indian surgery, the Sushruta Samhita which incorporates details of surgical tools and operative techniques. Sushruta wrote, based on the lectures of his teacher, the famous surgeon king, Devadas. He taught his pupils to try their knives first on natural as well as artificial objects resembling diseased parts of the body before undertaking the actual operations. It is interesting to note that modern surgery stresses so much upon simulation, models and cadaver training before actual performance to increase and improve patient safety. He stressed on both theoretical and practical training and had famously remarked once: "The physician who has only the book of knowledge (Sastras) but is unacquainted with the practical methods of treatment or who knows the practical details of the treatment but from self-confidence, does not study the books, is unfit to practise his calling." Sushruta considered surgery to be the most important branch of all the healing arts and had performed and described in detail several complicated operations. This includes operations for intestinal obstruction, hernia repairs, bladder stone, but more importantly, several plastic surgical operations, including those for cleft lip and nose reshaping, which are performed virtually unchanged even today from his descriptions about 3000 years ago!

The personal quality which Sushruta warns against is

• arrogance

• cowardice

• rudeness

• ignorance

The first detailed description of plastic surgical procedures is found in the clinical text on Indian surgery, the Sushruta Samhita which incorporates details of surgical tools and operative techniques. Sushruta wrote, based on the lectures of his teacher, the famous surgeon king, Devadas. He taught his pupils to try their knives first on natural as well as artificial objects resembling diseased parts of the body before undertaking the actual operations. It is interesting to note that modern surgery stresses so much upon simulation, models and cadaver training before actual performance to increase and improve patient safety. He stressed on both theoretical and practical training and had famously remarked once: "The physician who has only the book of knowledge (Sastras) but is unacquainted with the practical methods of treatment or who knows the practical details of the treatment but from self-confidence, does not study the books, is unfit to practise his calling." Sushruta considered surgery to be the most important branch of all the healing arts and had performed and described in detail several complicated operations. This includes operations for intestinal obstruction, hernia repairs, bladder stone, but more importantly, several plastic surgical operations, including those for cleft lip and nose reshaping, which are performed virtually unchanged even today from his descriptions about 3000 years ago!

According to Sushruta, __________ are above all healing arts.

• observation and counselling

• surgery and post-operative care

• timely administration of medicine and counselling

• study of patient's condition

The first detailed description of plastic surgical procedures is found in the clinical text on Indian surgery, the Sushruta Samhita which incorporates details of surgical tools and operative techniques. Sushruta wrote, based on the lectures of his teacher, the famous surgeon king, Devadas. He taught his pupils to try their knives first on natural as well as artificial objects resembling diseased parts of the body before undertaking the actual operations. It is interesting to note that modern surgery stresses so much upon simulation, models and cadaver training before actual performance to increase and improve patient safety. He stressed on both theoretical and practical training and had famously remarked once: "The physician who has only the book of knowledge (Sastras) but is unacquainted with the practical methods of treatment or who knows the practical details of the treatment but from self-confidence, does not study the books, is unfit to practise his calling." Sushruta considered surgery to be the most important branch of all the healing arts and had performed and described in detail several complicated operations. This includes operations for intestinal obstruction, hernia repairs, bladder stone, but more importantly, several plastic surgical operations, including those for cleft lip and nose reshaping, which are performed virtually unchanged even today from his descriptions about 3000 years ago!

The writer's objective here is to

• present a short history of ancient surgical practices

• outline about India's potential in the medical field

• draw attention to Indian traditional knowledge

• compare modern and ancient practices.

Remnants Left Behind

A leaf detaching
herself from a tree
strong winds howling
catching in a gale
just won't let her be.
A ship sailing on an ocean
being bashed by heavy winds
forcing her to dry land
seeking asylum once again.
Footprints in the sand
leaving behind positive thoughts
until the tide rushes in
and everything is lost.
Remnants of two lovers
once, so young, and bold
signatures etched on a heart
A love story never told.

Heather Burns

The poet's message here is about the power of

• human love that is permanent

• nature that can create or destroy

• the sea over human life

• human beings over nature