Medicine & Surgery
Textual description of caesarean section
early 1st millennium CESushruta traditionSushruta SamhitaIndus region (India/Pakistan)
1 CE
Mentions post-mortem caesarean delivery, an early textual reference to the procedure.
- Dated
- 1–334 CE
- As scholars put it
- early 1st millennium CE
- Originator
- Sushruta tradition
- Source text
- Sushruta Samhita
- Region
- Indus region (India/Pakistan)
- Discipline
- Medicine & Surgery
- Evidence
- Documented
- Confidence
- Medium
- Verification
- Reference-cited
Meanwhile in the West
Modern caesarean surgery is a much later Western development.
Fair to say
The famous Bindusara/Chanakya C-section story is legend; the textual mention is the documented part.
Path to modern innovation
C-section is a routine life-saving operation today.
Transmission
Ancient textual reference.
Primary sources
- 3An English translation of the Sushruta samhita, based on original Sanskrit text. Edited and published by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna. With a full and comprehensive introd., translation of different readings, notes, comperative views, index, glossary and platesUnreviewed
- 4Sushruta SamhitaUnreviewed
References
- 1Sushruta Samhita
Further reading
Corrections and additional sources: edit IND-092 on GitHub.