प्राचीन भारत में शिक्षा (डॉ. ए.एस. अल्तेकर - गुरुकुल एवं बौद्ध विहार शिक्षण इतिहास)

VIII] PROFESSIONAL AND USEFUL EDUCATION 185 Some general Features : Medical education was usually imparted by private teachers. There was a ri- tual at the admission of students which will be described in Appendix 1, E. The student had to be well grounded in Sanskrit, for most of the books on medicine were written in that language. Learning by rote was condemned ; Suśruta compares a person having only a verbal knowledge of the medical texts to a donkey conscious of the heaviness but not of the quality of the burden it carries. Specialisation was encouraged ; students were expected to master the different branches of learning from different experts.¹ Practical training in surgery and pharmacy and constant discussion of abstruse points among the students and teachers were some of the important features of the training.² **Training in Surgery :—**We can get a fairly good idea of the training in surgery from our sources. The beginners were taught how to hold and use the surgical instruments by practising upon pumpkins, cucumbers, water melons, etc., under the teacher's directions. Puncturing was demonstrated on the veins of dead animals, the manner of holding the probe on dry Alābu fruits, scarification on stretched pieces of leather covered with hair, sewing on thin pieces of cloth or skin, application of bandages on stuffed human figures and the use of caustics on soft pieces of flesh.³ The novice was then gradually initiated in real cases and allowed to extract darts, cleanse wounds, and use the knife in piercing and cutting diseased parts of the body. How surgical wounds are to be made to dry up was also demonstrated. Practice in the adminis- 1 Suśruta, Sūtrasthāna, IV. 4. 4-8 2 Charaka. Vimānasthāna, 8. 4 3 Suśruta, Sūtrasthāna, Chap. 9 4 Mil. Pan., Vol. II, 254-5