Eight kinds of surgical act

Footnotes define the first four: excision (chedana) cuts piles and the like from the root; incision (bhedana) bursts open swellings such as vidradhi; scraping (lekhana) scrapes; puncturing (vedhana) pierces vessels and the like with narrow-mouthed instruments.

Footnotes define the other four: probing (eshana) searches with a probe when the position of a foreign body is not known; extraction (aharana) draws out foreign bodies such as stones; draining (visravana) lets pus out of vidradhi and other wounds; suturing (sivana) stitches with needles after the abdomen or another part has been opened.

The footnote block calls shastra the knives, penknives, scissors and similar tools used for cutting.

The verse compares surgery to the eight kinds of karma of all embodied beings and lists its eight acts: excision, incision, scraping, puncturing, probing for unseen arrows and other foreign bodies, extraction, draining and suturing.