Skip to content

Procedureविधि

The eight surgical acts

आठ प्रकार के शस्त्रकर्म · अष्टविध शस्त्रकर्म

Extracted from the textNeeds a trained practitionerNew name from the text1 reference

To remove the many kinds of shalya in the body, instruments, knives, caustics and fire are used. Surgery has eight acts, excision, incision, scraping, puncturing, probing, extraction, draining and suturing, which a physician skilled in surgery performs with suitable instruments according to rule, as often as each stage of disease requires; the great heron-beak instrument (kankavaktra) is used to extract foreign bodies such as arrows and thorns.

Names and synonyms

Sanskrit
अष्टविध शस्त्रकर्म
Hindi
आठ प्रकार के शस्त्रकर्म
English
The eight surgical acts

Ingredients and preparation

How it is used

Performed with the knives and instruments suited to each act.

सकलतनुभृतां कर्मेव कर्माष्टभेदं।

Indicated for, as the text says

शस्त्र कर्म के छेदन, भेदन, लेखन, वेधन, एषण, हरण (आहरण) विस्रावण, सीबन इस प्रकार आठ भेद है।Source wording as converted, Chapter 14 · p. 248 · v. 30-31.

Safety

  • Needs a trained practitioner. This procedure or preparation is of a kind that should only be carried out under qualified supervision.

Pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, older adults, kidney or liver disease and other medicines all call for professional advice before any traditional remedy is used.

Questions and answers

What are the eight surgical acts listed in verses 30 and 31?

Excision, incision, scraping, puncturing, probing, extraction, draining and suturing.

Detailed answer and sources

All references

Every page and verse of the source that this entry draws on.

Quick facts

Content type
Procedure
Source pages with records
1
Pages naming it
0
Chapters
Chapter 14
Extraction tasks
T12
Record id
method_ashtavidha_shastrakarma_p320