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