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

188 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
for its medical skill throughout the ancient period.
Her doctors could perform surgical operations for
cataract, hydrocele, abscesses, extraction of dead
embryos, etc.¹ They were in demand in Messo-
potamia and Arabia for guiding and training the
physicians there. Khalifa Harun sent several scholars
to India to study Hindu medicine and pharmacology
and induced about 20 doctors to come to Baghdad to
become chief medical officers of state hospitals and to
translate Sanskrit medical work into Arabic. Most
celebrated among them was Manakā (Māṇikya), who
was originally invited to cure an ailment of Sultan
Harun, which defied the skill of Arabian physicians.
He succeeded in his treatment and was later induced
to become the director of state hospitals and translate
the work of Suśruta into Arabic.² Arabic system
1 Sītā apprehended that Rāvaṇa might kill and dissect her limb
by limb like a surgeon extracting a dead embryo; cf.
तस्मिन्ननागच्छति लोकनाथे गर्भस्थजन्तोरिव शल्यकृन्तः ।
नूनं ममांगान्यचिरादनार्यः शस्त्रैः शितैश्छेत्स्यति मानवेन्द्रः ॥
• Rāmāyaṇa, V. 28. 6
Non-discovery of anaesthetics aad sterilisation processes was stauding
in the way of progress. Wine was administered as a partial anaes-
thetic. The Bhojaprabandha refers to an anæsthetic called
mohanichūrṇa: but since it is mentioned in connection with a
miraculous cure effected by the divine physicians Aśvins, we may
doubt its general knowledge or use.
cf. ततस्तावपि राजानं मोहचूर्णेन मोहयित्वा शिरःकपालमादाय
तत्करोटिकापुटे स्थितं शफरकुलं गृहीत्वा कस्मिंश्चिद्भाजने निक्षिप्य संधान-
करण्या कपालं यथावदारचय्य संजीवन्या च तं जीवयित्वा तस्मै
तददर्शयताम् ॥ Bhojaprabandha, after v. 318
2. S. K. Nadvi. Arab aur Bharat ke sambandha, pp. 108-28 ;
Alberuni, Introduction, p. XXXI. Saleh bin Bahala and Dahan
(Dhanvantari ?) were two of the famous colleagues of Manaka, who
accompanied him to Baghdad.