HISTORICAL WRITE-UP OF VRANA WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SAMHITAS AND PURANAS: A REVIEW

Abstract

The history of medicine includes studies exploring and understanding medical practices, both in past and present, throughout human societies. A period which lacked written sources regarding medicine related information is instead drawn from archaeological sources. This field tracks the evolution of human societies' approach to health, illness, and injury ranging from prehistory to the modern day, the events that shape these approaches, and their impact on populations. Public health measures were developed especially in the 19th century as the rapid growth of cities required systematic sanitary measures. Human societies living in those eras were susceptible to various diseases, wounds and that was the time when they sought help from the surroundings in form of natural resources to heal themselves. When we consider the great wars of ancient times like Kurukshetra in dwapara yuga and war between Rama and Ravana in treta yuga, people got injured and developed wounds from the weapons chariots etc and they sought treatment from sages who were like healers, used the natural sources in the form of treatment. The science of healing has always been a matter of serious concern to ancient surgeons. This fact can be very well understood when going through Sushruta Samhita where a good number of chapters dealing with vrana and its management is found. The mankind was susceptible to injury during the ancient times too, by this we can understand the knowledge of vrana and its treatment principles even in those eras. Hence this study will review the aspect of vrana based on different samhita’s and puranas.