India

The phrase, “To cut of your nose to spite your face” is familiar to all of us. However, very few know where it came from. In India, a common punishment for such crimes as stealing a large animal, abetting a thief and fornication was to cut off the nose of the offender. The North Indian Hindu poem, “Epic of Rama Prince of India,” dating from 1200 – 1000 BC, was retold in the Ramayana, by Valmiki, around 400-200 BC. The hero Sri Rama’s brother Lakshmana, when confronted by the female demon Shrupanakka, who dared to make love to him, cut off the nose of his consort to spite her and not to kill her.

Buddha Ghosa, in the 4th Century, in the Dhammapada Athakata, tells the story of a husband who committed fornication with a woman-servant in his house. His wife bound that guilty servant’s hand and foot and cut off her nose. This practice continued for many centuries.

Indian physicians were thus confronted with a large number of patients with a problem. They learned the detailed anatomy and the surgical techniques that would lead to the development of both ENT (ear nose and throat) surgery and plastic surgery.

Sushruta Banaras, now referred to as the “Father of Surgery” in the Indian tradition, worked and taught along the Ganges River in India around 600 BC. His many volumes of surgical descriptions, known as the Susrutha Samhita, were the basis of Indian surgical practice for many centuries after. He was the first to establish a surgical practical laboratory, or workshop, using clay objects and various fruits to mimic human surgical situations.