( 2 )
Sanskrit works, persist in describing Ayurveda as an empirical system destitute of Anatomy, Physiology or Pathology in any scientific sense.
It behoves us, however, in this preface to meet some of the charges which have been brought against us.
Exception has been taken to our not including in the opening stanza the usual invocation to the Supreme Self (for a successful completion of the work) although it has found its way into almost all the printed editions of the work extant.
Now the stanza referred to finds no place in the various manuscript copies of the original work which are in our possession, or on which we have been able to lay our hands. The work was first put into print by the late Dr. Madhusudan Gupta and we believe that it was only in this printed edition that the benedictory address in question appeared for the first time, and that it has since crept, by the process of circulation, into subsequent printed editions.
In this opinion we are supported by the fact, that in none of the various commentaries and annotations on the Susruta Samhita is any mention made of the line in question, whereas, had it been the opening stanza of the original work, it would certainly have received at least a passing notice at the hands of the commentators, however easy or simple it might have been. Further, were it composed by Susruta himself, it would not have
