Sushruta Samhita - Authorship

Authorship

Suśruta (Devanagari सुश्रुत; a name literally meaning "well-famous") was an early Indian physician, who likely lived in Varanasi in the 6th century BCE. Little is known about the historical character. The earliest known mention of the name is from the Bower Manuscript, which is dated to the 4th or 5th century CE where Sushruta is listed as one of the ten sages residing in the Himalayas. It is thus not entirely certain that Sushruta is a historical figure, but most scholars tend to allow for the possibility that he was. Later Ayurvedic texts present him a son of Vishvamitra or a descendant of Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods in Hindu mythology.

Rao (2005) speculates that there may be an original "layer" to the text which may indeed date to the "elder Sushruta" (Vrddha Sushruta) which was redacted "by another Sushruta in the first century A.D." and still later additions and redactions by Nagarjuna (3rd century). The redaction by Nagarjuna is explicitly mentioned by Dalhana, the author of the primary commentary on the Sushruta Samhita.