The Compendium of Suśruta in Time and Space

MS Kathmandu Kaiser Library 699. Extract of folio 11r, containing the start of sūtrasthāna 12 on cauterization.

This project on the history of medicine is based at the University of Alberta. It builds on the discoveries and publications of the original Suśruta Project (2020-2024).

The project’s goal is to develop a fresh understanding of ancient South Asian medicine based on new evidence from a close study of the evolution of the Compendium of Suśruta between the ninth century and the nineteenth century.

We are especially focussed on highlighting the textual and doctrinal differences between The Compendium as it existed in 878 CE and the later vulgate version and the work of the medieval commentators in reshaping the work over the years. Project outcomes will include further critical editions and translations of the main text as well as selected commentaries, studies of the transmission of scientific ideas within South Asia as well as to China and South East Asia, and outreach to contemporary consumers of indigenous medicine.

Funding for this project is generously provided by an Insight Grant from the Canadian SSHRC (no. 435-2025-0604) and runs from 2025-2029.

latest posts

Feb 17, 2026	Meeting with Prof. Maneesh Singhal and his research group
Feb 12, 2026	Dhanvantari according to Gayadāsa -- MS Cambridge CUL Add.2491
Feb 11, 2026	Gayadāsa's Commentary on Suśruta's Sūtrasthāna in Manuscript Bikaner Anup 4389
Jan 29, 2026	Project publication - Lisa A. Brooks "On Leeches"

selected publications

New Digital Edition of the Suśrutasaṃhitā: The Suśruta Project at Saktumiva

2021

URL Bib

@article{wuja-2021a,
  title = {New Digital Edition of the Suśrutasaṃhitā: The Suśruta Project at Saktumiva},
  url = {https://wujastyk.github.io/sushrutaproject/},
  year = {2021},
  editor = {Wujastyk, Dominik and Birch, Jason and Chakraborty, Deepro and Bhatt, Harshal and Brooks, Lisa and Gerris, Jan and Klebanov, Andrey and Rimal, Madhusudan and Lele, Vandana},
  institution = {University of Alberta},
  keyword = {ssproject},
  organization = {University of Alberta},
}

Further Insight into the Role of Dhanvantari, the Physician to the Gods, in the Suśrutasaṃhitā

Jason Birch, Dominik Wujastyk, Andrey Klebanov, and 6 more authors

Academia Letters, 2021

DOI
Ḍalhaṇa and the Early ‘Nepalese’ Version of the Suśrutasaṃhitā

Jason Birch, Dominik Wujastyk, Andrey Klebanov, and 4 more authors

Academia Letters, 2021

DOI
NAK 5/333 Is Not a Direct Copy of KL 699: Further Evidence

Deepro Chakraborty

2022

DOI
The Graphemes ch and cch in the Nepalese Script

Deepro Chakraborty, Jason Eric Birch, Dominik Wujastyk, and 4 more authors

Academia Letters, 2021

DOI
On the Textual History of the Suśrutasaṃhitā (1): A Study of Three Nepalese Manuscripts

Andrey Klebanov

eJIM: Electronic Journal of Indian Medicine, 2021

Abs DOI

This article presents a detailed introduction to the study of three Nepalese manuscripts of the Suśrutasaṃhitā, one of which happens to be the oldest verifiably dated Sanskrit manuscript preserved in the region. The article consists of three larger sections. The first part provides a thorough critical survey of research that has been done on this material to date. The second section provides a detailed description of the manuscripts, translates and discusses their colophons and deals extensively with various problems involved in their dating. The final section of the article looks at characteristic features of the Nepalese version of the Suśrutasaṃhitā by focusing on its structure, selected structural elements and selected elements of content.
On the Plastic Surgery of the Ears and Nose. The Nepalese Version of the Suśrutasaṃhitā

Dominik Wujastyk, Jason Birch, Andrey Klebanov, and 6 more authors

2023

Abs DOI PDF

A thousand-year-old Ayurvedic manuscript containing the Compendium of Suśruta was announced to the scholarly world in 2007. The Nepalese manuscript, since adopted by UNESCO as part of the Memory of the World, reveals the state of classical Indian medicine in the ninth century. It enables us to study the changes in this medical classic that have taken place from the ninth to the nineteenth century, when printed texts began to dominate the dissemination of the work. The present monograph describes the research project focussed on this manuscript and offers an edition, study and translation of the historically important chapter about the plastic surgery on the nose and ears.