Ayurvedic Perspectives on Sangyaharana (Anaesthesia) and Vedana Shamana (Pain Management)

Abstract

The concept of Sangyaharana (abolition of consciousness/anaesthesia) occupies a distinctive and clinically significant position within the vast corpus of classical Ayurvedic surgical literature. Ancient Indian medical scholars, most prominently Acharya Sushruta, formulated systematic approaches to pre-operative sedation, intra-operative pain abolition, and post-operative wound management that collectively constitute a functional anaesthetic system predating its Western counterpart by over two thousand years. The present review undertakes a comprehensive critical examination of classical textual evidence from Sushruta Samhita, Charaka Samhita, Ashtanga Hridayam, Ashtanga Sangraha, Sarangadhara Samhita, and Bhavaprakasha Nighantu, contextualising these descriptions against contemporary biomedical pharmacology, neurophysiology, and anaesthetic science. Key drug substances reviewed include Vijaya (Cannabis sativa), Dhatura (Datura metel), Parasika Yavani (Hyoscyamus niger), Ahiphen (Papaver somniferum), Vatsanabha (Aconitum ferox), and Kuchala (Strychnos nux-vomica), with particular attention to their active phytochemical constituents and established receptor-level mechanisms. The Tridosha based taxonomy of Vedana (pain) is systematically compared with modern nociceptive, inflammatory, and neuropathic pain classifications, revealing striking conceptual parallels. The perioperative protocols delineated in Shalya Tantra are analysed against contemporary anaesthetic standards and ERAS guidelines. The review concludes that Ayurvedic anaesthetic and analgesic practice constitutes a coherent, empirically grounded system warranting urgent, systematic scientific investigation.