“On Leeches” in a Medical Treatise for Humans

Humans and leeches have engaged in human medicine together for at least two thousand years. Perhaps the earliest detailed description of this interaction is found in a chapter on leech therapy from an early first-millennium Sanskrit surgical treatise, the Suśrutasaṃhitā. There we find descriptions of how humans should classify, care for, interpret, and interact with leeches in medical practice. This article contributes to our understanding of leech therapy in South Asia broadly and to the textual history of this important medical treatise through a comparative study of a newly generated “Nepalese version” of the Suśrutasaṃhitā’s chapter “On Leeches” together with the most widely cited version (Āchārya 1938) that was published with Ḍalhaṇa’s twelfth-century commentary. The final portion of the article presents an edition and translation of the Nepalese version of the chapter “On Leeches” prepared by the author along with members of the Suśruta Project. The edition is based on three Nepalese manuscripts, including a palm leaf manuscript dating from 878 C.E., one of the earliest extant Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscripts of any genre.