"Farther We Look Back, Further We Can See"
The history of Anaesthesia in India can be written in three stages. The pre-ether era, of beginning from Susruta when in 500 B C. operations were performed using opium, wine, Indian Hemp and of course by tying up! There is a mention in 527 A. D. in Bhoj Prabandh of a cranial operation on Raja Bhoj himself using "Sammohini" for induction and Sanjivani" for recovery! Later alcohol was used for unconsciousness during the Muslim period (Muslim contribution to medicine 1962, Prof. H. Wasty, Lahore Pakistan). In 1843, James Esdaile started mesmerism at the Imambarah Hospital Hooghly, Calcutta and published 216 operations, however a government report says it was not universally nor uniformly successful (Englishman 1845, 22(nd) September)
