When was the Sushruta Samhita composed? disputed

Positions

1. A traditional early date

   Tradition and popular histories place Sushruta around 600 BC and call him the father of surgery.

   Sources

   1. Didusch Museum newsletter: Breaking the Stone Age (2025) Museum or society

2. A text compiled over centuries

   The film treats the surviving Samhita as a layered work built up over many centuries, with no single date of composition. The Didusch Museum newsletter frames it as spanning roughly 600 BCE to 600 AD.

   Sources

   1. Didusch Museum newsletter: Breaking the Stone Age (2025) Museum or society

Evidence

The film's research found no reliable basis for the traditional 600 BC date beyond tradition and advises against stating it as fact. Specific scholarly ranges for the core text were identified as leads but not verified, so the site does not publish them. The English used in the film is Bhishagratna's translation, which witnesses the text but not its age.

Current standing

Disputed. The traditional date persists in popular histories. The film words the point cautiously: compiled over many centuries, its core perhaps two thousand years old, with tradition placing it earlier still.

All sources