LESLIE HAMILTON SHIRLAW 11
state of society and unsupported by their oldest and most authentic civil and
moral, as well as medical institutes', and, however we may criticize this system
of anatomy, calling it ' fanciful and fallacious ', we must at least recognize
it for the first scientific approach to the practical study of anatomy, antedating
that of the Greeks by several centuries.
VI. VETERINARY AUTHORITIES
As has already been pointed out, there was, in post-Vedic times, a decided
advance in veterinary knowledge and during this period Sanskrit literature
abounds in allusions to veterinary science, while individual authorities are
numerous. Kings were beginning to realize the vital importance of domestic
animals to the state. Horses and elephants provided two important ' arms '
of the military forces, oxen and camels were the chief means of transport,
while the entire prosperity of the country was dependent on its cattle. It is,
therefore, during this period, that we find State Departments of Livestock
formed and veterinary officers appointed. To provide these latter with the
knowledge necessary for a proper performance of their duties, much was written
by masters of the art for their guidance, while veterinary science was actually
included in the curriculum of the medical schools of that period. In the
Charaka Samhita, we find the medical students, sitting under Atreya, asking
how to make clisters for animals and the sage replying in detail.
The first mention of a highly organized Department of Livestock to be met
with in Indian history is that described by Kautalya in his ' Arthasastra ',
where he gives a detailed and vivid review of the excellent organization of
this department under Chandergupta Maurya (322-298 B.C.). Asoka (273-
232 B. C.) founded hospitals and dispensaries for both men and animals through-
out his kingdom. In 161 B.C., Dutha Gamani of Ceylon appointed physicians
whose duties were to care for the troops and also the army elephants and horses,
a practice which was continued by his successors, not entirely from disinterested
benevolence, since the king claimed a percentage on the sale of these animals.
Léclainche states that during the reign of Kaniska (120-162 A.D.), a veterinary
book was published by an anonymous doctor which represented the sum total
of Hindu veterinary knowledge gleaned during the previous thousand years,
and shows that though veterinary medicine was mainly concerned with
religious ritual some surgery was practised and strict rules of hygiene were
observed. In the Sukraniti (circa 9th century A.D.) there are described Super-
intendents in charge of each variety of state domestic animal, under each of
whom a specially qualified veterinary officer was appointed. While in the 13th
century A.D., the Jain, Hamsadeva, wrote a natural history of animals, called
' Mriga Pakshi Sastra ', at the order of Raja Saudadeva of Jinapura.
By the eighth century A.D., the fame of Indian medical science had spread
far, carried from India by the Arab conquerors of Sind, but its great days were
already long past, and the Hindu Scholars who flocked to the courts of the
Caliphs Haroun-al-Rashid and Mansur, were mere redactors, commentators
and translators of their country's heritage. The numerous translations of
early medical works, both direct from the Sanskrit and from still earlier Persian
translations, carried out in Baghdad under this royal patronage, played, how-
ever, an important part in the history of medicine. It was not only Greek