A thousand-year-old Ayurvedic manuscript containing the Compendium of Süruta was
announced to the scholarly world in 2007. The Nepalese manuscript, since adopted by
UNESCO as part of the Memory of the World, reveals the state of classical Indian
medicine in the ninth century. It enables us to study the changes in this medical
classic that have taken place from the ninth to the nineteenth century, when printed
texts began to dominate the dissemination of the work. The present monograph
describes the research project focussed on this manuscript and offers an edition,
study and translation of the historically important chapter about the plastic
surgery on the nose and ears.