UPAMANA PRAMANA IN SUSHRUTA SAMHITA NIDANA STHANA: A TAXONOMIC AND MORPHOLOGICAL STUDY

The Nidana Sthana of the Sushruta Samhita is a foundational text in Ayurvedic diagnostics that extensively utilizes Upamana Pramana (analogies and similes) to elucidate complex clinical and surgical concepts. To systematically decode this pedagogical framework, this conceptual article presents a comprehensive textual review of all 16 chapters of the Nidana Sthana, meticulously tabulating the utilized Upamanas, their specific clinical contexts, and the corresponding shloka numbers. The compilation reveals that Acharya Sushruta employed a diverse array of real-world imagery as precise diagnostic tools rather than mere poetic flourishes. The findings categorize these analogies into distinct domains: botanical and zoological imagery for soft-tissue lesions (e.g., comparing hemorrhoids to plant shoots), household physics for systemic failures (e.g., likening dropsy to oil seeping through an unbaked clay pot), and structural metaphors for anatomical deformities (e.g., mapping bone fractures to crab pinchers). Ultimately, this compilation demonstrates that bridging the gap between abstract human pathology and familiar natural phenomena provided ancient practitioners with an intuitive visual roadmap. For contemporary Ayurvedic scholars and clinicians, analyzing these ancient metaphors not only deepens the understanding of surgical pathology but also highlights a timeless pedagogical model for clinical education.