Std 6 English 3.4 Sushurta – A peep into the past – Questions and answers

Meanings of difficult words from the lesson.

veterinarian – an animal doctor

surgery – medical treatment that involves cutting open the part of the body to treat an injury or illness.

Consoled- to comfort someone who is sad.

compassion – strong feeling of sympathy for those who are suffering.

Survived – continue to live

Treatise – a systematically written work of a subject

Composed- written

attributed to – consider to have been written by.

erected – set up; built.

adjoining – neighbouring

stimulants – a medicine to increase the level of activity in the body.

conversion – change.

empathize – to understand another person’s feelings and experiences

POINTERS

1. Answer the following questions :

(a) Who was Sushruta?

Ans. Sushruta was a bright student of veterinary medicine.

(b) Who was Shalihotra?

Ans. Shalihotra was Sushruta’s teacher.

(c) What question did Shalihotra ask to test Sushruta?

Ans. Shalihotra asked Sushruta what all he would need to perform a surgery on a wonderful horse.

(d) How long a period did Shalihotra allow to find the missing things?

Ans. Shalihotra allowed Sushruta one week to find the missing things.

(e) How did Sushruta find the missing things? Select the appropriate answer.

(1) By reading several books

(2) By consulting his friends

(3) By observing his teacher carefully and thinking about what he did

(4) By meditating

Ans. Sushruta found the missing things by observing his teacher carefully and thinking about what he did.

(f) Who erected the first known veterinary hospitals of the world?

Ans. The great Emperor Ashoka erected the first known veterinary hospitals of the world.

2. What were the three things that Sushruta discovered?

Ans. The three things that Sushruta discovered were:

        (a) A good veterinarian should have an eagle’s eye.

        (b) A good veterinarian should have a lion’s heart.

        (c) A good veterinarian should have a mother’s touch too.

3. Explain the meaning of the following phrases :

(a) An eagle’s eye: the ability to observe carefully.

(b) A lion’s heart: (in this lesson) balancing science and compassion equally

(c) A mother’s touch: to be compassionate and loving.

4. Narrate the story of Sushruta in your own words.

Ans. Sushruta was a bright student of veterinary medicine. He was a disciple of Shalihotra. After skeenly observing Shalihotra, Sushuta  concluded that apart from the knowledge of medicine – ‘A good veterinarian should have an eagle’s eye, a good veterinarian should have a lion’s heart and a good veterinarian should have a mother’s touch too. Later in his life, Sushruta wrote a book on animal surgery called Sushurata Samhita. This made people aware of surgical methods, dressing of wounds, bandaging of fractures, etc.

5. List all the words related to surgery from the passage.

Ans. (none given in the lesson)

6. Write short notes on the following :

(a) Veterinary Science in Ancient India.

Ans. Based on the Ayurveda, Indian veterinary medicine is known for its specialized literature, which provides information on ancient methods of preventing and treating diseases of animals. The oldest existing veterinary text from India is a treatise entitled ‘Asvayurveda Siddhanta’ (Complete Ayurvedic system for horses) attributed to Shalihotra (around 2350 BCE), the founder of veterinary medicine. Among the best known works of animal literature is ‘Asva cikitsita’ (Therapeutics of horses), written by Nakula! Sushruta, a disciple of Shalihotra, wrote on animal surgery.

(b) Care of animals in the regime of Emperor Ashoka.

Ans. The great Emperor Ashoka erected the first known veterinary hospitals of the world. He arranged cultivation of herbal medicines for men and animals in his empire and adjoining kingdoms. Giving the animals general tonics and stimulants was practised in order to ensure good mental and physical health.

(c) Utilization of animal by-products in the ancient world.

Ans. Utilization of animal by-products was also done wisely by our ancestors! Conversion of milk into butter, ghee, curd, khoa, etc. was a common practice and still is. Chicken was utilized for its meat while sheep was utilized for its wool.

7. Form pairs. Complete the following table through discussions.

Occupation	Necessary Qualities	Reasons
Student	Hardwork and dedication	To do well in life.
Teacher	Knowledgeable and patient	To help the students enjoy while gaining knowledge.
Housewife	Loving and compassionate	Care for the family
Sportsman	Sportsman spirit.	Enjoying the game is more important that winning.
Artist	Keen observation and creative mind	To create a beautiful work of art.
Singer	Practice	To be a good singer.
Author	Expressive and creative.	To create an interesting story.
Umpire	Sharp observation and good eye sight.	To give proper decision.
Actor	Expressive and articulate	To give a realistic performance.
Scientist	Scientific temperament	To innovate and discover something new.

8. Note these pairs of words :

care-carefully           equal-equally.

Here we see that the letters ‘-ly’ are added at the end of the word to make another word. A letter or group of letters added at the end of a word to make another word is called a suffix.

(a) Use the suffix ‘-ly’ to make other words from the following:

subsequent – subsequently

frequent – frequently

wise – wisely

immense – immensely

beautiful – beautifully

(b) Find two examples each, of the words made by using the following suffixes.

-ness – goodness, foolishness

-er – corner, teacher

-let – droplet,  bracelet

-ful – thoughtful, meaningful

-tion/sion – solution, division

-y – crunchy, tasty

9. Frame questions beginning with the following words, based on the above passage. Who, What, Where, When, How, Why (One question each)

Who worte ‘Asva cikitsita?

What did Shalihotra ask Sushruta one day?

Where did Ashoka arrange cultivation of herbal medicines?

When was ‘Asvayurveda Siddhanta’ written?

How was Sushruta able to find the three missing things?

Why was veterinary medicine not chosen as a career by many?

10. Visit a library : Find more information/stories about scholars of the ancient world – Aryabhatta, Bhaskaracharya, Varah Mihir, Charak, Nagarjuna, Jeevak.