«« go back

Wood box containing iron medicine instruments of the Tibetan surgery.

The cover shows a Cepu or Kirtimurti .
As recorded in the history of Tibetan Medicine, Tibetan surgery was banned during the eighth century after a failed heart operation on the Mother Queen of Tibet, and it gradually disappeared from the medical practice.
Minor operations like eyes cataract, lungs and abdominal water drainage, and hemorrhoid operation are still practiced.

This old surgical cutlery boxes contains  different instruments, which were used by Tibetan doctors in treating their patients.
The age of the boxes is hard to determine however it seems it to be  late of 19th or early 20th Century.

The surgery tools are divided into five groups:
1. Probes    2. Forceps
3. Lancets    4. Stylets
5. Auxiliary instruments    
A wide variety of surgical instruments and techniques were invented in the Tibetan medicine. In particular, 83 surgical instruments were listed in the 'Blue Beryll" Medical Thangka No. 34. These painting shows the surgical traditional instruments used in Tibetan medicine. There are three categories of performing therapy: mild, rough and rigorous. Mild therapy involves compresses, fomentation and massage.

Rough therapy included bloodletting, moxibustion and minor surgery. Rigorous therapies consist of incision, excision, scraping and extraction.    
Probes are used for exploring cranial bone fractures and excision of hemorrhoids.
Probing instruments are round, thin and smoothly polished for cranial exploration.
For hemorrhoids there are a series of tubular probes (not included in this sets) with lateral openings for examination and incision.

Forceps are used for extracting foreign bodies from muscle tissues and ligaments. Lancets are used mainly for incision into muscle tissue and for puncturing vessels to cause bleeding.
They include the sparrow-feather-shaped lancet used the curved lancet, and the sickle-shaped lancet used to incise tongue swellings.

Stylets are used to make punctures to release fluids or vapors from various part of the body. They include hollow surgical stylets the frog-shaped stylet, and the reed-nib-shaped stylet.

Auxiliary instruments as medical saws, medical knifes, stylets and catheter instruments are all made from the finest iron, copper, and gold and are well polished.
They come in different shapes and lengths. Very few of these are used, as in Tibetan medicine performing surgery is a last resort when treating a patient.