“In ancient India the useful arts and sciences, as distinguished from mere handicrafts, were cultivated by the higher classes. In the White Yajur Veda and in the Taittitriya Brahmana, we meet with the names of various professions which throw light on the state of society of that period; unfortunately the knowledge of these perished with the institution of the caste system in its most rigid form. In the Vedic age the Rishis did not form an exclusive caste of their own but followed different professions according to their convenience or natural tastes… But all this was changed when the Brahmins reasserted their supremacy on the decline or the expulsion of Buddhism. The caste system was established de novo in a more rigid form. The drift of Manu and of the later Puranas is in the direction of glorifying the priestly class, set up most arrogant and outrageous pretensions. According to Susruta, the dissection of dead bodies is a sine qua non to the student of surgery and this higher authority lays particular stress on knowledge gained from experiment and observation. But Manu would have none of it. The very touch of a corpse, according to Manu, is enough to bring contamination to the sacred person of a Brahmin. Thus we find that shortly after the time of Vagbhata the handling of a lancet was discouraged and Anatomy and Surgery fell into disuse and became to all intents and purposes lost sciences to the Hindus