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Abstract

The development of minimally invasive surgery has changed operative care by reducing access-related injury while improving visualization, precision, and recovery. Long before these technological advances, Shalya Tantra had established an organized surgical discipline within Ayurveda, covering patient assessment, instruments, operative procedures, wound care, and postoperative management. This narrative review examines points of convergence and difference between classical Ayurvedic surgical thought and contemporary minimally invasive surgery. Relevant descriptions from the Sushruta Samhita, Charaka Samhita, Ashtanga Hridaya, and Madhava Nidana were considered alongside surgical literature identified through PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Both traditions value appropriate patient selection, accurate localization, controlled intervention, preservation of viable tissue, and careful aftercare. Procedures such as Kshara Karma, Agni Karma, Kshara Sutra, and Jalaukavacharana also illustrate how a therapeutic objective may sometimes be achieved through a localized intervention rather than extensive tissue disruption. These similarities are chiefly philosophical and procedural; they do not make classical methods equivalent to laparoscopy, endoscopy, robotics, or image-guided surgery. Modern minimally invasive surgery depends on imaging, anesthesia, sterile systems, specialized devices, and standardized training, whereas Ayurvedic procedures arise from a different diagnostic and therapeutic framework. Selected parasurgical and wound-care practices may have complementary clinical value, but their indications, safety, and comparative effectiveness require stronger evidence.