This Human Sharir is mainly made up of six main parts or segments. These six parts are called as Angas. Thus the Sharir or human body is made up of Shadanga or six segments.

Shadanga forms the foremost classification of body parts, in fact a gross demarcation or surface marking of the body into six large units.

Shadang = Shad (6) + Anga (parts, segments)

The Shad Angas are-

2 upper limbs,

2 lower limbs,

1 head and 1 trunk (central portion of the body)

It is easy to study anything when done in fragments; the complicated machinery of human body is no exception. The core concepts of Rachana Sharir or Anatomy in Ayurveda are exemplary. All components, tissues, organs and organ systems of the body fall within this broad group of Shadangas.

Sharir Rachana is the branch of Ayurveda which states a detailed description of the structures in human body. This branch consist knowledge about bones, muscles, blood vessels, strotas, joints, vital organs etc. It also gives knowledge of Garbhasharir, Kala and Marmas. Acharyas like Sushruta, Charaka and Vagbhata have given importance to the knowledge of Rachana Sharir. Even though no descriptive anatomy of organ or structure is available in any Samhita granthas but our ancient have treated various diseases and performed the surgery perfectly and precisely.

According to Indian mythology the first occurrence of Body Donation was that of Rishi Dadhichi. There is description that he donated his living body (during his life time) to Devraj Indra, for preparation of auspicious weapons out of his bones. These pious weapons defeated the enemy DaityaVritasur.

The history of body donation can be traced long back to Parana’s, the Hindu religious literature which narrates a story of Vrutrasoor, the troublesome demon, of whom the Gods and the mankind wanted to get rid of. History of body donation can be traced long back in the ancient India; Acharya Sushruta dissected human body in about 500 Before Christ (BC).

Body Donation is the donation of the whole body after death for medical research and education. Body Donation is useful for understanding the human body and for advancing science.

There are various factors that may render the body unacceptable for an anatomical donation and some of these may not be obvious until the time of death. Body donation provides students and researchers with unparalleled opportunities to study the human body.

Any individual who is years of age or older can donate his or her body. All people age 18 and older can register to be an organ, eye, and tissue donor. If it were known that the deceased had wanted to make a bequeathal of their body, but never got around to filing the paperwork during their lifetime, the gift (donation) could be made by their relatives after their death (unregistered).

If any person, either in writing at any time or orally in presence of two or more witnesses (may be one of them is a next kin/close relative), prior to his/her death has expressed a request to donate the body for medical education or research purpose.

All people should consider themselves potential organ and tissue donors—regardless of age, health, race, or ethnicity. No one is too old or too young to be a deceased donor and most major religions support donation.

Any hospital/medical institution or university approved by state government for medical education and research can accept the body.

Any individual is liable for whole body donation, irrespective of their sex, caste, age. However as the body is to be used to study the normal structures of human body, some of the donated bodies are not accepted if, an autopsy was conducted, amputation done of any organs or limbs, the deceased had certain contagious / infectious /communicable diseases. Body of a medico-legal case (e.g homicide, suicide or Decomposed bodies.

Anatomy, the study of structure of human body is one of the first, most basic and yet one of the important subjects studied by medical students. Teaching and research in anatomy is mainly based on cadaveric dissection. The body donation is essential for medical education, as body donation is very legal and generous act. The number of person who chose to donate body remains low because of lack of awareness.

There has been lot of resistance towards body donation. For the creation of awareness we need help of NGOs to organize the body donation camps. The ‘holy’ dimension of the word ‘donation’ may be stressed during these campaigns. Most important reason for ‘no body donation’ in Indians is lack of awareness. Another major interference in body donation is religious beliefs and spirituality. Most of communities and peoples of them want to get performed the last rituals on their body as per their religious belief. The fear that the body may not be treated with esteem and self-respect is also an important factor preventing one from body donation.