The Compendium of Bheḷa 4.8

In this matter, sir: those women who eat wholesome and light food, who are not given to upward movement of wind, whose internal organs including the womb are unvitiated, and whose channels are thoroughly purified, are called fertile by the experts. / They give birth to offspring of desirable form and intelligence; in the reverse case, the reverse occurs.

And the embryo is established during the fertile period. Just as seed cast into a well-plowed field results in vrīhi rice becoming vrīhi rice and barley becoming barley, even so, semen emitted at the fertile period into an unvitiated yoni reaches the womb. / Just as those caught in a whirlpool rush counter to the current, so the semen and blood poured into the womb are like milk; / and just as diverse gold poured together with an udumbara [crucible] becomes one, it attains development.

If at the time of marriage she should desire, "May I give birth to an auspicious, fair-complexioned son," she should consume an uncorrupted drink of roasted barley flour mixed with ghee for seven nights. / Then, experiencing pregnancy cravings, she should cook milk-rice in the milk of a white cow with a calf of identical color, and eat only that. / She should wear white garments; / one should have an adorned pavilion made for her entirely in white; / and one should show her a white bull or horse. / Thus she will give birth to a fair-complexioned son. / "No," said Śaunaka, "for yellowish-brownness may result from that." / Ātreya said: "What obstacle could there be? Those with yellowish-brown limbs are long-lived and free from disease."

If she should desire, "May I give birth to a dark son with reddish eyes," one should prepare a drink of that very same barley; for seven nights she should consume uncorrupted cooked red śāli rice with the blood of a red rooster. / During her pregnancy cravings, she should dress in copper-colored garments; / one should give her a copper-colored bed and seat; / and one should show her a red bull or horse. / In this way, she gives birth to a dark son with reddish eyes.

If a woman sees her menstrual flow in the second month, one should know that her embryo does not remain, for at that time pregnant women have not yet formed their essential tissue. / But in one whose yoni discharges menses after the essential tissue has formed, her embryo either falls or remains past its due time with withered limbs.

In the fourth month, when proper measures are arranged, she should consume butter in milk; / in the fifth, barley gruel with milk; / in the sixth, milk and ghee; / in the seventh, curd and buttermilk; / in the eighth, milk and ghee; / and in the ninth month, when proper measures are arranged, an unctuous enema prepared with sweet-tasting medicinal herbs.

For in this way, as she proceeds month by month, her belly, pelvis, flanks, and back become soft, digested feces flow downward, and she gives birth easily.

In the seventh month, however, wind, pitta, and phlegm, compressed by the embryo, reach the chest and produce itching accompanied by a burning sensation. / By this, kikkisas arise in women. / Having ground triphalā powder with hare's blood, one should smear them over those [marks] of hers.

In the eighth month, when proper measures have been taken, one should have a maternity room properly constructed with an eastern or northern door, using tinduka, palāśa, and aśvattha wood.

Now, these things should be arranged beforehand: two couches made of bilva wood, two winnowing baskets, two rice pestles, a large bolster, gruel, ghee, oil, and mustard seeds.

Now, thinking that she is about to give birth, one should have her drink gruel. Before labor pains have arrived, one should also have her perform pounding [of grain]. If she should know: 'My belly has dropped down, my heart-region is free of the fetus, my yoni is flowing,' then four female attendants with trimmed nails should attend upon her at every step. 'First, push gently; thereafter, more strongly.' Nor should she [strain] childishly when the urge has not arrived; for she whose urge has not arrived brings suffering upon herself along with her son.

If, once she has given birth, the placenta does not come away, one should then have her drink a paste of red śāli rice measuring an akṣa with sour liquid or urine. Following this same procedure, one should prepare [a paste of] dantī, dravantī, vṛścikālī, and punarnavā with wild śīrṣāka. Likewise, one should fumigate her with any one among linseed, snake cast-off skin, and old garlands. If by this regimen it does not come forth, then one should administer an unctuous enema to her with oil of sharp fruits. [This chapter appears broken off in the middle in the original manuscript.] / Thus ends the eighth chapter in the Section on the Body in Bheḷa. / Thus ends the Section on the Body in the Compendium of Bheḷa. / The Section on Sensory Prognostics. / First Chapter.