The Compendium of Bheḷa 4
English (machine translation) 4
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Contents
4.2.3
When the several limbs have fully grown, and the dhātus are grounded at their sources, / semen is clearly produced in the sixteenth year.
4.2.4
Likewise, in an old person, when the dhātus are wasted away, / distinctions are not separated as before, owing to [their] wasting.
4.2.5
Then a man comes to have little semen, or is thoroughly decrepit and weak; / he sees no semen, because of the wasting of all the dhātus.
4.2.6
Blood, flesh, fat, bones, marrow, semen, and likewise fire, / as well as feces and urine—one should know them to be diminished beyond ninety [years].
4.2.7
Here, a woman stricken by wind does not conceive an embryo; / likewise through a disorder of the yoni or through [unwholesome] food—for she is neither barren nor is he not a man.
4.2.8
Emesis, purgation, and non-unctuous enema: / therefore one should administer these to women; [then] they become well-known to bring forth [children].
4.2.9
Now, on this point a question arises: why do you not perceive sound with the nose, / or smell with the mouth, if space is equal everywhere?
4.2.10
And when the skin-part is uniform, why does one not perceive taste with another [part]? / Having heard those words, Punarvasu replied:
4.2.11
The nose and smell are earthy; form and the eye are fiery; / touch and the tactile organ are of wind; and the ear consists of sound and space.
4.2.12
And the gustatory organ and taste are watery; therefore, by these sense organs here, / apprehension of objects is taught according to their own nature, due to their having homologous qualities.
4.2.13
"For each constituent element, accompanied by the self, cognizes its own object, / and declare [it to occur] from the conjunction of the self, sense organs, mind, and objects." Thus said the venerable Ātreya. / Thus ends the second chapter in Bheḷa. / Third chapter. / Now we shall explain the chapter on the body entitled "Pertaining to Different Lineages" (Asamānagotrīya); thus said the venerable Ātreya.
4.3.1
Here, one should approach a woman of a different gotra who has bathed after her fertile period; / thus she gives birth to an intelligent, healthy son.
4.3.2
Just as a crop does not sprout properly from a defect in the seed, / so through a defect in the mother and father the embryo perishes.
4.3.3
Therefore, having consumed properly nourishing food during the fertile period, the husband and wife / should enter into union in private, remembering the Lord in their minds.
4.3.4
There may be abnormalities or lack of conception if unwholesome tastes are consumed, / or from suppression of natural urges, or again through a disorder of the yoni.
4.3.5
When the yoni is afflicted by a doṣa, the embryo indeed does not stay; / likewise in an external yoni and always in an expelling one.
4.3.6
And in which yoni the wind receives the incoming semen, / that pregnant woman bears the embryo, endowed with pure menstrual blood.
4.3.7
And when that falls away, then the embryo perishes; / that is indeed wind-enlargement of the abdomen for a woman; therefore one should avoid dry things.
4.3.8
When semen is predominant, a male is formed; when blood [is predominant], a female; / when the two are equal, a hermaphrodite; therefore one should increase semen.
4.3.9
When, however, powerful wind divides the kalala into two, / twins are then produced, according to the word of Kṛṣṇa Ātreya.
4.3.10
There, in the part where semen is greater, a male [arises]; where blood is greater, a female; / according to this very rule one should also determine [the sex] in twins.
4.3.11
Wind, on the other hand, is powerful in the bodies of horses and pigs; / dividing the kalala there, it produces numerous offspring.
4.3.12
And when the embryo does not receive nourishment through corrupted vessel-orifices, / remaining incomplete like an elephant, it stays so for years.
4.3.13
When, nurtured by nourishment, it becomes full-limbed, / then the embryo, having slipped from the woman's belly, is born at the proper time.
4.3.14
And those twenty disorders of the yoni that are spoken of by physicians— / through these and many others, a woman's embryo suffers misfortune.
4.3.15
Therefore, desiring a son, one should treat these doṣas; / for through therapy, resemblance to the embryo of elephants and horses becomes pure.
4.3.16
Joined with wind, space, and the season, [fire] among the other deities, / born within as Jātavedas, is capable of [exerting] power.
4.3.17
When a man and woman in the fertile period, with serene minds, / unite in private, then the embryo becomes sāttvika.
4.3.18
When a man and woman in the fertile period, with violently agitated minds, / unite, then the embryo becomes rājasa.
4.3.19
When a man and woman in the fertile period, with deeply despondent minds, / unite in private, then the embryo becomes tāmasa.
4.3.20
The characteristics and the origin—thus has this been declared / of the three matrices of sattva; one should characterize mixed ones by that very means." Thus said the venerable Ātreya. / Thus ends the third chapter in the Section on the Body in Bheḷa. / Fourth chapter. / Now we shall explain the chapter on the body entitled "Aggregate of Man" (Puruṣanicaya); thus said the venerable Ātreya.
4.4.1
"Here indeed, sir, man comes from food. His diseases are born of chyle. That is to say: this man is born of chyle, lives by chyle, is kindled by chyle, has chyle as his foremost balance, and has chyle as his livelihood. From the improper use or wrongful use of tastes, he encounters their disorders. No one becomes healthy through wrongful use, indigestion, or unwholesome eating."
4.4.2
"Now, on this point a question arises: what indeed digests his food here—wind, bile, phlegm, or an after-drink?" "No," said the venerable Punarvasu Ātreya. "If these were the causes of digestion, then no one here would have weak fire, because wind and the others are present, and because of [the presence of] an after-drink. Rather, his bodily warmth and fiery energy digest the food dwelling in the body. One should know them as the body-fire."
4.4.3
Thereupon Bheḷa said this to Ātreya: "Venerable sir! Those bodily [fires/pittas] that are taught as fivefold, according to the division into ālocaka, rañjaka, bhrājaka, sādhaka, and pācaka—how does the distinction between these that bear five names arise?"
4.4.4
On this, the venerable Ātreya said: Among them, that called ālocaka is developed by rain, cold, and heat. It is of two kinds: ocularly specific and intellectually specific. The ocularly specific is that which, having stimulated the knowledge born of the contact between the self and the mind, and having brought the intellect to bear on the mind, produces ocular discrimination for the purpose of manifesting the form of each one, or two, or three, or all presented together, of the higher and lower flowers, fruits, and leaves, by means of the marks, shapes, forms, colors, and sounds of the four kinds of living beings—sweat-born, egg-born, sprout-born, and womb-born.
4.4.5
The intellectually specific is that which, situated at the junction between the eyebrows, grasps very subtle internal objects by means of knowledge, and reveals the knowable and knowledge for the sake of the isolation of all that is knowable. Therefore, having known the knowable through knowledge, it grasps knowledge. What has been grasped, it retains; what has been retained, it recalls; it remembers the past, and having made sense of the present, desires the future; and no sooner born, one craves the mother's breast, its nature untaught. And through application in meditation and withdrawal of the senses, it produces intellectual discrimination.
4.4.6
Among them, that called bhrājaka is indeed that which procures one's bodily appearance and marks, displays preeminence, and produces the distinctive excellence of luster and growth of the head, hands, feet, flanks, back, belly, shanks, mouth, nails, eyes, and hair; it is bhrājaka because it illuminates.
4.4.7
Through its sovereignty, or through the power of the senses, or through the state of intellect and egoity, it establishes what is accomplished by the self from among the sense objects according to what is desired. From the eye, ear, nose, tongue, skin, speech, hands, feet, anus, and genitals, it produces coloring toward one another among all objects of sense that are colored by their inherent nature. And entering internally within the seat of pitta, it produces coloration; hence it is [called] rañjaka.
4.4.8
That called sādhaka is that which, with respect to sound, touch, and smell, to wealth and pleasure, to gods, ancestors, and sages, and aiming at the highest good among the objects of both this world and the next, attains all things and accomplishes them by its own formulation; hence it is [called] sādhaka.
4.4.9
That called pācaka digests the mass of food that has been eaten, drunk, licked, and chewed, once its potency is released; hence it is [called] pācaka. It satisfies and delights its own fire according to its desire.
4.4.10
And on this there are [these verses]: / That which swiftly consumes the food of all embodied beings, / having its cause in apāna [wind] and wine (?), is taught as the body-fire.
4.4.11
Perceivable by its radiance, conjoined with it, eternal to the living being here: / in the middle of the body's navel, the lunar orb is to be recognized.
4.4.12
Situated within the lunar orb, one should know that solar orb; / and like a lamp, within it is the fire of men.
4.4.13
The meal eaten by embodied beings, seasoned with various dishes, / just as the sun standing in the sky, endowed with fiery energy by its rays,
4.4.14
dries up all pools and waters, / just so the stomach-fire situated in the navel of embodied beings [digests] what is eaten.
4.4.15
With its rays it swiftly takes [it] up, just as the sun-crystal gem / quickly and thoroughly burns cow dung and wood.
4.4.16
In large-bodied creatures it measures a barley corn; / in small-bodied creatures it measures a truṭi;
4.4.17
in worms, insects, and moths it stands the measure of a breath of air. / He who would treat it when failing through disease in embodied beings,
4.4.18
by means of the practice of Ayurveda, is indeed a physician of the body. / The chyle, and the blood, and also fat and flesh,
4.4.19
in extreme fasting of men, it consumes all these. / The entire world, stationary and moving, is of the nature of fire and soma;
4.4.20
all embodied beings are fourfold, composed of fire and soma. / All are composed of the sun and likewise composed of the moon.
4.4.21
In extreme fasting of men, it therefore does not consume the entrails. / The stomach-fire, produced from water, together with wind,
4.4.22
burns bright in the belly of men, or when fueled with firewood. / Just as a lamp placed in a bottle-gourd shell in still water
4.4.23
remains burning in darkness, but not so in moving water, / even so in the belly of embodied beings, through morbid variation again and again,
4.4.24
the fire attains irregularity when overloaded again and again. / And it must certainly be guarded with effort when impaired, from the observation of faults: / one vomits, is purged, and meets with disease.
4.4.25
Such a person dies without reaching his proper time. For the lifespan of man is a hundred years, and in order to attain it, one must be one who follows a diet that is digested, light, and wholesome.
4.4.26
On this he asked: Why is it that a person with alasa or viṣūcikā immediately becomes free from disease, while another dies? On this he said: Disturbed by eating over indigestion in an unctuous-depleted person, wind, bile, and phlegm do not move normally upwards or downwards; due to them being aggravated there, he dies immediately. But disturbed by eating over indigestion in an unctuous person, wind and the others, moving normally upwards or downwards, distribute into their own parts of the body; through them, he immediately becomes free from disease there.
4.4.27
Now, what are the ten internal cavities and the ten external attributes? They are as follows: the two eyes, the two nostrils, the two ears, the throat-channel, anus, penis, and channels of wind—these are the ten internal cavities. Ten vessels are attached to the heart. At their origin, having gone the measure of four finger-breadths, they become twenty. Thus these ten vessels become sixty. In that regard, there are three hundred and sixty networks of channels. Just as a tree covered with branches extends everywhere with fruits and leaves, just as […] is covered with stones, so is this [body] pervaded with channels. For in every hair-follicle is an opening of a channel, from which sweat flows.
4.4.28
On this he asked: Why does this person not have epilepsy continuously? On this it is said: Just as aquatic creatures appear at the rising of rivers, or diminish at their diminution, whenever they reach the surge of chyle, then they produce epilepsy. Therefore, they suffer from epilepsy after two days, three days, a fortnight, or an interval of a month.
4.4.29
Some say he is stricken by a demon, but that is incorrect. For if it were so, blows and the like would be seen on the man's body. And therefore it is not so. If one says he is possessed by a vetāla, that too is unproven. For their minds contemplate meritorious things. And if it ever happens thus, therefore that alone is to be recited: if one says he is stricken by chyle, it is just so. At the time of the distribution of chyle, tertian and quartan fevers are also seen. For is not this meaning well-settled?
4.4.30
On this he asked: What indeed is formed first in this fetus? Baḍiśa says the hands and the feet, because the body is supported by them. Śaunaka says the anus afterward, because the wind resides there. Khaṇḍakāpya says the navel, because the channels are rooted there. Parāśara says the heart, because it is the root of those things rooted in consciousness. Bharadvāja says the head, because the body is rooted in it. Kāśyapa says the eye. The venerable Punarvasu Ātreya said: No. Therefore, an arbuda alone is formed first in it. In that, all the bodily regions are formed, produced from the unctuous substance of the arbuda.
4.4.31
On this he asked: Does the fetus residing in the mother's womb eat or not? On this it is said: It does not eat. For if it ate, it would have feces whose time has passed, and this is not the case. How then? A vessel is attached to the navel, and another to it is connected to the mother's heart; through it, carrying the mother's food-juice, it nourishes and enlarges the fetus. Just as watercourses flowing toward a field saturate it, even so.
4.4.32
On this he asked: How does the fetus stay in the mother's belly? Śaunaka said: Upright. Bharadvāja said: Head downwards. The venerable Punarvasu Ātreya said: No. If it stood upright, it would be a slayer of its mother; if it were head downwards, it would be a slayer of itself. How then? Transversely, bent in on itself with all its major and minor limbs, it lies. […] Therefore, Punarvasu Ātreya maintains that its head [develops] first, because it is heavier for it. Now indeed, when the kidney and fat are grown heavy, they mutually enlarge one another in their development.
4.4.33
On this there is a verse: / The heat residing in the chyle remains in this body, holding life; / man is born from chyle, therefore chyle is called life. / Thus said the venerable Ātreya. / Thus the fourth chapter in the Section on the Body in Bheḷa. / Fifth chapter. / Now we shall explain the accumulation of the body, thus said the venerable Ātreya.
4.5.1
Here indeed, vigor and brilliance exist constantly in the body. Their seats are twelve. They are as follows: skin, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow, semen, sweat, bile, phlegm, urine, and feces. When these are unimpaired, it is called health. But when they are impaired, wind, bile, and phlegm, becoming vitiated, produce disorders in the chyle and other [dhatus].
4.5.2
Now there are four wombs [of origin]. They are as follows: viviparous, oviparous, sprouting, and sweat-born. Among them, the viviparous are born endowed with a chorion, such as cattle, wild animals, humans, and others. Birds, fish, tortoises, snakes, and others are oviparous. Lice, bugs, moths, venomous insects, flies, and others are sweat-born. But grasses, creepers, trees, and vanaspatis are sprouting.
4.5.3
Among them, trees possess flowers and fruits. Vanaspatis possess fruits without flowers. Vīrudhs possess flowers and fruits, or are without flowers and without fruits. Creepers and annual plants mature with their fruit. Among them, those with white milk are cooling; those with red milk are […].
4.5.4
Here indeed, in thirty nights a man is united with chyle. Moreover, in these four wombs, when the chyles attain proper acquisition at the fertile period, then the fetus remains free from defect; in the opposite case, the opposite occurs.
4.5.5
One should indeed avoid the old blood for three days. And what is that old [blood]? That which flows from the beginning for three days at the fertile period, that is old. During those three days, when conception is attempted, the fetus does not stay; or if it stays, it is not capable of long life. But when the old blood has exited after three days and has ceased, for a woman who has bathed clean, the fetus entering on the fourth, sixth, eighth, tenth, and twelfth days becomes male. On the fifth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh [days], it develops toward femaleness. This intercourse of all [sorts] is said [to be suitable] up to seven nights; beyond this, intercourse [is forbidden] due to impairment or deficiency.
4.5.6
Indeed, blood dries up the body of women; therefore they do not see the menses [during pregnancy]. But when their bodies have full tissue-elements, then month after month they discharge the separate fluid-blood. And that menstrual blood, its entrance having receded, returns in a month.
4.5.7
When, however, that blood takes a vitiated course, then menorrhagia occurs in women. Drying up the body, one should treat it with remedies for lohitapitta.
4.5.8
For a pregnant woman, chyle develops in three ways in the body: for the state of the fetus, for the state of breast milk, and for the state of chyle.
4.5.9
Here indeed, sir, the abdomen is elongated from the firm fetus residing inside in the middle when a female child is within. When a male child is within, [the abdomen] is situated with a broad base, rounded, and without hollows. The abdomen is like a trough when both are within. When a female child is in the mother's abdomen, the left side is elongated; when a male child, the right; when a hermaphrodite, the middle. The left eye grows small when a female is within; in the case of a male, the right; both, in the case of a hermaphrodite. She steps forward with the left foot first, reacts first with the left eye and eyebrow, moves and mostly lies down on the left side, and mostly develops pregnancy cravings for female concepts when a female is within. In the reverse case, one should know that she carries a male.
4.5.10
Now indeed, the body of the fetus develops from six sources. They are as follows: from the body of water, from the body of wind, from the body of fire, from the body of earth, from the body of space, and from the body of chyle.
4.5.11
This person consists of just six constituents. The constituents, moreover, are the five elements and the unmanifest Brahman.
4.5.12
Among them, that which is rough and hard—namely, teeth, head-hair, body-hair, nails, feces, ligaments, bone, smell, the sense of smell, solidity, and heaviness—is [from earth]. That which is liquid, unctuous, or soft is watery.
4.5.13
So when, between the two who have united, the man experiences pleasure in the first part [of intercourse] and the woman at the end, then here a male is born resembling [the father] in major and minor limbs. Where, however, the woman accomplishes the purpose first and the man at the end, there a female is born resembling [the mother] in major and minor limbs.
4.5.14
Now if a man and a woman consume unctuous-free, wind-increasing foods at the fertile period and suppress their natural urges, the fetus of the two, emerging from blood and [semen] vitiated by wind, acquires stammering, deafness, speaking through the nose, or any other of the disorders of wind and pitta. Just so, when the parents consume pitta- and kapha-increasing [foods] at the fertile period, a fetus vitiated by pitta and kapha is produced.
4.5.15
Now indeed, fourteen sense-bodies enter the body of the fetus: seven divine and seven human, held fast and imperceptible.
4.5.16
Among them, the divine ones are the bodies of Brahman, the gods, Varuṇa, gandharvas, piśācas, asuras, and great kings. We shall explain them. Among them, one who is endowed with truth, uprightness, harmlessness, forbearance, self-control, and meditation, and who perceives the truth of the self—one should know him as having the body of Brahman.
4.5.17
One who has such character, acceptance, […], and is cheerful—one should know him as having the body of the gods.
4.5.18
One who delights in sacrifices, has a loving gaze, is fond of water, bathes for a long time, has tawny eyes, and possesses brown hair—one should know him as having the body of Varuṇa.
4.5.19
One who loves dancing, singing, and instrumental music, is constant in dallying with women, and takes delight in clean garments, fragrances, garlands, and unguents—one should know him as having the body of a gandharva.
4.5.20
One who loves liquor, meat, and fish, eats excessively of beef, is disgusting, frightens children, and sleeps excessively—one should know him as having the body of a piśāca.
4.5.21
One who honors his own elders [at first] but later hates them, is fierce, wrathful, and creates division among kinsmen—one should know him as having the body of an asura.
4.5.22
One who is steadfast, heroic, enjoys great pleasures, possesses great energy, and possesses great majesty—one should know him as having the body of a great king.
4.5.23
The human [bodies], through attachment, stand entirely as individual seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, smelling, pleasure, and pain, combined with the respective consciousness and in isolation. Endowed with these, a living being perceives signs, blinks, contracts, expands, and experiences what is to be experienced.
4.5.24
When it undergoes dissolution, then this in the end: water goes to the body of water itself, wind to the body of wind, fire to the body of fire, earth to the body of earth, and space to the body of space. According to the body, it resorts to the sense-body.
4.5.25
And here it is said: / While the body exists, constituent indeed regulates constituent; / and the mind and intellect of all reside in Brahman. / Thus said the venerable Ātreya. Thus ends the fifth chapter in the Section on the Body in the [Compendium] of Bheḷa. / Chapter Six. / Now we shall explain the minor treatise on the descent of the embryo into the womb in the Section on the Body; thus said the venerable Ātreya.
4.6.1
"Here indeed, sir, this embryo is born from the mother, born from the father, born from the self, born from what is wholesome, and born from chyle; and there is an spontaneously reborn mind-entity": this is the statement of Ātreya. "Not so," said Bharadvāja. "This embryo is not born from a mother, not born from a father, not born from the self, not born from what is wholesome, and not born from chyle; nor is there an spontaneously reborn mind-entity. For if a mother were to produce a son, then mostly a woman desiring a son, intending [it during] sexual union, would produce a son, and one desiring a female would produce a female.
4.6.2
When subtle fire and wind enter the embryo together with the living soul, then these two modify the major and minor limbs, the two cause motion, and the two cause growth. When those very two depart from the body, then it becomes breathless, heatless, departed, and dead." "Not so," said Bharadvāja. "Even a dead living being is distended by wind and dried up by fire." "Not so," said the venerable Ātreya. "Either fire and wind animate it together with [the soul], or when the two have departed, external fire and wind enter [it].
4.6.3
As to what he further said: 'Since there is a diversity of elemental substances, how could it be one?' Here it is said: that in which this diversity is contained, that is the unmanifest, which is the collection of the five gross elements.
4.6.4
As to what he further said: 'If everything were unmanifest, there would be no disorder.' Here it is said: its disorders produced by wind, bile, and phlegm, arising from chyle, are described as manifest. For when the unmanifest is spoken of, how will the manifest emit the unmanifest? How then is that modified in the body? How does insanity affect the unmanifest mind? This is untenable. Why then? Just as the sun, even when arisen, does not produce light when covered by clouds, so the mind does not produce memory through darkness when the channels of consciousness are obstructed.
4.6.5
As to what he further said: 'If this embryo were to descend from the other world, nothing there would be unseen by it.' Here it is said: in this world, first of all, it does not remember things known long ago and various wondrous things that occurred; how much less other bodies, other entities, and specific states [of past lives]!
4.6.6
On this point there is a verse: / A human being who is overcome by darkness would not remember; / a twice-born person who knows the Veda may remember past deeds upon good conduct. / Thus said the venerable Ātreya. Thus ends the sixth chapter in the Section on the Body in the [Compendium] of Bheḷa. / Chapter Seven. / Now we shall explain the treatise on the enumeration of the body in the Section on the Body; thus said the venerable Ātreya.
4.7.1
Here indeed, there are six layers of skin in the body. The first is the water-bearing; the second is the blood-bearing; the third is the seat of the arising of sidhma and kilāsa; the fourth is the seat of the arising of ringworm and kuṣṭha; the fifth is the seat of the arising of alajī and abscess; while the sixth is that which, when cut, causes one to faint and enter as if into darkness, and based on which malignant boils arise.
4.7.2
Enumeration of the bones: three hundred and sixty bones, as follows: thirty-two teeth, thirty-two tooth-sockets, twenty nails, sixty finger- and toe-bones, twenty long bones of the hands and feet, four bases of the long bones of the hands and feet, two heel-bones, four ankles of the feet, two wrist-bones, two wrist-bones of the hands, four forearm-bones, two shanks, two knees, two patellas, two reed-bones of the thighs, two shoulders, two shoulder-blades, two collarbones, one clavicle-junction, two palates, two jaws, two hip-blades, one pubic bone, forty-five bones located in the back, fifteen in the neck, fourteen in the chest, twenty-four ribs in the flanks, and just as many rib-sockets, and just as many rib-socket tubers, one jawbone, two jaw-ligaments, one nose-bone along with the prominence of the jaw and the forehead, and four cranial plates.
4.7.3
The heart is the one seat of consciousness. There are ten seats of the life-breath, as follows: the head, the throat, the heart, the rectum, the umbilicus, the urinary bladder, ojas, semen, blood, and flesh.
4.7.4
There are fifteen visceral organs, as follows: the umbilicus, the heart, the kloman, the liver, the spleen, the two kidneys, the urinary bladder, the receptacle of feces, the stomach, the upper rectum, the lower rectum, the small intestine, the large intestine, and the omentum.
4.7.5
There are fifty-six minor body parts, as follows: two ankles, two buttocks, two shanks, two calves, two thigh-bulges, two buttock-creases, two testicles, one penis, two temples, two groins, two hollows above the hips, one urinary bladder, one head, one abdomen, two breasts, two arms, two small shoulders, one chin, two lips, two tooth-coverings, two corners of the mouth, one palate, one uvula, two ears, two outer ear shells, two cheeks, two eye-sockets, four eyelids, and two eyes.
4.7.6
The bodily fluids: ten añjalis of water, which adheres to the departing feces in cases of excessive discharge in the body; nine añjalis of the primary constituent resulting from the transformation of food, which the experts call chyle; eight of blood; seven of feces; four of urine; two of fat; one of marrow; and an añjali each of brain-matter and of semen.
4.7.7
Now, here a question arises: "By which way does this soul pass from one body to another?" / On this, the venerable Ātreya said: "Some say its movement is like that of a leech. That is not correct. / Others wish to hold that here a formless [entity] appears simultaneously up to the full manifestation [of the body]. / In any case, this inner self of one who desires liberation moves on to the beyond. Thus, when this familiar [body] is completely abandoned, it would not immediately attain another. / If it is accepted because of remaining in a state, then action also becomes futile in this way. Rather, one should understand its departure to another world as being attentive to the reflection, / or just as the rays of the sun stand in the heart on the earth. Suspended thus, one should observe its departure there."
4.7.8
Now, indeed, there are sixteen presiding deities within the person, as follows: Agni, Earth, Water, Space, Wind, Lightning, Parjanya, Indra, Gandharva, Death, the Sun, the Moon, Tvaṣṭṛ, Viṣṇu, Prajāpati, and Brahmā. / One should know them by their functions, by their origin, and by their measure. / For here, bodily heat is the function of Agni in the body; smell, of the Earth; unctuousness, taste, and perception, of Water; touch, of Wind; hearing, of Space; assumption of form, of Parjanya; surges of impulses, of Lightning; strength, of Indra; desire, of the Gandharvas; anger, of Death; the eye, of the Sun; clarity, of the Moon; form, of Tvaṣṭṛ; movement, of Viṣṇu; sexual intercourse, of Prajāpati; and intellect, of Brahmā.
4.7.9
Here is a verse: / Sages of purified vision through asceticism, their blemishes stilled, / see all mortals arising in the world. / Thus said the venerable Ātreya. / Thus ends the seventh chapter in the Section on the Body in Bheḷa. / Eighth chapter. / Now we shall explain the section on the body concerning the origin of living beings, as the venerable Ātreya declared.
4.8.1
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.
4.8.2
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.
4.8.3
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."
4.8.4
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.
4.8.5
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.
4.8.6
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.
4.8.7
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.
4.8.8
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.
4.8.9
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.
4.8.10
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.
4.8.11
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.
4.8.12
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.
Linked texts (1)
- Bheḷasaṃhitā — Bheḷa, Sanskrit