The Doctrine of the Jainas, Described after the Old Sources c8.64

c8.64

The embryology of the human being is discussed in the first part of the Tandulavēyāliya. In referring to the introductory Gāhās we here but state that the margin of fertility is 55 years with the woman and 75 years with the man (v. 13, comp. Sthān. 313b), and that the fruit remains in the womb for 277½ days on an average (v. 4f). Its stages are listed as kalala (7 days), abbuya (the same), pesi, and ghaṇa. Its weight amounts to 3 karisa=½ pala in the first month, in the second it gets solid, in the third it rouses lusts within the mother, in the fourth it makes her limbs swell, in the fifth it its extremities and its head develop (panca piṇḍiyāo), in the sixth its gall and its blood, in the seventh its veins, muscles, vessels, nerves, pores, hairs, and nails, and in the eighth the child is complete. The sex depends on the preponderance of either sperm or blood, in case neither prevails sexlessness will result. A sexless fruit lies (v. 18) in the centre of the mother, but a male on the right, and a female on the left side. Its position and its condition are in accordance with the mother. The word bimba (Tand. 14a; Ṭhāṇ. 287a) appears to qualify the result of a miscarriage. Acc. to Viy. 89a. a cross-position will lead to a still birth. A description of the female genitals is rendered by Tand. 4a. From Pannav. 9 (277b); Ṭhāṇ. 121b we learn that the uterus may be either convex, concave, or flat (vaṃsi-paṭṭa). In Viy. 218 a the role attributed to Hari Negamesi of dislocating the embryo is apparently due to generalising the well-known individual case.