Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c11.3

Language: English

c11.3.1

In the period suitable for conception (ṛtu) the face of the woman is full (slender-AS, AHr) and clean, her body, mouth and gums become moist, she is desirous of her husband, is lovely, her body and her eyes are sunk down, her hair fly around, her arms, breast, hips, navel, thighs, genitals, buttocks are in a palpitating movement and she has strong desire for enjoyment (Su 3.3.7 f.; AS 2.1.198; AHr 2.1.21 f.). The twelve nights after the beginning of menses excluding the first three form the period suitable for conception, and the child will be a male one if the conception takes place on even days i. e. 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th or 12th day, and a female one if on odd days i.e. 5th, 7th, 9th or 11th (Su 3.2.28-30; 3.3.6; AS 2.1.199; AHr 2.1.27 f.) According to a more rigorous conception, the eleventh night is also prohibited (AS, AHr); one should indeed wait for four days more after the course of menses in order to aim at excellent sons (AS). On the other hand, there is a reference to a 16 days period suitable for conception (AS, Bhāv 1.16, Ḍallaṇa on Su 3.3.6). It corresponds with the statement of law-books (Manu 3.46; Yājñ 1.79) and is therefore original. Of the 16 days, 12 days remain by subtracting four days of menstruation, and out of these 12 days first three days are again to be avoided. The sperm arrived during the bleeding in the uterus is compared with an object thrown in flowing water which is swept away by the stream.

c11.3.2

If the conception takes place on one of the first three days, the child dies at or after the birth, or becomes at least crippled or short-living (Su 3.2.31). After the period of ṛtu, the uterus does not allow the sperm to penetrate, just as the lotus closes itself at the end of the day (Su 3.3.9; AS 2.1.198). On the first three days of the menses the woman should remain chaste, should neither bathe nor adorn herself, should lie on a low bed of Darbha-grass, should take nothing more than some milk-pap, for which she must use her flat hand, earthen vessel or leaf as a plate and observe other abstinences (Car 4.8.5; Su 3.2.25; AS 2.1.198; AHr 2.1. 23-25 ). Every violation of the discipline laid down for her would injure her progeny. Her child would be lethargic if she sleeps by day, blind if she uses eye-ointment, suffering from eye-disease if she weeps, leper if she anoints her body with oil, mad if she speaks too much, deaf if she hears a loud noise (Su 1. c.; Bhāv 1.1.17 ). When after the course of three days she has taken the usual cleansing bath, has worn fresh clothes and ornaments, it is to be seen that she immediately gets to see her husband, because her son will resemble the first man whom she sees after her bath. A ceremony (*putriyavidhi*) intended for obtaining male progeny precedes the matrimonial cohabitation which corresponds to the *garbhādhāna* of the Smṛtis and Gṛhya sūtras. The mantra RV 10.184.1 is recited there at that time ( Cf. Speijer, *Jāta-karma* p.

c11.3.3

18 ). A *ṛtvij* places in her vagina an oblation for Prajāpati ( Car 4.8.9-10; Su 3.2.25; AS 1. c.; AHr 2.1.28 ff. ). The husband should ascend the matrimonial bed first, with the right foot, the wife with her left foot. At the time of generation the menstrual blood is dissolved ( by the heat produced ) just as the butter melts in fire ( Su 3.2.36 ). The sperm is of watery quality and the menstrual blood of fiery quality; yet other elements (earth, atmosphere and wind) are also contained therein. In the union of husband and wife, wind expels from the body the heat (produced by the contact of her organs), by the connection of heat and wind the sperm comes out following the pleasant feeling (*harṣa*), arrives in the uterus and is united with the menstrual blood. Thus the foetus is created when the spirit (*jīva, cetanādhātu*), quick as wind and impelled by his deed in an earlier birth (*karman*), enters it as the sixth element. If the sperm preponderates a male child is born, if the menstrual blood prevails a female child is generated, if both of them exist in equal quantity a creature incapable of generation (*napuṃsaka, klība*) is born. Moreover, the generation of female progeny rests on odd days, because on these days the menstrual blood increases in quantity ( Su 3.3.3-5; Car 4.2.11 ff.; 22 ff.; 4.4.7 f.; 2.2.201; 2.1.199; AHr 2.1.5 ).

c11.3.4

Triplets and groats are generated if the sperm and menstrual blood are divided internally by air and thereby an equal number of souls is received in the uterus. Twins are considered as an abnormality, so Dallana on Su. says that a penance must be observed at the birth of twins. Various weaklings and sexual abnormalities are created by deficiency of the sperm or defective quality of the sperm or womb or unnatural voluptuousness of parents and other irregularities (Su 3.2.37 ff.; Car 4.2.17 ff.; AS 2.2.203-5). Generally born deficiencies of every kind can also originate from sins in a previous birth or sins of the parents (Su 3.2.52; 58 etc. Cf. § 3).