Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c11.41

c11.41

§ 48. Treatment of Obstructed Delivery :— First of all the case of living foetus is taken into consideration. Thus Bhāv 2.4.189 says : "If the foetus is living, but has not properly descended (mūdha), she (the midwife) should pull it out forcibly with her hand anointed with ghee which is introduced into the vagina ". According to Su 4. 15.5-8 suitable mantras in which a desire for an easy delivery is expressed, are to be recited in an obstructed delivery and medicines are also to be given. Harita 728 ff; 370 ff. recommends smearing of the abdomen with a paste, taking milk that is seven times consecrated, and holding a diagram with certain letters. Similarly Vr 872. Caution is generally given before the dismemberment of the perhaps yet living foetus, lest it might kill the mother, according to AS by its violent movements, just on account of the hypothetical close connection between the mother and the child (Su 4.15.10; AS 2.4; AHr 2.2.37; Vr 869).