Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c11.8

Language: English

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§ 41. Embryology :- To the theory of conception laid down in § 39, it is to be added that according to the principles of philosophy the soul entering the womb is an emanation of the Universal being ( cf. § 37 ). Just as at the destruction and creation of the world the Creator, the Universal being ( brahma ), the omnipotent original spirit that causes everything, the eternal, the fountain-head, the highest, the unexpanded being, first creates the atmosphere at the creation of the world, and then successively the four remaining elements, (wind, fire, water and earth) with highly developed qualities ( guna ), similarly while entering into the human body, he first receives in himself the atmosphere, then the wind and the remaining elements with highly developed qualities. This whole process of reception of qualities, however, is completed in an infinitely short time (Car 4.4.7-8; cf. Yajn 3.67-74; Visnu 96, 51 ). In the first month the foetus is a collected small mass covered with the five elements. In the second month it becomes a solid ball, a ( lengthwise ) flesh-excrescence, or a round ( a half globe-formed-Dallana, " Budlike "-Bhoja ) mass ( arbuda ). Cold, heat and wind bring about its development. Further it becomes a male, female or a neuter (napumsaka).

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In the third month the body develops in five directions (AS) : [1] bones, [2] arms, [3] head, [4] seats for all the organs excluding things like teeth and symptoms of puberty which develop only after the birth, and [5] all senses. From wind are created the feeling, the sense of feeling, hoarseness, action, the expansion of the elements (of the body) and the movements: from fire the colour, sight, light, digestion and warmth: from water the taste, the sense of taste, coolness, softness, smoothness and moistness; from earth the smell, the sense of smell, weight, solidity and form. The phenomena that appear in the world also appear in men (Car 4.4.8-10; cf. Yājñ 3.75-78). With the creation of senses coincides also the development of the power of discrimination, the occurance of child's movements and the desires of the pregnant woman. See above § 40. According to Su 3.3.18, this takes place in the fourth month. In the fourth month all parts of the body and the heart take a definite shape and the foetus becomes fixed. In the fifth month flesh and blood increase to a greater extent than in other months according to Caraka, which accounts for the general weakness of the woman in this month. The soul also becomes more animated in this month. In the sixth month hair on the head and body, nails, bones, sinews, arteries etc. are formed, the vigour and complexion of the foetus also increase.

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This is why, according to Caraka, vigour and complexion of the woman become particularly faded in this month. In the seventh month the foetus is provided with all limbs and is endowed with all requirements of existence (so that a child born in this month is capable of living, even though on account of early birth it may not live long-Aruṇadatta on AHr 2.1.58). The woman, therefore, becomes particularly fatigued in this month. In the eighth month the vitality (ojas) is led sometimes from the mother to the child, sometimes from the child to the mother through the canals carrying chyle. On account of this interchange of vitality, the child born in this month may not be capable of living, the mother as well as the foetus are sometimes bright, sometimes depressed and the mother's life is also in danger. In order to avoid delivery in this month, an oblation of flesh and rice is offered to the demon Nairṛta. Regarding time of birth see § 40 (Car 4.4.11-24; Su 3.3.30; AS 2.3.202 ff.; AHr 2.2.49-66; cf. Yājñ and Viṣṇu l. c.). The aforesaid theory of development, even though predominant (cf. also Garbhopaniṣad in Deussen's 60 Upaniṣads, p. 608), is not the only one. Thus Su 3.3.32 mentions the views of more ancient writers according to whom the head takes form first, because organs of senses are rooted in it; or the heart, because it is the seat of intelligence and the soul; or the navel, because through it the human body develops;

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or the hands and feet, because the movements of the foetus start from them; or the middle of the body, because the generation of all limbs depends on it. These different views are, however, not approved by Suśruta, because all limbs exist in germ in the beginning, and are not visible in the undeveloped foetus on account of their small size. The development is compared to the fibres, flesh, kernel and marrow of a mango which become visible only in the ripe fruit, or to a bamboo tree that develops from a bamboo shoot. Cf. Car 4.6.21.