Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c11.8.1

c11.8.1

§ 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).