A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c23.316

Language: English

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The subjects dealt with are: rules regarding behaviour and diet to be observed by a pregnant woman (10.3);²³⁴ the regimen to be followed from the first up to the eighth month of pregnancy (10.4);²³⁵ the construction of the maternity home (sūtikāgāra); its equipment (10.5);²³⁶ the signs of approaching labour (10.6); the signs of early labour (10.7);²³⁷ the management of labour and delivery (10.8–9);²³⁸ abnormal (pratiloma) presentations should be corrected (10.10); the treatment of protracted labour (garbhasaṅga) (10.11); the care for the newborn, the cutting of the umbilical cord, the rituals (jātakarman) to be performed (10.12–13);²³⁹ the production of breastmilk, which begins on the third or fourth day after parturition (10.14); the diet of the newborn during the first three or four days, before the beginning of breast-feeding (10.15); the care to be provided in the puerperium (10.16–18);²⁴⁰ disorders during the puerperium (10.19–20);²⁴¹ the management of a retained placenta (10.21);²⁴² the aetiology, symptomatology and treatment of makkalla²⁴³ (10.22);²⁴⁴ protective measures for a newborn child (10.23);²⁴⁵ the naming ceremony (10.24);²⁴⁶ the selection of an appropriate wet-nurse (dhātrī)²⁴⁷ and the ritual to be performed, accompanied by mantras, on her first feeding of the child (10.25–27); unsuitable kinds of breastmilk and the ensuing disorders (10.28–29); insufficient milk secretion, its causes and treatment (10.30);

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the characteristics of pure breastmilk;²⁴⁸ circumstances making the breastmilk unsuitable to the infant; cases in which an infant should not be breastfed (10.31); causes of corruption of the milk of a wet-nurse and its bad effects on the infant (10.32–33); signs enabling a physician to diagnose diseases in children (10.34–36); medicines suitable to a breastfed child (10.37); dosages to be administered to children in various periods of the first year(s) of life, dependent on their diet (10.38); medicines for breastfed children should be applied to the breasts of the one who nurses it (10.39); treatments not fit for breastfed children (10.40–41); the treatment of a children's disease in which the brain tissue (mastuluṅga)²⁴⁹ shrinks (kṣaya) and vāta bends down the palatal bone (tālvasthi)²⁵⁰ (10.42–43ab); the treatment of inflammation of the navel, called tuṇḍi (10.43cd–44ab); the treatment of inflammation of the anal region (gudapāka) (10.44c–f);²⁵¹ medicated ghees that can be prescribed to children of different ages (10.45); rules for the care of a child (10.46–47); substitutes for breastmilk (10.48); weaning (10.49); the protection of a child against the attacks of malevolent beings (grahopasarga) (10.50); the general symptoms of a child afflicted by a graha; the afflictions by grahas will be described more elaborately in the Uttara(tantra) (10.51);

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as soon as a child is ready for it, one should start its instruction, in agreement with the varṇa (social class) to which it belongs (10.52); a boy should be married, when he has attained the age of twenty-five years, to a girl whose age is sixteen years (10.53);²⁵² the bad effects on the child of conception before the mentioned marriageable ages (10.54–55); features making men and women unfit for procreation (10.56); disorders of pregnancy and their treatment:²⁵³ imminent abortion, an excess of foetal movements (garbhasphuraṇa), foetal displacement (prasraṃsana), repeated displacement, painful sensations (vedanā), retention of urine (mūtrasaṅga), ānāha (retention of faeces accompanied by abdominal distension), excessive loss of blood, pain not accompanied by bleeding, miscarriage, pains in bladder and abdomen, resorption (laya) of the foetus, prolongation of pregnancy beyond the proper time, drying up of the foetus (śuṣkagarbha), and nāgodara²⁵⁴ (foetal death, followed by withering) (10.57); the treatment of imminent miscarriage (garbhasrāva) in the first to seventh months of pregnancy (10.58–62) and in the eighth to tenth months (10.63–65); a (second) child, born six years after a first one, has a short span of life (10.66); special rules for the treatment of diseases in pregnant women (10.67); four electuaries (prāśa) which promote the bodily and mental development of a child (10. 68–70).