Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

Sugruta mentions all these varieties of impotence, with some others. For the most part, all these are congenital, although some, accordding to western physicians, are due to a premature decay of power awing to over-indulgence or unnatural indulgence— T.

* ‘ Klivau 1 would indicate not exactly parents whose seed is actually sterile, but those whose seed has not a vigorous productivity. It seems to be a pleonastic adjective in the sentence inasmuch as 1 Mandaviryyau 1 has been used.— T.

It is said that the cause of an ‘ Irshyarati ’ (otherwise called * Irshyabhirati ’ or * Irshaka) is a couple any individual of which is under the influence of malice, or a couple that is cheerless at the time of procreation.13

He whose testicles have been destroyed through vitiated wind and digestive fire, is called ‘ Vatika-shanda.’ Even these are the eight varieties of* individuals of defective organisms, noticeable (among human beings,) due to the (evil) deeds (of prior lives).30’!'

Agnivega said, — What are the indications of a new-born conception in the womb ?

What are the indications of a male, a female, and a neuter foetus in the womb ?

What is regarded as the cause by which a child resembles its parents ?31

Punarvasu replied, — Salivation, sensation of heaviness of the body, langour of limbs, drowsiness, cheerlessness, pain in the cardiac region, sense of gratification (without having taken any food), acceptance of the seed by the uterus, } are the indi¬ cations of a new-born conception.32

That woman produces a daughter who (during gestation) uses her left limbs (more than the right ones) for doing all acts, who becomes desirous of male companionship ; whose sleep, drinking, eating, conduct, and movements are more femi2t It will be seen from these passages that the experience of the Rishis was very wide of impotence or sterility in all its forms. The causes as set forth are scarcely scientific. The theory of blood and semen together being the cause of the foetus in the womb has yet to be proved. Much depends, no doubt, upon the productivity of the father’s seed, as also upon the temper of both the father and the mother at the time of procreation. Some French physicians have gone to the length of asserting that the mother's cheerfulness, in particular, breaking out into even a joyous song, is sure to produce a cheerful baby of the male sex. — T.

t Gangadhara explains this as implying a stoppage of the usual emission of fluid by the mother.— T.

nine than usual, who seems to hold the foetus on the left side (of the womb) ; whose womb does not swell all round ,• and whose left breast (first) shows signs of milk.25

When the reverse of these signs is shown, the woman pro¬ duces a son.

When the signs manifested are a mixture of the two, the woman produces an offspring of the third kind.

The woman produces an offspring like that being upon whom her thoughts dwell at the time of conceiving.*24

These are all that occur in the body of every foetus, viz., the four fold four elements, that is, those derived from the mother, those derived from the father, those derived from the suste¬ nance (which the foetus receives), and those derived from the acts of previous births. f25 3t In verse 25 the Rishi explains what the constituent ingredients are of the body of the foetus in the womb. He says that the ingredients he mentions are all that occur in the body of every foetus, there being nothing more. The ingredients he mentions are four kinds of bhutas or primal elements, viz., (1) those derived from the mother, (2) those derived from the father, (3) those derived from the food or sustenanee which the foetus draws for its growth, and (4) those derived from the acts of previous births. Each of those is of four kinds, viz., earth, water, light or heat, and air. Ether or space is left out, as it is untransmutable and occurs in every form or substance. The mother, through the blood she supplies for the formation of the seed, contributes these four primal elements. The