Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

* The first three questions indicated in aphorism 2 above are : (1) whence does Conception (or the foetus) spring 1 (2) what is that to which the name Conception (or foetus) applies ? (3) what are those whose , modification is the foetus? The (3) is answered here (in aphorism 5). The second part of 5 seems to be a tautological repetition of the first part. Having said at the outset that the foetus is a modification of Ether, etc , and that that modification is the seat or abode of the Self, nothing new is said in the following part of the aphorism unless ‘ Samudayatraakah ’ is taken as such, as also the state¬ ment about Chetana being regarded as one of the additional elements or ingredients of the foetus. ‘ Samudayaunaka ’ means ‘ liaviug the aggregate of all the five for its essence/ — T .

CHARAKA SAMHITA

p. 738

season, if, of course, she is free from every -disease afflicting the genital organs, the (menstrual) blood, and the womb.*

When a man of faultless semen holds sexual congress with such a woman, that which is the foremost essence of all the ingredients composing the body, urged by the rapturous pleasure he feels, issues out of every part of his body.f

That ingredient in the form of Seed, thus urged out by the gladdened Self, issues out of the body of the male, and entering the womb by the passage already indicated, mingles with the menstrual blood of the mother.

t According to Hindu physicians, the semen does not reside in any par¬ ticular locality or limb of the body. The testicles, without which there can be no manifestation of the virile power, are supposed to be the receptacles in which the semen resides. Actual dissection, however, of the testes, does not show a drop of semen. Hindu physicians take it for granted that the semen is generated for the time being, and that it is generated by the whole body. It represents, according to them, the foremost essence of every ingredient of the body In the Upanishads occurs a verse which runs as follows :

* Among Hindus the custom is that no woman approaches her husband till after a bath on the third day of the appearance of the menses. She is regarded impure till the bath on the third day. Absolute cessation of work for three days is the rule. Among certain wild tribes, the purificatory bath is delayed till the seventh, or even the tenth day. For the whole of this period the woman is regarded impure. She is permitted to have absolute rest. The Hindu scriptures forbid the very touch of a woman who is in her period of impurity. Sexual congress with such a woman is regarded as fully capable of shortening one’s period of life. — T.

Angadangat sambhavasi hridayatabhijayase,

Atma vai putranamasi sajiva caradah catam. ”

The meaning is, — ‘ Thou takest thy birth from (my) limb and limb ; thdu springest from the core of (my) heart ; thou art my own self, known by the name of son: do thou live a hundred years!’ The limbs of the offspring are be¬ gotten from those of the sire. The eye is generated by the eye ; the ear by the ear ; the nose by the nose ; &c. &c. It is the sire’s own Self that takes birth as the son. The son springs from the very core of the sire’s heart. The foremost of all dhatus (ingredients of the body) is the ojas. The semen is the essence of even the ‘ ojas.’ It is generated and comes out only when the acme of pleasure attaching to sexual congress is felt. — T.

739;

CHAR AKA SAMHITA.

■ In that (mixture), the ingredient called Chetana (Self), which has Mind for its (chief) organ, begins to attract the (several) attributes.