Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

* The Rishi explains in this Lesson the manner in which the foetus is generated in the mother’s womb. He calls the Lesson “ That relating to unlike clans,” in the matter, of course, of the procreation of progeny. The Hindoos had succeeded in discovering the fact at an early age that children procreated by a man and a woman of the same clan or family never become healthy or intelligent. The procreation of good children depends upon the father being a person of a clan or family different from that of the mother. The Hindu law, as laid down by Manu, about the degrees of propinquity within which marital alliances are prohibited, has been variously interpreted. Generally, the wife’s grandfather in the paternal line must not be one from whom, either through a male or a female, the husband is descended. In very ancient times, however, the prohibited degrees were much nearer, for we find Arjuna, one of the heroes of the Mahabharata, marrying the daughter, Subadhra, of his maternal uncle, Vasudeva. The curious reader is referred to the pages of the learned work of Dr. Jogendra Nath Bhattacharyya entitled “ Commentaries on Hindu Law,” Part III, Chaps. . I — V, in which he will find the prohibited degrees according to both the Bengal and the Mithila schools ably and intelligently discussed. The word ‘ Gotra ’ literally signifies all persons who rescue a particular ancestor from the hell called put, the belief of the Hindus being that a childless man goes to the hell of that name. Children are rescuers of their ancestors. Hence ‘ Gotra ’ means a clan or race. The superior Brahmans of Bengal whether of the RSrhiya or the Varendra sections, are distributed into five ‘ Gotras,’ named after five Vedic sages, Bharadwaja, Qandilya, Kafyapa, Savarni, and Vatsya. The husband and wife should never be of the same ‘ Gotra.’ ‘ Atulya ’ is literally ‘ unlike ’ or ‘ not same.’ — T.

p. 696

CHARAKA SAMHITA.

Of a person of unlike clan, who pairs with a woman-,, what, in truth, is the secretion, composed of four (out of the five primal elements) and born of the six tastes, which is cast in privacy, after the expiration of the menstrual flow, (into the womb) and which develops, in women into conception ?*a The wise say that that secretion of the man is called gukra (vital seed). It is secreted for originating conception. It con¬ sists of the four primal elements, viz., air, heat (or light), earth, and water, in efficient proportions. It is generated by the (food, and drink of) six tastes which the man cousumes.fs

* The Rishis knew the baneful effects of sexual congress between manand woman during the continuance of the functional flow of the latter. The Hindu scriptures abound with passages interdicting such congress which, is believed to be productive of premature death. Hence, in the question! which AgniveQa puts, he assumes that the vital seed is cast into the womb' after the cessation of the menstrual flow. The menstrual period is regarded by the Hindus as lasting for three days. This is regarded, again, as a period, of impurity for woman. During the menstrual period the woman is not allowed to do any domestic duty. On the fourth day, when the flow ceases, the woman takes a bath. She then becomes pure and fit for sexual union.. * Shadbhyah prabham ’ is ‘ born of the six.’

The vital seed, Agnivefa takes it for granted, is born of the food and. drinks which a man takes. Food and drink are of six principal tastes,. viz., sour, sweet, bitter, astringent, pungent, and saline. The vital seed is called, again, as ‘ Chatuspat,’ meaning ‘ combined of four.’ The Hindu medical scriptures assume that into the composition of the vital seed, the four out of the five primal elements, viz., earth, water, light, and air enter,, to the exclusion of ether or space.

‘ Garbha ’ is either conception, meaning the birth of the foetus, or the foetus itself.— T.

+ Gangadhara explains that ether (or space) is not enumerated as a constituent of the secretion, simply because it enters into the constitution of every material substance, without being the especial ingredient of any particular substances. — T.

CHARAKA SAMHITA. 6g7

For what reason does a foetus once formed meet with des¬ truction ?*4

Punarvasu replied : That foetus which is endued with wealth of semen, of blood, of Soul, of womb, and of time, and whose surroundings are limited with all that is beneficial, attains to happiness and becomes full-bodied in time without accidents of any kind.f 5

Agnivega said : In what manner and through what cause does the foetus become full-bodied in time without accidents of any kind ? For what reason does a woman who has already given birth to children (sometimes) conceive after a consider¬ able lapse of time ?