religious embryology in India

[Arlo Griffiths]

A few years ago, Sandra Smets, then of the Catholic Univ. of Louvain-la-Neuve, was working on the embryological Garbhopani.sad. I am not sure she is still working at that Univ. and whether her research has led to a publication yet. Christophe Vielle will no doubt be able to inform us.
An excellent article is Walter Slaje's ".Rtu-, .Rtv(i)ya-, Aartava- Weibliche "Fertilität" im Denken vedischer Inder", published in Journal of the European Aayurvedic Society 4 (1995), 109-148.
Arlo GriffithsEFEO/Jakarta


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> Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2011 23:19:02 +0100
> From: mjslouber at BERKELEY.EDU
> Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] religious embryology in India
> To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
>
> Dear Andrey,
>
> I don't have any kind of complete bibliography, but here are a few ideas:
>
> On Fertility:
>
> -Allocco, A. (2009). Snakes, goddesses, and anthills: Modern challenges and women's ritual responses in contemporary south india. Thesis, Emory University.
> -Balzani, M. (2004). Pregnancy rituals amongst the rajput elite in contemporary rajasthan. Playing for Real: Hindu Role Models, Religion, and Gender, 141.
> -Parpola, A. (1987). Bangles, sacred trees, and fertility: Interpretations of the indus script relating to the cult of skanda-kumāra. In South asian archaeology 1987: Proceedings of the ninth international conference of the association of south asian archaeologists in western europe.
> -Patton Laurie, L. (2002). Mantras and miscarriage: Controlling birth in the late vedic period. Jewels of Authority: Women and Textual Tradition in Hindu India, 51-56.
>
> Little of the vast medieval literature on this topic has been edited. Look in the NGMCP catalogue for the word "sūtikā" for instance.
>
> Prenatal and Childhood demonic possession:
>
> Filliozat, J. (n.d.). Etude de démonologie indienne: Le kumaratantra de ravan. A et les textes paralleles indiens tibétains, chinois, cambodgien et arabe. Cahiers De La Société Asiatique, Series, 1.
> Granoff (2002). Paradigms of protection in ancient india or an essay on what to do with your demons. Essays in Jaina Philosophy and Religion, 2, 181-212.
> Granoff (2009). The art of protecting children: The ritual context for some early terracottas.
> Sarma, E. M. K. (1975). Kumāratantram. South Indian Archaka Association.
> Smith, F. M. (2006). The Self Possessed: Deity and spirit possession in south asian literature and civilization. New York: Columbia University Press.
> Wujastyk, D. (1999). Miscarriages of justice: Demonic vengeance in classical indian medicine. Religion, Health, and Suffering, 256-75.
>
> Ditto concerning the lack of work on primary sources for this topic. There are dozens of manuscripts on it in every archive in South Asia.
>
> The Kriyākālaguṇottara has the following chapters that may be of interest:
>
> -abhiṣekapaṭala 19 (on possession causing fertility problems and remedies)
> -sūtikopadrava 20
> -jātamātrabālacikitsā 21
> -bālānāṃ cikitsā 22
> -bālagrahacikitsā 23
> -rakṣāpaṭala 24 (protection charms for children and others)
>
> There is a lot of Ayurvedic material on this--the Kāśyapasaṃhitā comes to mind--but you don't get as much of the religious perspective there as the sources I mentioned above.
>
> Good luck,
>
> Michael Slouber
> Ph.D. Candidate
> UC Berkeley
>
>
>
> On Jan 27, 2011, at 7:22 PM, Andrey Klebanov wrote:
>
> > Dear all,
> >
> > I'm searching for publications (or any other academic input), which deal or touch upon the topic of religious attitudes, rituals etc. concerning conception/ embryonal development/ birth and early childhood in India (past or present).
> > I would be absolutely grateful for any hint or advice.
> >
> > best,
> > Andrey Klebanov