A Query re the development of garbha

[Dominic Goodall]

Dear Artur Karp, dear list-members,

I think that the more commonly used Sanskrit name for the ka.thina is probably the ghana, e.g. in this quotation in the Abhidharmako"sabhaa.sya:

kalala.m prathama.m bhavati kalalaaj jaayate ’rbuda.h
arbudaaj jaayate pe"sii pe"siito jaayate ghana.h
ghanaat pra"saakhaa jaayante ke"saromanakhaadaya.h

You could look at Carl Suneson, 1991, "Remarks on some interrelated terms in the ancient Indian embryology", WZKS XXXV (1991), pp. 109--122.
For some further "Saiva passages, you could look at footnote 348 on pp. 244--246 of my translation of the Paraakhyatantra.

Dominic Goodall
École française d'Extrême-Orient


On 17-Feb-2012, at 3:41 PM, Ulrich T. Kragh wrote:

>> Athur Karp wrote:
>> Are there any other words (than kaṭhinaṃ) used to describe this stage of the embryo's
>> 'hardening' or 'solidification'? 
> 
> Various Tibetan and Chinese versions of the Buddhist Garbhavakranti-sutra say that during the second week of pregnancy the embroy becomes an "arbuda" (that is just the name of the stage, lit. "long round mass") and then likens it to "thick curd or hardened butter" (zho'am mar mkhrang po lta bu / 状如稠酪，或如凝酥).
> 
> Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a Sanskrit parallel for this passage, so it is unclear whether the non-extant Sanskrit versions of the text had kaṭhinaṃ here or something else. So, it is probably not of much help to your inquiry.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Tim
> 
> Dr. Ulrich Timme Kragh
> Leiden University