Prenatal suffering [Was: A Query re the development of garbha]

[Paolo Magnone]

Dear Johanna,

While still residing in the womb (/garbhastha/) the embryo is said to be 
pressed by the /chorion/ like one squeezed down by mountains; soaked by 
the amniotic fluid like one fallen into the sea; “cooked” by digestive 
fire like one thrown into a hot brass pot; and experiencing eight times 
as much suffering as one pierced by red-hot needles. The suffering 
inflicted by the dreadful contraption of the vagina (/yoniyantra/) at 
deliverance is, however, 10 million times as much as that experienced in 
the womb. The /dehin/ who has finally “thickened” (/sammūrchita/!) and 
is ready to be born is thoroughly crushed like a cane by a grinder, his 
head pounded by a nasty hammer while he is helplessly blown out by the 
powerful winds of childbirth. Crushed by the /yoniyantra/, the newborn 
body is as sapless as a sugar cane driven through a grinder. Then the 
text goes on to expatiate on the impurity of the bodily frame by 
detailing its filthy components.

As a consequence of the agony of childbirth the newborn baby is seized 
by a violent fever which erases the memory of past lives and the 
embryo’s former resolve to attain liberation through /śivajñāna./ It is 
indeed as a remedy for such forgetfulness that the present /śāstra 
/(i.e. the /Śivadharmottara/) has been proclaimed by Śiva, in order to 
denounce the evils of /saṁsāra/ and make for heaven or liberation.

All this surely stands in stark contrast to Western psychoanalytic views 
of a prenatal “paradise lost”! What about East Asian views?

Paolo Magnone
Sanskrit Language and Literature
Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (Milan)

Jambudvipa  - Indology and Sanskrit Studies (www.jambudvipa.net)





On 19/02/2012 22:37, Jo wrote:
>
> Please, Prof, Magnone,
>
> Would you also describe what these tortures entail:
>
> “(a pledge, alas! soon to be forgotten because of the hellish tortures 
> inflicted by the /yoniyantra…)”. /So what are these? //I want to 
> compare them to East Asian views on childbirth and the female.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Joanna Kirkpatrick
>
> //
>
> *From:*Indology [mailto:INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk] 
> <mailto:[mailto:INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk]> *On Behalf Of *Paolo Magnone
> *Sent:* Sunday, February 19, 2012 11:52 AM
> *To:* INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk <mailto:INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk>
> *Subject:* Re: [INDOLOGY] A Query re the development of garbha
>
> Dear Arthur and List,
> /
> Śivadharmottara Purāṇ/a 8, 26-52 describes the different stages of the 
> conception, formation and development of the embryo, up to the point 
> when the /jīva /acquires consciousness and remembrance of his past 
> sorrowful incarnations, pledging to put an end to such course in his 
> life soon to begin through the study of /śivajñāna/! (a pledge, alas! 
> soon to be forgotten because of the hellish tortures inflicted by the 
> /yoniyantra /and of the agony of childbirth).
>
> The relevant passage (28-29) apparently contemplates three main 
> phases, marked by three different terms (which do not include 
> /kaṭhina/): /kalala/, /arbuda /(/budbuda/ in another MS) and /peśī/.
>
> /tac chukraṃ raktasaṁyuktam ekāhāt kalalaṃ bhavet
>     pañcarātreṇa kalalam arbudākāratāṃ vrajet
> arbudaṃ saptarātreṇa māṁsapeśī bhavet tataḥ
>     dvisaptāhād bhavet peśī raktamāṁsacitā dṛḍhā/
>
> Greetings from likewise snowy Milan,
>
> Paolo Magnone
> Sanskrit Language and Literature
> Catholic University of Milan
>
> Jambudvipa  - Indology and Sanskrit Studies (www.jambudvipa.net 
> <http://www.jambudvipa.net>)
>
>
>
> On 17/02/2012 14:49, Artur Karp wrote:
>
> Dear List,
>   
> According to the Garbhopaniṣat  human embryos "solidify" one month
> after conception, they become kaṭhina. Turner (CDIAL 2650) informs the
> word is used in the Suśrutasaṃhitā and suggests it could be a
> Dravidian borrowing.
>   
> [an embryo becomes] māsābhyantare kaṭhinaṃ: "in a month, it hardens".
> A quick check of the Suśrutasaṃhitā text doesn't show any phrase
> combining the two: garbha and kaṭhina.
>   
> Are there any other words used to describe this stage of the embryo's
> 'hardening' or 'solidification'? Does also the Hiranyagarbha undergo
> this stage?
>   
>   
> Thanks in advance, and greetings from snowy Warsaw,
>   
>   
> Artur Karp
>   
> Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit and Pali (ret.)
> South Asian Studies Dept.
> University of Warsaw
> Poland
>




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