Modern Medical Science in Mahabharata

Modern Medical Science in Mahabharata 

Mahabharata is one of the most important epics that form a part of Hindu Mythology and there are several seemingly fantastic incidents that take place in this Sanskrit epic by Veda Vyasa but, on closer inspection these incidents bear a close similarity to modern medical concepts.

Today, I am listing top five modern reproductive medical concepts that were present in the period of the Mahabharata 

5. Prolonged Postterm Pregnancy:

Impressed with gandhari devotion towards a blind husband dhritarashtra, veda vyasa gave her a boon to have a hundred son gandharai conceived, but had prolonged gestation where her pregnancy went on for nearly two years, on hearing the news of yudhishthira birth to Kunti, angry gandhari tried to destroy her fetus she began to strike her stomach causing immature delivery gandhari gave birth to a piece of lifeless flesh that was not a baby at all.

4. Artificial uterus:

When Gandhari was about to throw away the lifeless piece of flesh Veda Vyasa appeared and told her that his blessings could not go waste he found that they have 101 cells that were normal in the mass, these cells were put in a nutrient medium a hundred and one pots which were filled with herbs and ghee may be the equivalent to modern-day incubators or artificial uterus, these cells were grown until full term of these hundred developed into male children and one was a female child called Dushala, while this incident bears strong references to modern-day in Vitro fertilization. Gandhari's case is more in tune with the concept of Artificial uterus.

3. Parthenogenesis: 

It is also otherwise known as virgin birth the sage Durvasa had blessed Kunti daughter of king Kuntibhog with a boon, he initiated her into a unique mantra through which she could invoke any divine being to provide her with the son. she wanted to test the mantra but in the process, Kunti conceived her first son Karna from Surya the Sun God. She was unmarried and had to abandon him. She married King Pandu but he was cursed that if he indulged with his wives he would die hence, Kunti used the same mantra to conceive her son Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna the same mantra was also used by Kunti to allow her co-wife Madhuri to conceive Nakula and Sahadeva the fathers of the five Pandavas were Yama, Vayu, Indra and the twins Ashwin brothers this divine birth or asexual reproduction is called parthenogenesis similarly, Dronacharya birth was a combination of parthenogenesis an artificial uterus. The story of his birth goes thus, Bharadwaj went with his companions to the river Ganga to perform his ablutions, there he saw a beautiful maiden or Apsara named Krithaji to overcome with desire the sage produced reproductive fluid he put this in a clay pot and stored it in a dark place in his ashram, Drona was born in this pot, Drona means pot and Dronar is one who was born from the pot. In another, incident King Drupada semen was put in a fire pit by a sage from which Drishtiyamuna and Draupadi were born.

 

2. Induction of Ovulation: 

Concepts of assisted reproductive technology ART have also been described in the epic. Sage Kaushik gave a mango to the infertile king Brihadratha, the king divided the mango into two giving one half to each of his two queens each queen gave birth to a half child as the products of conception were presumed stillborn they were disposed off. A demon searching for food found that the two halves when merged, created a living child the baby was named Jarasandha who grew up to be a great warrior King. This episode suggests the administration of an oral agent for induction of ovulation similar to those used in modern gynecological practices.

1. Surrogacy: 

King Kansa sister Devaki married Vasudeva, on the day of their marriage kansa heard the prediction that he would die with the hands of her eighth son so he imprisoned both Devaki and Vasudeva, killing each infant as soon as it was born. Distressed by the death of their six sons Vasudeva decided to save the unborn child when devaki was pregnant for the seventh time by the will of the LordVishnu the embryo was transferred to Vasudeva's first wife Rohini and hence Balarama Lord Krishna's brother was born through surrogacy, there are instances of surrogate father's also in the Mahabharata faced with the possible extinction of her lineage, Queen Satyavati requested her son Veda Vyasa to cohabit with her widowed daughters-in-law Ambika and Ambalika for progeny. Ambika closed her eyes at the sight of the bearded Veda Vyasa and a blind son Drithrastra was born, the other daughter-in-law Ambalika turned pale upon seeing Veda Vyasa and a son with a pallid complexion Pandu was born it was also predicted that Pandu would not be a healthy child.

what do you think of this top five, if you know of any such stories which bear resemblance to modern medical concepts please do mention them in the comment below stay tuned to my blog for more upcoming interesting stories. share and subscribe