The Origin of the Life of a Human Being

by Rahul Peter Das

This study attempts to determine how the ancient Indian medical and sexological texts would answer a non-medical question namely; What happens in a woman's body at the time of conception? This question also has social and religious relevance.

To this end, numerous relevant texts were exhaustively analysed, along with several secondary sources and relevant data from other traditional medicinal systems. The highly complicated material, with data often widely scattered or embedded in problematic contexts, required thorough analysis. This also entailed delving deeply into Indian medical and sexological theories in general, and tackling basic principles and concepts, hitherto, not satisfactorily dealt. In the process, layers of obfuscation deriving from preconceived notions and apologetics are often the first to be removed. This study will thus also benefit those looking at aspects of Indian medicine and sexology.

The main body of the work has been augmented with several excursuses on special problems of Indian medicine and sexology, with an appendix in juxtapositioin with Greek and Unani medicine and select technical terms. Further, exhaustsive indices of the text facilitate usage.