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He says, however, that particles of the other bhitas (earth, air and ether, as Dalhana enumerates them) are separately associated with them (saumyam sukram artavam agneyam itaresam apy atra bhiitanam sannidhyam asty anund visesena parasparo- pakarat paranugrahat paraspardnupravesac ca—Susruta, 11. 3. 1), and they mutually co-operate together for the production of the foetus. ° ydani tv dtmani siksmani bhatani ativahika-riipani tani sarva-sadharanatvena avisesa-sddrsya-karananiti neha boddhavydni. Cakrapani’s Ayur-veda-dipika, IV. 2. 23-27. XIII] The Foetus and the Subtle Body 303 will be pure and vigorous, whereas, if it was that of an animal, it will be impure and dull+. When a man dies, his soul, together with his subtle body, composed of the four elements, air, fire, water and earth, in a subtle state and manas, passes invisibly into a particular womb on account of its karma, and then, when it comes into connection with the combined semen and blood of the father and mother, the foetus begins to develop?. The semen and blood can, however, operate as causes of the production of the body only when they come into connection with the subtle body transferred from the previous body of a dying being®. Susruta (111. 1. 16) says that the very subtle eternal conscious principles are manifested (abhivyajyate) when the blood and semen are in union (parama-siiksmas cetanavantah sasvata lohita-retasah sanni- patesv ablivyajyante). But later on (111. 3.4) this statement is modified in such a way as to agree with Caraka’s account; for there it is said that the soul comes into contact with the combined semen and blood along with its subtle elemental body (bhiitatmana). In another passage a somewhat different statement is found (Susruta, 111. 4. 3). Here it is said that the materials of the de- veloping foetus are agni, soma, sativa, rajas, tamas, the five senses, and the bhiatatma—all these contribute to the life of the foetus and are also called the pranas (life)*. Dalhana, in explaining this, says that the agni (fire) spoken of here is the heat-power which manifests itself in the fivefold functionings of digestion (pacaka), viz. brightening of the skin (bhrajaka), the faculty of vision = Testim visesad balavanti yani bhavanti mata-pitr-karma-jani tani vyavasyet sadrsatva-lingam satvam yathaniikam api vyavasyet. Caraka, Iv. 2. 27. Aniikam praktanavyavahita deha-jatis tena yathaniikam iti yo deva-Sariradd avyavadhanenagatya bhavati sa deva-satvo bhavati, etc. Cakrapani, Iv. 2. 23-27. e bhiitais caturbhih sahitah su-siiksmair mano-javo deham upaiti dehat karmat-makatvan na tu tasya dréyam divyam vina darsanam asti ripam. Caraka, Iv. 2. 3. 3 yady api sukra-rajast karane, tathapi yadaivativahikam siksma-bhiita-riipa- Saritram prdpnutah, tadaiva te sartram janayatah, ndnyada. Cakrapani, Iv. 2130) 4 This bhiitatmd, i.e. the subtle body together with the soul presiding over it, is called by Susgruta karma-purusa. Medical treatment is of this karma-purusa and his body (sa esa karma-purusah cikitsadhikrtah—Susruta, 111. 1.16). Susruta (I. L.21) again says, “ pafica-mahabhiita-Sariri-samavayah purusa ity ucyate; tasmin kriya so ’dhisthanam.” (In this science, the term purusa is applied to the unity of five elements and the self (Sarir7), and this is the object of medical treatment.) 304 Speculations in the Medical Schools [cH. (alocaka), coloration of the blood, the intellectual operations and the heat operations involved in the formation and work of the different constituent elements (dhatu), such as chyle, blood, etc.; the soma is the root-power of all watery elements, such as mucus, chyle, semen, etc., and of the sense of taste; vayu represents that which operates as the fivefold life-functionings of prana, apana, samana, udana, and vyana. Dalhana says further that sativa, rajas and tamas refer to manas, the mind-organ, which is a product of their combined evolution. The five senses contribute to life by their cognitive functionings. The first passage seemed to indicate that life was manifested as a result of the union of semen and blood; the second passage considered the connection of the soul with its subtle body (bhitaima) necessary for evolving the semen- blood into life. The third passage introduces, in addition to these, the five senses, sattva, rajas, and tamas, and the place of semen- blood is taken up by the three root-powers of agni, and vayu. These three powers are more or less of a hypothetical nature, absorbing within them a number of functionings and body-consti- tuents. The reason for these three views in the three successive chapters cannot be satisfactorily explained, except on the supposi- tion that Susruta’s work underwent three different revisions at three different times. Vagbhata the elder says that the moment the semen and the blood are united, the life principle (jiva), being moved by. manas (mano-javena), tainted, as the latter is, with the afflictions (klesa) of attachment, etc., comes in touch with it}. The doctrine of a subtle body, as referred to in the medical works, may suitably be compared with the Samkhya view. Cakrapani him- self, in explaining Caraka-samhita, Iv. 2. 36, says that this doctrine of asubtle body (ativahtka Sarira) is described in the agama, and by agama the Samkhya agama is to be understood (tena a@gamad eva samkhya-darsana-riipad ativahika-sarirat). The Samkhya-karika 39 speaks of a subtle body (si#ksma deha) and the body inherited from 1 gate purdne rajast nave ’vasthite suddhe garbhasyasaye marge ca biydtmana Suklam avikytam avikytena vadyund preritam anyais ca mahda-bhiitair anugatam Grtavena abhimiirchitam anvaksam eva ragadi-klesa-vasadnuvartind sva-karma- coditena mano-javena jivenabhisamsrstam garbhasayam upayati. Astanga-samgraha, 11. 2. Indu, in explaining this, says, “‘bijatmand garbha-karana-mahd-bhiita- svabhavena. . .siiksma-svaripath manas-sahacaribhis tanmatrakhyair maha-bhitair anugaiam stri-ksetra-praptyad karma-vasad Grtavena nusri bhatam anvaksam misri- bhava-hina-kalam eva. -mano-javena jivenabhisamsystam prapta-samyogam garbhasayam suklam upayati.” His further explanations of the nature of applications of the jiva show that he looked up Patafijali’s Yoza-satras for the details of avidyd, etc., and the other Alegas. XIII] The Foetus and the Subtle Body 305 the parents. The siksma continues to exist till salvation is attained, and at each birth it receives a new body and at each death it leaves it. It is constituted of mahat, ahamkara, the eleven senses and the five tan-matras. On account of its association with the buddhi, which bears the impress of virtue, vice, and other intellectual defects and accomplishments, it becomes itself associated with these, just as a cloth obtains fragrance through its connection with campak flowers of sweet odour; and hence it suffers successive rebirths, till the buddhi becomes dissociated from it by the attain- ment of true discriminative knowledge. The necessity of admitting a subtle body is said to lie in the fact that the buddhi, with the ahamkara and the senses, cannot exist without a supporting body; so in the interval between one death and another birth the buddhi, etc. require a supporting body, and the subtle body is this sup- port!. In the Samkhya-pravacana-bhasya, Vv. 103, it is said that this subtle body is like a little tapering thing no bigger than a thumb, and that yet it pervades the whole body, just as a little flame pervades a whole room by its rays?. The Vydsa-bhasya, in refuting the Samkhya view, says that according to it the citta (mind), like the rays of a lamp in a jug or in a palace, contracts and dilates according as the body that it occupies is bigger or smaller’. Vacaspati, in explaining the Yoga view as expounded by Vyasa, says that in the Samkhya view the citta is such that it cannot, simply by contraction and expansion, leave any body at death and occupy another body without intermediate relationship with a subtle body (tivahika-sarira). But, if the citta cannot itself leave a body and occupy another, how can it connect itself with a subtle body at the time of death? If this is to be done through another body, and that through another, then we are led to a vicious infinite. If it is argued that the citta is connected with such a subtle body from beginningless time, then the reply is that such a subtle body has never been perceived by anyone (na khalu etad adhyaksa-gocaram) ; nor can it be regarded as indispensably neces- sary through inference, since the Yoga view can explain the situation without the hypothesis of any such body. The citta is all-pervading, 1 Samkhya-tattva-kaumudi, 39, 40, 41. 2 yatha dipasya sarva-grha-vyapitve ’pi kalikd-karatvam...tathaiva linga- dehasya deha-vydpitve ’py angustha-parimanatvam. Sdmkhya-pravacana-bhasya, v. 103. 3 ghata-prasada-pradipa-kalpam sankoca-vikasi cittam sarira-parimanakara- matram ity apare pratipannah. Vydsa-bhasya on Patafijali’s Yoga-siitras, Iv. 10. DII 20 306 Speculations in the Medical Schools [cH. and each soul is associated with a separate citta. Each citta connects itself with a particular body by virtue of the fact that its manifes- tations (vrtti) are seén in that body. Thus the manifestations of the all-pervading citta of a soul cease to appear in its dying body and become operative in a new body that is born. Thus there is no necessity of admitting a subtle body (a@tivahikatvam tasya na mrsyamahe)'. The Vaigesika also declines to believe in the existence of a subtle body, and assigns to it no place in the development of the foetus.