Believe it or not, students pursuing third-year BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurveda, Medicine, and Surgery) in Maharashtra have a chapter in a textbook that contains a number of guidelines that can apparently help mothers “conceive a baby boy.” Content which dates back to the 2nd Century CE is a part of the curriculum for BAMS students.
According to news reports, the syllabus has been approved by the Ministry of Ayush. As per the text which is duplicated by from Charaka Samhita, the pre-2nd Century CE compilation on Ayurveda, a pregnant woman needs to follow the mentioned steps to be able to produce a “male foetus.”
“Collect two north facing branches of a Banyan tree (east facing will also suffice) that has grown in a stable, take precisely two grains of urad dalmustard seeds, grind all the ingredients with curd, and consume the mixture,” one of the technique in the textbook reads as. There’s also an expensive process. “Create two miniature statues of a man out of gold, silver, or iron after throwing the statues in a furnace. Pour the Formula for conceiving a baby boy: a chapter in Bachelor of Ayurveda, Medicine’s student’s molten element in milk, curd or water, and on an auspicious hour of Pushp Nakshatra, consume it”.
The entire process is called `pusanvan’. The text claims that any pregnant woman who follows the guidelines and completes the procedure will be “blessed with the pusanvan ritual”. The chapter came to light after a member of the district supervisory board of the PreConception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, Ganesh Borhade pointed it out, Mumbai Mirror reported.
“Doctors with BAMS degrees have a thriving practice not just in rural areas, but also in cities such as Mumbai, Pune, and Nashik. Many people shun allopathy in favour of Ayurveda, and if this is what medical students are being taught, God help this society,” the daily quoted Borhade as saying.
