There were surgeries, sterile procedures, and many more. Were they a civilization much advanced than ours? Maybe they are lost in history along with their secrets. We will never know.
The Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument on earth (now a UNESCO world heritage site), dedicated to Lord Vishnu, complete with its own river canals, surrounded by a moat, bricks bonded together by a strange vegetable compound, mind-blowing galvanic architecture all without any aid of machinery yet perfectly aligned. How did they manage this? Lengend has it that the temple was constructed in a single night by a divine architect.
Clones and Procreation in the Vedic era
- Daksha’s children:
In Puranas, Daksha the ruler of the earth was asked by the Supreme Lord to procreate living creatures. He is said to have produced ten thousand sons who were called “Hayashvas” (Meaning: Joyful Horses).
They all became ascetics. This happened the second time he procreated too. The third time Daksha initiated physical procreation, and his wife Ashini gave birth to sixty daughters. Of these, thirteen were married to a divine personage named Kashyapa. It is said that every being in the world is a progeny of Kashyapa and Daksha’s thirteen daughters.
The legend is more complex than this, of course, it is not possible for a woman to birth 60 children in her life span. Also, the story implies that the first two times Daksha procreated was not from physical means. What could the other means be?
These may be regarded as one of the first recorded instances of human clones since all the children were said to have been perfectly identical.
The core idea represents that there have been biological evolution attempts to propagate the species through asexual means and that the feature of sexual reproduction that is common for the human species today is only a later biological invention.
- Raktabeej:
A Demon by name Raktabeeja was able to produce his clones with a drop of his blood. His name literally translates to blood-seed in English.
The eighth chapter of the Devi Mahatmya, “raktabija-vadh”, focuses on Mahakali’s battle with Raktabeej as part of her battle against the asuras Shumbha and Nishumbha, who had disenfranchised the gods from heaven. Whenever he was wounded, drops of blood falling on the ground created innumerable other Raktabeejs. At this point, Goddess Kali collected blood pouring from Raktabīja’s body in a bowl while other goddesses wounded him. Kali devoured his duplicates into her gaping mouth. This form who drank the demon’s blood is also called Raktheshwari.
Ultimately, Raktabeej was annihilated.
- Birth of Kartikey
Kartikey is a Hindu god with 6 heads best known as the son of Lord Shiva and Parvathi.
The Ramayana has two chapters on Kartikeya’s birth in the Balakanda (chapters 36–37). The stories of Salya, Anusasana (86th chapter in Mahabharata), and Balakanda consistently make Kartikeya the son of all five deities: Shiva, Agni, Ganga, Uma, and the Kritikas.
As per Shiva Purana (page 162) Shiva and Parvati were married and the demi-Gods eagerly awaited their son. However, Shiva and Parvati were so engrossed in their amorous activities that they had no time for the travails of the world. Ultimately the demi-Gods had to disturb Shiva and remind him of his duties.
It so happened, Shiva gave his seeds to Agni(Fire God) and Vayu(Wind God). They went near a river where the wives of seven sages were bathing. Six of them went to the fire (Agni) to warm themselves and were impregnated. On realizing their predicament they left the seed in the form of an embryo in the Himalayas. The King of Himalaya, Himavan, unable to bear the heat of the divine embryo, placed it in the river Ganga (Ganga is the Daughter of Himavan) Where Kartikey was born inside a lotus.
Some versions state that the six women left six embryos and six babies were born. Parvati embraced all six of them, thereby fusing the bodies to one but leaving it with six heads.
Scientifically, the whole story explains the process of in-vitro fertilization in great detail.
Once Shiva gave his seeds( the semen), The semen was centrifugated so that the healthy sperm was taken out. Next, they were handled by Agni, the process of incubation. The next process was the entry into the river, which means the Petri dish containing the eggs. Now starts the process of fusion into an embryo.
The six-headed infant here means the six-cell stage of the embryo ready for implantation in the womb. The same was implanted in the Parvati's’ womb (in one story as she embraced the same) and in the Kritikas’ wombs (the 6 native girls) in another part of the story.
Hence Karttikeya is described as a six-headed god representing that a blastocyst (six-cell stage) can be implanted.
Regeneration and Organ transplants in the Hindu Mythology
Transplant in the Vedic era involved parts like hands, arms, and legs (nonvital organs) and transplants of vital organs like the entire head and heart.
Many asuras were capable of organ transplants. Ravana was capable of regenerating his head after being decapitated.
Of course, us humans can regenerate too. But, it is only restricted to wound healing.
Also, we find an instance of this in the story of Ganesha(Parvathi’s son) as one of the earliest examples of organ transplant where he was decapitated by Shiva and then was given an Elephant’s head.
Similarly, Daksha (Parvathi’s Dad) was decapitated by Shiva and was later given a Goat’s head.
Asexuality in Ancient India
Ganesha was born to Parvati without Shiva intervening, from the dirt of her skin. Probably it was the first example of stem cells being used for the birth of a child using asexual means.
Once Shiva was away on his yogic wanderings and Parvati created Ganesha from the Sandal paste that she had applied on her skin. She collected the paste every day when she went for a bath until she was able to shape a human form out of it and breathe life into it.
Only recently scientists have used bone marrow cells as a means of asexual reproduction in animal studies. The latest is the use of skin cells to make liver cells.
Surrogacy in ancient India
In the Bhagavata Purana, there is a story that suggests the practice of surrogacy.
Kans (Maternal uncle of Lord Krishna), the wicked king of Mathura, had imprisoned his sister Devaki and her husband Vasudeva (Parents of Krishna) because oracles had informed him that one of her children would cause his death.
Every time Devaki delivered a child, he smashed its head on the floor.
They had 7 children, He killed six of them. When the seventh child was conceived, the gods intervened.
Hence they transferred the fetus from the womb of Devaki to the womb of Rohini, Vasudeva’s other wife who lived with her sister Yashoda across the river Yamuna, in the village of cowherds at Gokul.
Thus Lord Krishna, a child conceived in one womb was incubated in and delivered through another.
Continued in Part 3.
If you have managed to reach the very end of this blog, do drop your seeds (of thoughts) down in the comments section.
