Obsession with the male child is still a sad reality in India. It thrives in the nooks and cranny of our mindsets, cosseted by centuries of conditioning and manifesting itself in various contexts. For instance, as per a recent report, Bachelor of Ayurveda, Medicine, and Surgery (BAMS), administered by the Maharashtra University of Health Science (MUHS), may now teach how to conceive a ‘baby boy’. You heard that right; even in the year 2017 where PM Modi is on a digitization run, the third year of BAMS textbook teaches students on ways to conceive a ‘baby boy’.
According to BAMS, to conceive a baby boy, one has to collect two north facing branches of a Banyan tree that have grown in a stable, two grains of urad dal and mustard seeds, grind all the ingredients with curd, and consume the mixture. Decades ago, this information was originally shared by Charaka Samhita, the pre-2nd Century CE compilation on Ayurveda which is now being circulated by BAMS.
According to the textbook, the process of creating a male fetus, a rather sexist fascination, is called `Pusan van’, and any woman who desires a boy should be “blessed with the Pusan van ritual” as soon as she gets pregnant. What is even more intriguing is that this textbook has more than one technique to ensure that if you want a ‘baby-boy’, you must have one! Notably, Sex determination is illegal in India.
One of the techniques is quite expensive, that is, “Create two miniature statues of a man out of gold, silver, or iron after throwing the statues in a furnace. Pour that molten element in milk, curd or water, and on an auspicious hour of Pushp Nakshatra, consume it.”
While the other technique as per the notebook is, “Cook rice flour with water, and while cooking, the woman should inhale the steam. Then add water to the cooked flour, and soak a ball of cotton in it. The woman should lie on the threshold so that her head touches the ground. Then, with that cotton ball, the liquid should be poured in her nostrils. It should not spit out; instead, it should be swallowed.”
When asked about the content MUHS Vice-Chancellor Dr. Mhaisekar said that “The MUHS doesn’t have the right to add or delete from the syllabus. There are seven members from Maharashtra in the Central Council of Ayurveda and all of them are aware of this content.
