Les fausses couches dans la littérature āyurvédique

Abstract

Recently, various studies on obstetrics in āyurvedic literature have been published: they shed light on a rich and varied documentation, gathered from treatises which are not always easily available. In his opus magnum, A History of Indian Medical Literature, G. Jan Meulenbeld shows that a lot of work has still to be done in this field. This article provides a small summary of data collected in the most famous classical treatises on the specific question of miscarriage. First, I will recall the ideas commonly shared on “normal” conception and pregnancy, in order to highlight the etiology of garbhavyāpad; then, some diseases will be analysed in more detail to illustrate three issues: 1°) the clever synthesis of earlier sources (CS and SS) realized by Vāgbhaṭa; 2 °) the original position of the Suśrutasaṃhitā; 3 °) the ambiguity of certain terms in the āyurvedic tradition.