test tube baby in mahabharata
June 8, 2020

The science behind mythology: Mahabharata facts – The birth of kauravas

By admin

It’s always very exciting to discover the science behind the myth. This becomes more interesting when it is related to our very own epic; the Mahabharata.

The Kauravas or the sons of King Dhritarasthra and Queen Gandhari were 101 siblings. Dhitrarastra who was unsighted from infancy became the ruler of Hastinapur subsequent to his younger brother Pandu’s early demise. Dhitarastra’s  consort Gandhari enclosed her eyes with a piece of cloth hence becoming sightless akin to her husband. Among the Kauravas, the eldest was Duryodhana and the youngest was Dushala who was the only sister. Now there is a very thrilling scientific phenomena attached to their birth. This quite well proves the scientific advancements during that age.

Story behind birth: Gandhari was granted a boon by the great sage Ved Vyas who was also the biological father of Dhitrarastra. Sage Vyas was the son of Styavati and king Santanu who was the grandfather of Dhitrarastra, Pandu and Vidur. The birth of Dhitrarastra, Pandu and Vidur was not a normal one which we shall throw light in the following articles. The boon entitled that she would have hundred sons. This boon was the result of her tireless serving the great sage. Gandhari and kunti conceived at the same time but Gandhari’s pregnancy was prolonged for about two long years whereas Kunti had Yudishtira. This enraged Gandhari as Yudishtira would be the heir to the throne of Hastinapur being the eldest. Out of disappointment and anger she gave a massive blow in her belly. This caused a lump of flesh to eject out of her belly. Whole Hastinapur was quite disheartened at this unfortunate occurring. Gandhari approached Sage Vyas to seek help. Vyas dev took the lump of flesh and cut it into hundred and pieces. Each piece was about the size of a thumb. He then placed the pieces of flesh into hundred covered mud pots tarnished with butter. A lump of the flesh exceeded which he placed in another mud pot and enlightened Gandhari that this would turn into a beautiful daughter. He then asked Gandhari to wait for two years. After two years these flesh pieces turned into hundred and one offerings. Among this hundred were sons and the final one was a daughter. They were called Kauravas. In such a numinous manner the birth of Kauravas took place. The birth of Pandavas too took place in a mystical manner by the boon granted to Kunti by Sage Durbasa which shall be enclosed in the subsequent article.

Science behind this myth: In today’s scenario, these kinds of births are quite widespread. Test-tube babies are born every other day. According to the 2016 reports 6.5 million test-tube babies are born every year. Any person, who cannot conceive normally, can have test-tube babies quite effortlessly, thanks to medical science. But have you ever pondered over the likelihood of test-tube babies during the epoch of Mahabharata? Well let us tell you that the Kauravas were test-tube babies. Quite breath-taking were the advancements of science during that period. No matter how we perceive it, but we must appreciate the scientific progress during that time. Gandhari could not give birth normally but her boon had to be fulfilled so Vyas dev took up this alternate option. He fertilized the immature fetus outside Gandhari’s body in an enclosed buttery mud pot and kept it with care until two years when the children were born. This is quite similar to the modern scientific methods.  To make this clearer let’s have a look how test-tube babies are born.

Birth of test-tube babies: The rapid advancements of medical science at times can leave you awestruck. Test-tube babies are fairly undemanding phenomena in this date and time. This procedure engages fertilizing the egg exterior of the mother’s body in a laboratory bowl, and then embedding it in the mother’s uterus quite comparable to the method ascetic Vyas did some 5000 years back.

Science and Myth- If we relate science and mythology, this particular occurrence was a great budge of science. We can refer the sages as great scientists even atypical at present. The bulge of flesh or the immature fetus was present within the womb of Gandhari which unfortunately came out. Such was the expansion of science that the lump of flesh was turned into 101 matured babies in the span of two years. Even now the birth of 101 babies is quite hazardous and in all probability never thought of. Back in those times it was done quite plainly without any complications. The laboratory plates used these days is quite analogous to the buttery pots used by sage Vyas. The great Rishis during that age were quite erudite and knew many medicinal plants and herbs as well. Their scientific discoveries leave the 21st century astounded. So test-tube progeny is not a new breakthrough, it can be traced back to the birth of Kauravas during 5000 BCE. This was almost magical during that epoch and a few incidents cannot be replicated yet today. All these phenomenon of the Mythologies and Puranas remained unexplained to countless preceding scholars until the recent day advancements which unveiled the science at the rear these occurrences.

So this was one of the scientific facts from Mahabharata. There are many such attention-grabbing scientific facts in the Mythologies and Puranas which can leave you dazed. We will unquestionably throw luminosity into all such facts in our subsequent write ups. So keep following this website for more such awe-inspiring and out of the box anecdotes. We will soon be back with more such beyond belief accounts. Take care and stay safe.