Foetal Transplant: Balrama, brother of Krishna

In 2013, a team of researchers and doctors performed the last of nine planned uterus transplants. Live-donor uterus transplantation has a low risk despite extended surgery duration. In the next phase researchers will help seven of the women become pregnant through IVF treatment. The project is the world's first systematic and research-based attempt to find a treatment for women with uterine infertility. Several medical, psychological and quality of life-related parameters are monitored among the women, which will be of great help for further progress in the field.

March 4, 2014
University of Gothenburg 



Foetus and uterus transplants are a fearsome topic even in the modern age. They are still in the research stage and are full of risks and anxieties. Isn't it really commendable that there are references of a foetal implant in our ancient religious scriptures? The one example that I know of is none other than Balarama, the elder brother of Srikrishna. He too like Krishna was the son of Vasudeva of Yadava clan. He had two mothers Devaki and Rohini and interestingly, both bore him partly.

The story begins with the marriage of Vasudeva and Devaki, the sister of Maharaja Kansa, the king of Mathura. She was a half sister, but Kansa doted on her. He marries her off with grandeur and splendour, and when the time for her departure fro m the palace came, there was a prophecy from the skies....'Akashvani..' It was the voice of the Lord that warned Kansa that the 8th born son of Devaki, the sister he had so much affection for, would kill him. Kamsa imprisoned Devaki and Vasudeva, and Kamsa became fixated upon killing each and every child.

Hence, in order to save his own skin, the cruel Kansa started killing the innocent infants. He had already killed six of Devaki's children brutally. By the time Devaki conceived her seventh child, she was crestfallen and very very worried. She knew with certitude that the blood thirsty brother would not spare her offspring. Devaki was very upset and began praying to Vishnu for help. Her prayers were answered One night, Vishnu appeared in her dream and said that the divine king of snakes, Seshnaga, would be born as her seventh child. He told her that the child would not be killed by Kansa. This gave some sense of hope to the disconsolate parents. It is at this cathartic point that Yogamaya stepped into the story. As it is with grandiose stories, there is a touch of the supernatural and sublime that tickles the reader's imagination. Similarly, Yogmaya is introduced who creates some miracle for the seventh issue of Devaki. She is nothing but the 'Maya' created by the Supreme Lord Vishnu.


Yogamaya, it is said, extracted the foetus from the uterus of Devaki while she was eight months pregnant and placed it inside the uterus of Rohini.

The Vishnu Purana narrates the story like this---

Lord Vishnu being satisfied with the prayer of Devatas gave two of his of hair --- black and white separately for the benefit of humanity. Before the conception, of Devaki's seventh and eight children, the Lord implanted them in her womb. These two hair converted to Balaram and Srikrishna. Just before his birth, the white hair turned-offspring was miraculously transferred by way of Vishnu's maya to the womb of Rohini, another wife of Vasudev who had desired to have a child of her own. So, to save him from Kamsa's tyranny. Yogamaya transferred Ananta Sesa (Balarama) from the womb of Devaki to the womb of Rohini.


Rohini at that time hid herself in Nanda's house at Gokul for the fear of the demon Kamsa. It is said in Bhagavat that - 'Devakya Jathare Garbham Shesakhyam Dham Mamakam, Tata Sanni Krushya Rohinya Udare Sanniveshaya' Bhagavat [10-3-(8-10)]


The supreme power called Shesha which is the abode of Lord Krishna (Vishnu), took birth as a human in the form of foetus in the uterus of Devaki. Goddess Yogamaya extracted the foetus of Balarama and placed it safely inside the uterus of Rohini, the second wife of Vasudeva. So after birth his name was Sankarsana.

I pause at this point to point out that this is the huge allusion to a transplant of foetus from one womb to another. This is an example to prove that such kind of an activity was not alien to the ancient Indians.... I guess that one day Modern Science will also make this possible. The rest of the story is as follows--

Some time later, during the most auspicious moment in Sravana month, Rohini, just like a lioness gave birth to Lord Balarama.

His complexion was white like a lotus flower and he looked like the full moon. His eyes were brilliant like lightning flashes. His hair was the color of a cloud yet brilliant like the sun. Such extraordinary beauty prevailed because He was none other than the Lord Sankarsana.

He was called Sankarshan meaning a spirit transferred between two wombs. He was fair complexioned and was formally named Rama, but because of his great strength he was renamed Balarama which means 'strong Rama'. Balarama was born in the village of Gokul in the full moon month of Sridhara in July. This is where, his younger brother Krishna, the eight born, also joined him later.

The child born out of the black hair was dark complexioned and was named Krishna. The family priest who performed the naming ceremonies for Krishna and Balarama provided the following reasons for their names--

These two Lords, Krishna and Balarama, are the seed and womb of the universe, the Creator and His Creative potency. They enter the hearts of living beings and control their conditioned awareness. They are the primeval supreme.

Along with Balarama, Rohini is also the mother of Subhadra. She played a prominent role in the nurture of Krishna. She was a partial incarnation of Surabhi, the mother of the cows.

The child thus born was named Balarama, and grew to be a great warrior and support of his younger brother Krishana.

Krishna, who was the much-anticipated eighth child of Devaki, was moved immediately after birth to Gokula in secrecy. Rohini also moved to the same region, to be able to keep an eye on her beloved stepson Krishna, who was raised in another family due to the impending threat of him being killed by Kansa. It is due to this proximity that the two brothers, Balarama and Krishna, grew up together.

Test Tube Babies: Kauravas

I'm going to talk about the test tube baby birth technique adopted in India thousands of years ago during the Mahabharata period.



Most likely, scientific advancement then was greater than what it is today. It was an age which gives references of test tube babies (birth of Kauravas), surrogate motherhood (Kunti and Madri's children) Foetus transplant (Krishna's brother Balram was transferred from Devaki's to Rohini's womb). Modern scientists have time and again accepted this fact and this was mentioned in a conference on stem cell research that the Kauravas were products of a technology that modern science has not even developed as yet.


The Mahabharata describes Gandhari as a mother of 100 sons the Kauravas. Her story begins when Bhishma Pitamah, the Kuru elder took upon himself the task of finding a suitable match for his blind nephew Dhritrashtra. He visits the Kingdom of Kandhar with a marriage proposal for the beautiful princess Gandhari. The King hesitated in accepting the proposal considering the dark future of his daughter by marrying her to a visually impaired beau but later relented.


After her marriage to Dhritrashtra, she wrapped a bandage over her eyes and vowed to share the darkness that her husband lived in. Gandhari's brother Shakuni, who probably never forgave this injustice to his sister, came along to look after the interests of Gandhari.


Once Sage Vyasa came to visit Hastinapur. He came to her abode, exhausted with hunger and fatigue and was very warmly looked after by the queen. She took great care of the comforts of the great saint and ensured that he had a pleasant stay. And as the story progresses in great Indian epics, the saint was immensely pleased and gratified with the hospitality and granted her a boon. Predictably, Gandhari wished to bear children. But unprecedently, she asked for one hundred sons who would be as powerful as her husband in strength and accomplishments. Vyasa granted her the boon and eventually, the regal queen became an expectant mother.


Like any other mother to be, she was filled with an exuberant hopefulness. But her wait was an excruciating and relentless one. Two years passed and still the baby was not delivered and she was greatly vexed by this. Meanwhile, the younger Kunti gave birth to a son from god Yama whom she named Yudhishtra. When Gandhari heard about the eldest Pandava whose glory and splendour was like the morning sun, she was highly envious and enraged.


Impatient of the abnormally long gestation period, and blinded by grief and frustration at not being able to fulfil her husband's expectations of a rightful heir, she struck her womb with great strength. As a result of that assault, a hard mass of flesh like an iron ball fell out.


This hard piece of lifeless flesh that was not a baby at all devastated Gandhari. She had expected a hundred sons as per the blessing of the divine sage Vyas. She challenged Vyasa to fulfil his blessing of one hundred sons. Ved Vyas informed her that his blessings could not be vain and assured her that she would be the mother of a hundred sons. He asked for one hundred jars filled with Ghee to be arranged. He cut the piece of flesh into hundred pieces and placed them into the jars. They would then develop into children. At that time,Gandhari expressed her desire of also wanting a daughter. Vyas agreed and cut the piece of flesh into one hundred and one pieces and placed them each in pots. After two more years of patient waiting the jars were ready to be opened. . (Mahabharata, Aadhiparvam, chapter 114, sloka 17).

When the first baby was ready for birth, the pot cracked and from it emerged Duryodhana, 'the unconquerable one' who is difficult to defeat. Unfortunately, assoon as the infant cried, all the beasts of the jungle started wailing. This expressed an impending ill omen.


My narration about the test tube birth gets over here, but the rest of the tale is as follows--

As he was born at a very inauspicious hour, Vidhura and Bheeshma advised Dhritarashtra and Gandhari that the child be abandoned as the omens at his birth spelt doom for the Kuru clan. He would certainly bring about the death and destruction of the complete clan. But Dhritarashtra and Gandhari’s love was truly blind and they refused to part with Duryodhana. They were adamant that a baby could not cause any harm and kept him much against everyone's wishes. At the same time the second Pandava Bhima was born to Kunti in the forest.


As the other children of Gandhari were ready for birth, they were taken out of the jars and she now had one hundred sons and a daughter Dushila. All her children grew up to be strong and powerful as per the boon.

Born of a Dead Father: King Janak of Mithila

Posthumous sperm retrieval 
(PSR) is a procedure which is still under speculation even in this advanced age. People argue over the ethical, religious and judicial considerations of invasive retrieval of sperms for purpose of fathering children from fresh cadavers.  

The issue is  especially sensitive and debatable because the procedure is carried out without explicit consent from the donor. But isn’t it quite shocking to observe that there are ancient stories in our texts and scriptures that allude references of the same. If there are references of the same from thousands of years back, there must be some element of truth that inspired this idea.

I am going to parallel the story of the birth of the first King Janak of Mithilapuri, the ancestor of the more well known Raja Siradhwaja Janak, the father of princess Sita. I will narrate the story of  King Nimi who  is considered to be the first king of Mithila in the lineage of Janaks born in Janakpur, Nepal  according to Vishnupurana

One day Brahma distracted the mind of Nimi who  instituted a sacrifice that was to endure for a thousand years. He  requested Vashishtha to conduct a Yajna, to offer the oblations so that he could reach Swarag along with his body.   Vashistha acquiesced but said, that he had been pre engaged by Indra for five hundred years, but if the Rájá, would wait for some time, he would come and officiate as the priest.  Nimi left without saying anything and started arrangements for Yajna. Many seers were invited and all except for Vashishtha were present on due time.

Vashishtha did not come because he had committed to Indra before Nimi’s request  for the Yajna and hence would be performing Indra’s task first.

When the sage completed  the ceremonies he had conducted for Indra, he returned hastily to Nimi to accomplish his yagna. When he arrived, he discovered that Nimi had retained Gautama and other priests to perform rituals instead of him, he was much displeased and pronounced upon the king, who was then asleep, a curse. He was much angered   he had not been informed about the king’s intention, but the duty that had first been  entrusted to him, had been  transferred to Gautama .   The hot headed Vashishtha then lost his temper and   cursed Nimi, “Sadeh Videho Bhava”.   

Nimi would  cease to exist in a corporeal form. When he awoke, and knew what had happened, he also cursed his unjust preceptor that he also should lose his bodily existence, as the punishment of uttering a curse upon him without previously communicating with him.  Nimi then abandoned his bodily condition and due to the curse, he died. 

In the meantime, the yagna was concluded and the priests requested the gods who had come to receive their portions, that they should bless  the author of the sacrifice. The gods were willing to restore the king  to bodily life, but Nimi refused, saying, "O deities, who are the alleviators of all worldly suffering, there is not in the world a deeper cause of distress than the separation of soul and body,  it is therefore my wish to dwell in the eyes of all beings, but never more to resume a corporeal shape!" 

 After the death of Nimi, he was asked  to remain as hair above  eyes (Eye-brows- the NIMI)   The gods agreed to this request and Nimi was placed  on the eyes of all living creatures due to  which their eyelids frequently open and shut.

As Nimi left no successor, the Munis, apprehensive of the consequences of the place being without a ruler, agitated the body of the King.   The corpse of Nimi was preserved from decay by being embalmed with fragrant oils and resins, and it remained as entire as if it were immortal.*   The dead body was placed in a churn in hope that the dead body of Nimi would re-assume human form. Sages succeeded in their effort and MITHI (means soil) emerged from churn. They churned out  a son out of his dead body(Mathi Kaya)  and produced from it a prince who was called Janaka.  He was born without a progenitor because his father was without a body (videha), he was called Vaideha, 'the son of the bodiless;' and  further received the name of Mithi,  produced by agitation (mathana)

Mithi established an empire which was named after him as MITHILAPURI.

Born of the dead body of his  father  he took the  title of JANAK. Since that day whoever be the king was called JANAK. The father of Sita was 21st  JANAK. He was  named  Kushadhwaj.

This tale, according to me is an example of a child being born out of the cadaver of his father thus being an example of  Posthumous sperm retrieval.

 *This illustrates that the Hindus were not unacquainted with the Egyptian art of embalming dead bodies. The Vishnu Purana, narrates the story of a  Brahman who carries his mother's  corpse, from Setuhandha or Rámeśwara to Káśhí. For this purpose he first washes it with cowdung five times, and the five pure fluids, or milk, curds, ghee, honey, and sugar. He then embalms it with Yakshakarddama, a composition of Agallochum, camphor, musk, saffron, sandal, and a resin called Kakkola; and envelopes it severally with Netra vastra, flowered muslin; Pat́t́amvara, silk; Surasa vastra, coarse cotton; Mánjisht́ha, cloth dyed with madder; and  blanket. He then covers it with pure clay, and puts the whole into a coffin of copper, Támra samput́a. These practices are not only unknown, but would be thought impure in the present day.

First ever Clone: Mother of Shanidev

Indian Culture was not only spiritually, but also scientifically very advanced, is what I discover each and every time I pick up an ancient anecdote and devour it.

One such tale that has especially caught my fancy is the story of the birth of Shani Dev, the  God much feared by the populace. 

Shani, or Saturn, is one of the Navgrahas or the nine planets associated with Hindu Religion and astrology.  Lord Vishvakarma, celestial engineer  and the architect of the universe, had a daughter daughter named Sangya/Sanjana.  When she came of age, he got worried about her marriage and sought out for a suitable groom. Finding Sun to be a suitable and glorious match, he sent to the god a marriage proposal which was gladly accepted and the marriage gets solemnized.. Hence started the nuptial journey of the couple.
Only some time passes and Sanjana gets traumatised because the glare and heat emitted from Surya’s golden aura  darken her complexion and drain her energy.  She can  not even feel any love for her husband. Her complexion starts resembling the energies of evening/dusk and the Gods bestow her with a new name – Sandhya.
When she is able to take it no more, Sanjana plots a plan for her escape. She creates a duplicate of herself, a clone (one of the first documented evidences of cloning). She names her clone “Chhaya” (shadow). She deputes Chhaya in her place and instructs her not to leave Surya in any situation and to dutifully remain there till her return.  Sanjana then returns to her father’s house for some relief. The unsuspecting Surya does not notice the difference.  Considering  Chhaya to be his wife; he initiates marital relations as a result of which Chhaya conceives and delivers a son – Shani (Saturn). Shani is born of dark complexion like his mother, and also inherits Chhaya’s serious and somber countenance.
As soon as Vishwakarma hears about thenews of Shani’s birth, he is taken aback  and  is deeply troubled. He confronts Sanjana and demands to know the truth. Finding no escape, Sanjana confesses to  having left behind a clone. Vishwakarma immediately orders his daughter to return to her rightful position in Surya’s house.  Sanjana returns to Surya’s house reluctantly but is deeply annoyed  with Chhaya for having violated the scope of her orders. She destroys Chhaya’s physical, tangible body and reduces her to a mere illusion.

I mainly wanted to point out the description of a clone in an ancient Hindu text the Bhavishya Purana... But the rest of the story is very interesting too, so I can't resist retelling it .

The unsuspecting Suryadev  does not notice any change at all. Their marital life progresses as if uninterrupted. In the meantime, Sanjana gives birth to two children – son Yama and daughter Yamuna.  As she is never able to forgive Chhaya, nor is she able to accept and love Shani as her own son.  As the children grow older, Sanjana’s animosity towards Shani grows stronger and she does everything in her power to alienate him from Surya. Devoid of motherly love and fatherly attention, Shani is distraught, depressed, lazy and utterly directionless.
When his children come of age, and time comes to bestow them with responsibilities. Surya announces the same to his children.  As soon as Sanjana comes to know about it, she quickly poisons Surya’s mind against the capabilities of Shani and requests him to divide his responsibilities between Yama and Yamuna. Suryadev trusts the discretion of his wife and relents.
On the appointed day, Shani (the elder son) is ignored and Yama (the younger son) is given the title of “Dharmaraj” or “king of dharma” and is given the responsibility of upholding truth in humanity. Yama is popularly known as “God of death” is not literally so; he appears at the appointed time of death so that he can take the soul away and present the updated karmic balance sheet of the life to the soul; and explain – the good and bad deeds of the soul and the likely implications of same in this after-life.

Yamuna is given the status of a holy river, and is given the responsibility of washing away the sins of those who bathe in her holy waters. She is also given the responsibility of generating  good and sublime thoughts in all those who touch her waters.
Yama and Yamuna accept their responsibilities and leave. Shani is left standing all alone. As a son and older brother, he feels humiliated and insulted. Unable to break the barriers of communication with his father; unable to invoke love from his mother; unable to express authority over his younger brother and sister, and unable to prove the capability that he believes he has – a rage builds up in him.

To vent his anger, he seeks out mother Sanjana and delivers a well aimed kick in her womb believing that she is an insult to the womb that she birthed him from. Shocked at this act, Sanjana retaliates by cursing the lesser loved son to lose the leg that he kicked her with. Maimed and helpless, Shani lies on the ground. The scene is witnessed by Surya. Though he can forgive this behavior as the act of an unruly son, he is unable to understand the curse of mother Sanjana. Surya then confronts his wife for the truth.
Sanjana confesses to her folly, apologises, and narrates about her clone Chhaya and the birth of Shani before her return to Surya’s home. Surya is furious with rage and glows brighter and hotter than before. He accepts Shani as his legitimate older son, restores his lost leg though leaving him with a slight limp to honor the word of his mother’s curse, and making amends by bestowing upon him the honor of a place in the solar system. Shani is installed as the planet of governing “karma” and “dharma” in a horoscope.

 Shani dev is said to be very harmful to those who follow the path of betrayal, backstabbing and unjust revenge.  It is said that when he opened his eyes as a baby for the very first time, the sun went into an eclipse. He is known as the greatest teacher. He  is considered to be very harmful to those who follow the path of betrayal, backstabbing and unjust revenge. He is known in Hindu scriptures as the greatest trouble giver as well as the greatest well wisher. He is depicted dark in colour, clothed in black; holding a sword, arrows and two daggers and variously mounted on a black vulture or a raven. He is a karmic guru, the harshest teacher, and ensures that we can rise higher up the karmic ladder. 

After Shani’s installation into the solar system as a planet, the Gods gathered around him and chanted an invocation to restore his lost honor.  

The Enigmatic Krishna

I am not too much of a religious person, spiritual, maybe, but I don't really understand religion, but mythology always mesmerizes me. (Thankfully today we can differentiate between religion and spiritualism.)  I never fail to be awed by it's depth and immense scope, its ability of always surfacing and conveying something that is new, its paradoxical ability of being ancient, yet so contemporary and relevant. I'm going to express all that comes to my mind, so sparing the anachronism, I hope that you all will enjoy reading my thoughts as and when they spring up from my mind.
The first image that comes to my mind is quite obviously---

The Enigmatic KrishnaI always find Krishna to be too cute and mischievous in any one of his various roops and avatars. Though he is so friendly and approachable, more of an anthropic representation rather than a frightening God, he is also surrounded with controversy. There is much flak and criticism about many of his actions be it stealing the makhan, teasing the gopis, leaving the battlefield for he doesn't mind being called 'ranchod' (the one who fled from war). He's also been criticised about his raslilas and those 1000s of wives he had. Well, those who slur his purity and justify their own petty actions holding his tasks up as models do indeed have a very superficial understanding of his huge persona.
I can't be chronological, and am going to write whatever comes to my minds first of all.  And what is finding way out of my fervid mind is  ---
To  feel and experience any of the symbolism embedded in any of the representations,  if we ourselves become Krishna, we'd be able to understand the complex very easily.  We all have many selves, and according to me, they are all real. We are selfish and mean at times and so humble, selfless and sublime at others. In other words, we have a higher self and a lower self. I liken Krishna to be my own higher self.  Krishna represents me caught in this Mayajaal of reality. It's paradoxical, isn't it, but so true that what we believe is the harsh reality is actually ephemeral and transitory. It will fade away and what we perceive as unreal, will, maybe, remain, as it is eternal. The first picture that comes to my mind is the battlefield of Kurukshetra, with the heroic Arjuna sitting in his 'ratha' (chariot) of five horses and the Glorious Krishna in all his splendour as the charioteer.  Each and every time I see this picture,either with my eyes or in my mind, it always emanates as a hugely symbolic representation of the human mind. Isn't the ratha a psycho physical representation of our mind, with Krishna residing as our higher self and the five horses as our grosser physical senses that pull us towards baser, animal instincts. If the Arjuna in us rules, we are dominated by our petty selves, restricting our minds to the self, becoming egocentric. Whereas, if we start looking at the larger picture of  life, start attaching the others' happiness to  our own, it implies that it is the Krishna  in us who is driving our chariot.
The Raaslila, the Gopis and Radha
I am Krishna and each one of my thoughts is a Gopi.  My mind is so vast, vivid and has the potential of thinking so many thoughts at the same time. So much so, that it  is  flooded with thoughts all the time. Even when we are sleeping, some of our thoughts sneak out from the conscious, unconscious or sub conscious minds in various forms such as somniloquism or more commonly as dreams. We don't get respite from our thoughts all our lives. It is the brain that consumes 90% of our blood, is what I have heard people say, and we need to concentrate, meditate and reduce the number of thoughts in our mind. If we do so, we are able to feel realize and use the immense potential hidden inside us... But we can't do it, that's what we feel. Well, not so easily of course. So, for the first time meditators, we have stages like the alpha, where we are  able to reduce our active thoughts, then, we gradually start slipping into beta, where we slip into strong concentration and then we have the theta which is akin to deep meditation.
Krishna with gopis   is such a magnificent allegory to illustrate how "I" the Krishna is with each and every "Gopi"  thought of mine, I am with her because it is my thought, and I am so worldly wise attached to it, enjoying the entire Raaslila... I keep dancing and keep dancing and keep dancing to the tunes of this world till I start feeling detached and keep reducing my thoughts, mainly with the help of meditation, slipping into concentration and then into dhyaan and I meet my own real self,  I meet my Radha. I see Radha and Krishna as symbols of the male and female energies inside each one of us. The Chinese call it Yin and Yang, we refer to it as purush and prakriti,  Radha and Krishna never meet, yes never, not in this worldly representation. There is no place in this physical world where it is possible for Radha and Krishna to meet. And yet they are always together, so what is this mystery. They are together as they coexist in each being as complements, as components that complete each other.