The faculty of Ayurveda, Banaras Hindu University and Sir Sundar Lal Hospital, IMS-BHU have started a garbh sanskar therapy for pregnant women to inculcate good values in the unborn child while it is in its mother’s womb.
Designed by a professor of Ayurveda, the garbh sanskar is being imparted to pregnant women in the department of prasuti tantra (obstetrics) in the faculty of Ayurveda, the exercise began in the last week of September.
Medical superintendent of Sir Sundar Lal Hospital of BHU, Prof SK Mathur said, “Garbh sanskar is not a new thing. In Ayurveda, it has been performed since long. In the absence of its scientific validation, the practice didn’t get due importance. Now, garbh sanskar therapy has been restarted in the department of prasuti tantra (obstetrics), in the faculty of Ayurveda.”
“It is a proven fact that good environment and good music have a very positive impact on the mind. Under garbh sanskar, pregnant women will be advised to listen to good music, read good literature and watch motivational and positive serials. Impact of these things on the baby in the mother’s womb will be examined through scientific techniques,” Prof Mathur said.
He said, “We are trying to scientifically validate the practice of garbh sanskar.”
Dr Sunita Suman, head, department of Prasuti Tantra, faculty of Ayurveda, IMS-BHU is in-charge of the garbh sanskar therapy .“Four to five pregnant women are explained about the Garbh Sanskar and are given Garbh Sankar therapy at the department daily,” she said.
Dr Anuradha Roy, assistant professor at department of prasuti tantra, faculty of Ayurveda, IMS-BHU, said, “There are 16 sanskaras mentioned in Ayurveda and one of them is garbh sanskar. Various mythological stories support the importance of garbh sanskar that means educating a child in the mother’s womb.”
For example, Abhimanyu learned the breaking of six circles of chakravyuh (phalanx) in his mother’s womb, according to the epic Mahabharat.
“Garbh sanskar is parenting of a child in the mother’s womb where garbh means ‘womb’ and ‘sanskar’ is the ethics or the values. Garbh sanskar is teaching the baby ethics inside the mother’s womb,” Dr Roy said.
Dr Roy has framed and developed an online model course on garbh sanskar which is available on the BHU portal.
She said garbh sanskar helped give birth to a “cultured, vigorous, virtuous, healthy, beautiful child with a divine soul and high IQ”. It was scientifically proven that external stimuli and hormonal release from the mother had stronger effects on the intra-uterine fetus, she said.
“Garbh sanskar includes month wise ante-natal care, diet and regime plan according to month of pregnancy, music therapy (advice of listening good classical and spiritual music), yogasana, mantra chanting, specific linen and textile clothing, counseling etc all as per Ayurveda,” she said.
Dr Roy said Ayurveda always emphasized on ‘pregnancy by choice and not by chance’ and intrauterine fetus was just like clay which could be moulded the desired way.