Page:A Short History of Aryan Medical Science.djvu/84

76 earliest period recognised the influence of Posture in parturition, and described in detail the positions which women in labour should adopt. A sage named Patanjala, the founder of the Yoga philosophy, who flourished about B.C. 200, in his work called "Yoga Sutras," prescribes various or Postures for preventing and curing diseases to which ascetics and others practising abstract meditation and seeking seclusion from the world may be subject during the performance of physical austerities. It will be clear from these facts that the Hindoos were not ignorant of the wholesome effect of Posture.

Sexual intercourse is prohibited for the first four days after the appearance of the menstrual flow, as well as on the 8th, 14th, and 15th days of both the fortnights — light and dark ; on the anniversary days of dead parents, nights previous to the anniversaries ; on (the seventeenth of the astrological Yogas),  (the twenty-seventh astrological Yoga),  (the passage of the sun or planetary bodies from one sign of the zodiac to another) ; in the day-time, at midnight, and during an eclipse. One authority advises men to avoid flesh, honey, oil,