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josan420
22 August 2014, 05:57 AM
In Vedic age, cloning of animals was done by sages to clone the species of powerful horses and productive cows. Ancient Indian produced a horse from another horse and a cow from the skin of a cow.

In Rigveda, Rubhus are mentioned as brothers (Rubhu, Vajra and Vibhu) who brought youthfulness to their old parents. Their father was old but they were cloned young to bring back the youth of aging parents. Additionally, they also created a cloned horse and cow. According to Dr. Vartak these experiments are done about 25000 years ago.

This seems to be true as in 1997, modern scientist produced a lamb from udder of a sheep, which is a part of skin.

http://www.mysteryofindia.com/2014/08/human-and-animal-clonning-in-ancient.html

Believer
26 August 2014, 07:47 PM
Namaste,

thanks for bringing this information to the forum. However, I have a few questions relating to our cloning tradition/ability after the Vedic age.


In Vedic age, cloning of animals was done by sages to clone the species of powerful horses and productive cows.

Why did they not clone the pandavs over and over again to get a physically and spiritually strong population? Why did they not clone the medical professionals during the Mahabharat period to get more doctors? Why did they not clone gurus to increase the number of self realized souls?

And since they only cloned 'more productive' cows, were the rest of them deemed to be less desirable and got sent to the slaughterhouse?

When exactly did we lose our knowledge and desire to clone humans and animals?

Pranam.

josan420
01 September 2014, 07:33 AM
Namaste,

thanks for bringing this information to the forum. However, I have a few questions relating to our cloning tradition/ability after the Vedic age.



Why did they not clone the pandavs over and over again to get a physically and spiritually strong population? Why did they not clone the medical professionals during the Mahabharat period to get more doctors? Why did they not clone gurus to increase the number of self realized souls?

And since they only cloned 'more productive' cows, were the rest of them deemed to be less desirable and got sent to the slaughterhouse?

When exactly did we lose our knowledge and desire to clone humans and animals?

Pranam.

Mahabharata is not as they show us in TV series, it was technology. Technology even superior than modern days technology. Ancient Indian text mention about flying machine Vimana, Nuclear bombs etc. I am sure that there was a destruction in past which destroyed everything. So we lost that technology. Later after centuries our anscesters minunderstood these texts and thought it was magics of Gods. I think it was technology

kallol
02 September 2014, 04:05 AM
Om

Namaste.

Cloning is only at DNA level. It does not guarantee same upbringing, same environment, same space, same time, etc, etc.

So the final end results might be completely different. Cloned pandavas might be hugely different from the original ones.

Cloning can be done for biological characteristics but not for mental characteristics.

Aanandinii
04 September 2014, 07:37 AM
Namaste,

Om
Namaste.

Cloning is only at DNA level. It does not guarantee same upbringing, same environment, same space, same time, etc, etc.

So the final end results might be completely different. Cloned pandavas might be hugely different from the original ones.

Cloning can be done for biological characteristics but not for mental characteristics.
Yes, this ^^ exactly.

I don't have much trouble believing that the ancients held technologies and understandings superior and even different than our own today - the sheep (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_%28sheep%29) you mentioned, Josan, was born with shortened Telomeres for instance, a sign of aging that has left speculation that she may have succumbed to viral disease that lead to cancer at an age she might not have if she were not a clone. To this day our ability to clone a complex organism is not all that great and attempts with many other species usually fail, we do it best only with cells. We are missing something.

But a clone is really only a genetic twin, it's not the same individual all over again. Completely disregarding the neurological and memory aspect, there is also the soul to consider. The individual inhabiting the cloned body is going to be a different one from the original.

I would not think the Rubhu brothers could have cloned their parents and then transferred their neurological map to the new brains and their souls to the new bodies. Instead I would find it much easier to believe that the brothers found a way to modify the DNA of their parents' current bodies, restoring their youth. This is certainly a technology that would have been available to any culture/society advanced enough to create perfect and fully viable clones. We were recently able to do it in Mice, as well, though we still don't know the long-term effects of the process used.

As to why not clone the strongest and greatest of society to create a master society? I could think of two reasons, morality being the first. But even if you don't find a moral issue with doing this, there is the issue of genetic diversity. Any culture that can do this will also understand the need for genetic diversity in any population in order to ensure its reproductive viability. If everyone has the same genetic code - or one of only a few genetic codes that might have been selected - then what would happen should the technology fail and Humans need to reproduce naturally again? Extinction.

Why not keep a great and strong ruler youthful over and over again to keep them your ruler? Assuming this is possible to do more than once and assuming the person remains mentally stable over centuries, (which is questionable), who would truly want that? Realization is said, in part, to be a detachment from the material, and understanding that this isn't you and this world is illusion. So if one reaches Realization would they then desire to be kept youthful and stuck incarnate, trapped in illusion? If the final goal is to grow towards Moksha and end the cycle of rebirths - however you believe that end result happens - how can you do that trapped in the same body over and over again? How do you finally attain if you are still trapped in a material form? There are some rare examples of saints in the scriptures who attained while alive and were carried away or whose physical forms just disappeared, but that seems to be a rare occurrence. It seems to me someone who truly believes their convictions would not want that but would rather seek a natural death as part of the cycle. Though it's possible, as scriptures in all belief systems state that people used to live for hundreds of years or more, that this might be an explanation for that.

Interesting article though, thank you for sharing. :)

~Pranam