Composed in early-modern North India, the Karmavipākasaṃhitā is a Sanskrit treatise intended for use during a consultation (praśna) between a “querist” (pṛcchaka) and a Brahmin practitioner. By combining astrology and the theory of karmic retribution, the text provides explanations for infertility (that is, the inability to have a son) and other diseases through past life and rebirth narratives. It contains 108 multi-life stories and as many individualized treatments. Based on my translation, I will argue that this treatise may be seen as a “Collection of medical cases”, a very unusual epistemic genre in Sanskrit medical literature.
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