Cloning as mentioned in Puranas

Animal Cloning was done few years ago in modern world but human cloning is still not done successfully and it is also prohibited in almost all countries.

In Ancient India, animal cloning was done to multiply number of cows and horses.

We can find Cloning in Rig Veda which was composed more than 23000 years ago.

cloning in rig vedaIn Rigveda, Rubhus are mentioned as brothers (Rubhu, Vajra and Vibhu) who brought youthfulness to their old parents. They even managed to bring back their lost skills. (They must have used ayurvedic recipes to bring back youthfulness. So much literature about such recipes exist even today but is neglected).

They even cloned a cow and a horse.

Seven different sages Kanva Medhatithi (1-20), Angirasa Kutsa (1-110,111), Deerghatamas (1-161), Vishvamitra (3-60), Vamadeva (4-33), Vasistha Maitravaruni (7-48), and Shrunu Arbhava (10-176) mentioned about Rubhus in their vedic verses.

These 7 sages belong to different generations, so it is known that Rubhus were known for their work over a long period of time.

The first work of Rubhus was to bring back youthfulness to their old parents. This is mentioned in multiple verses of Rig Veda.

1-20-4 – With their exclusive power they made their old parents youthful again.

1-110-8 – They made their old parents full of youth again by their skill.

1-111-1 – Ingenious Rubhus prepared a chariot for Indra, prepared two powerful horses (2nd being cloned from 1st), made their old parents youthful again and gave new mothers to orphaned calves or children.

1-161-7 – Oh Rubhus, with the power of your intelligence you converted your old parents into youthful state.

4-33-3 – Rubhus who made their old parents youthful again may come to our Yajna.

4-34-9 – Rubhus gave a new life to their old parents, to Aswinau, to a cow and a horse.

4-35-5 – Oh, ingenious Rubhus, you made your old parents youthful again.

4-36-3 – Oh, Rubhu, Vaja and Vibhu, your workmanship of making your old parents youthful again was praised by gods.

The second work of Rubhus was on cows and their first step was to produce a cow which yielded copious milk. (RigVeda 1-20-3).

Probably cows in that generation did not yield enough milk and to meet the demand, cloning was done.

They mention about a method where skin from cow’s back in taken and cells are multipled from it to produce a new cow (named Viswaroopa) which looks alike.

Third work of Rubhus brothers was to produce two powerful horses. First they created a horse (named Hari) and presented it to Indra. Then they produced another horse which is a clone of Hari and now both were used to yoked to his chariot (1-161-7, 4-33-10).

Before cloning, Rubhus brothers seem to have worked on living cells and their multiplication.

Sun gave ‘Chamasa‘ with Amruta to Rubhus (1-110-3) and they divided it into four equal parts.

‘Chamasa‘ here can be considered as a cell and amruta (immortal thing) makes it a living cell.

Rig Veda suggests a Chamasa having Chit or Chetana or Manas, so Chit-Chamasa means a living cell.

A fertilised egg can be called as ‘Chit Chamasa‘. It was divided into four by Rubhus, which means Rubhus evolved four animals from a single zygote or fertilised ovum.

This living cell or an embryo is prepared Twashta (God).

During the experiment, eldest brother(Rubu) said, “ we can make two cells from the original one ” (4-33-5). However, the younger(Vajra) brother said, “ We can make three” , because he observed that when one cell was divided into two, there were three cells.

The youngest brother(Vibhu) observed and said , “ We can make four ”, as second cell also can be divided equally like the first.

Next was human cloning, which is mentioned in story of King Vena.

He was a great king but became evil and corrupt. So, Mother Earth (Bhoodevi) decided that she would not provide crops to humans anymore.

A group of Rishis (Sages) killed King Vena out of anger. They removed all the evil from his corpse’s thigh.

Then they created his clone from his arm.

This clone had similar body but however, mind cannot be cloned. So, a new King who was named ‘Prithu’ was created with pure mind. He brought back Mother Earth (Bhoodevi) to her normal state and promised be her eternal guardian. This is why Earth (Bhoodevi is also known as Prithvi.

There are examples of abnormal cloning, like of Nishada in Vishnu Purana.

Nishada, though an abnormal clone, could live long and could produce children. His tribe was known after his name and King Nala (of the famous Nala-Damayanti story in Mahabharata) and Ekalavya were his descendants.

Rubhus had also made a chariot flying in air, so they were automobile engineers too.

There are many more instanced like the demon ‘Rakta Beeja’ or AhiRavana and Mahi-Ravana who produce Rakshasas(demons) who look like them from their blood drops in war. It might be cloning from the white blood corpuscles, which contain nuclei.