Indaka

1. At one time the Blessed One was living in Rajagaha on the Indakuta rock, the home of the non-human Indaka.

2. Then the non-human Indaka approached the Blessed One and said this stanza:

"The Enlightened Ones say, there is no life in matter.
When there is no strength, how is the body to know?
How is a skeleton formed for him?
And without strength what clings in the womb?"

3. "First there is the suitable soil. In it there is a swelling

In the swelling rises a lump of flesh.
The lump of flesh becomes a hard mass.
Then major and minor limbs arise in the hard mass.
And hair of the head and body and nails arise.
He is nourished with the eatables and drinks eaten by the mother.
Thus the man gone to the mother's womb is nourished