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It is said that women should not work during Lunar Eclipse or Chandra Grahan. It is said that doing so effects the physical health of the baby.

Is there any mention of this in the scriptures, or any specific reason behind this ritual?

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  • 1
    kindly refrain from asking scientific reasons here
    – Vedantism
    Oct 8, 2014 at 23:02
  • Yes, people should only post questions where the answers cannot be disproved by science. Asking for reason and evidence is against religion. You just have to take it on faith. /sarcasm
    – a20
    Oct 9, 2014 at 1:11
  • See related one here: hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/2864/…
    – user11
    Oct 9, 2014 at 3:04
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    My question was, is it related to anything scientific as hindu culture normally has many things which are related to science very easily and not to portray any different idea Oct 9, 2014 at 4:29
  • Hello and welcome to Hinduism.SE. Asking for a scientific reason is considered off-topic on this site. For more information, you can refer this meta post. Please edit your question accordingly. Will close as of now.
    – Mr. Alien
    Oct 9, 2014 at 13:00

1 Answer 1

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+100

It seems that the thoughts during the sexual union for conceiving a child & later during the pregnancy, are important for the mental & physical healths of that child.
From Garbha Upanishada:

Action corresponds to the mental state (of the actor). Hence the child (born) takes after (the thought of) the parents. From parents with minds full of anxieties (at the time of union) are born the blind, the lame, the hunchback, the dwarf, and the limbless. (From impregnation) during the eclipses of the sun and the moon, children are born with defective limbs. Increase or decrease, similarities or dissimilarities of bodies arise (in children) through the influence of time, place, action, ḍravya (substance), and enjoyment. From a well-conducted intercourse (or union), the child being born with the form of the father possesses, his qualities, just as the image in a glass reflects truly the original.

Hence the state of "impregnation" as described above, also could be extended to the state of "pregnancy".

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  • thanks, is it possible to approximately date this particular Upnishada?
    – user13107
    Aug 23, 2017 at 6:59
  • @user13107, it's not easy to find the date of this Upanishada. There are various links in its Wikipedia article. We might have to do some research to be able to reach to the ancientness of it.
    – iammilind
    Aug 23, 2017 at 7:05
  • I referred to Patrick Olivelle (2014), The Early Upanisads page 8-9. it said time of individual upnishads is given in amazon.com/… but it's in german and book not available on the internet also. let me know if you find this/another souce
    – user13107
    Aug 23, 2017 at 7:21
  • @user13107, thanks for awarding bounty. However, I am not sure if this Qn was worth a bounty of 100. I tried to find an answer by you to return it back. But couldn't. If you write in future, I would be happy to give it back. :-)
    – iammilind
    Aug 30, 2017 at 5:10

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