ABSTRACT
In 1479, the Tibetan physician Kyempa Tsewang suggested that during the early stages of a woman’s pregnancy, a doctor should recommend certain procedures to ensure that the fetus will be a boy. On the astrologically auspicious day when the Victory star and the moon are aligned, he explains, a blacksmith should create the form of a male child out of three, five or seven types of metal. The form should be heated in a coal fire until it glows red, and then soaked in the milk of an animal who has given birth to male offspring, measuring an amount of milk that corresponds to however many types of metal were used. Two handfuls of cooled milk should be given to the woman. Alternatively, he continues, to achieve the same effect a medicinal concoction, a mixture of Seaberry, grape and molasses, could be administered to the pregnant woman. Finally, if these procedures are ineffective or impractical, the woman could try wearing an amulet. “Make three strands of thread with wool from the right shoulder of a breeding male sheep,” Kyempa Tsewang explains, “and tie it around her waist with the tip hanging down.”1
