Rasamanjari 3

English (machine translation) 3

Language: English

3.1

Rasamañjarī 3
<Secondary minerals>
Sulphur, diamond, vaikrānta, mica, orpiment, realgar,
calamine, blue vitriol, vimalā, and iron pyrites;

3.2

green vitriol, lodestone, cowrie shells, stibnite, cinnabar,
kaṅkuṣṭha, conch shell, earthworm, borax, and bitumen:

3.3

these are declared to be the secondary minerals; they are to be purified, liquefied, and calcined.
<Sulphur>
Therein, first the origin of sulphur and then its purification is spoken of.

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Long ago on Śvetadvīpa, the menstrual fluid of the Goddess playing issued forth;
and when she bathed in the Milk Ocean, her fine silk cloth tinged with the fluid

3.5

was washed in that water; having an odor (gandhavat), it is known as sulphur (gandhaka).
Sulphur is said to be of four kinds: red, yellow, white, and black.

3.6

The red is commended for operations with gold, and the yellow indeed for rasāyana;
the white is best for anointing ulcers and the like, but the black is rare.

3.7

Unpurified sulphur causes severe skin disease, feverish heat, dizziness, and disorders of pitta;
it destroys beauty, happiness, virility, and strength; therefore, it should be used well-purified.

3.8

<Purification of sulphur (1)>
Pouring milk into a vessel containing ghee, one should tie its mouth with a cloth;
placing sulphur on top of it, one should cover it with an earthen saucer.

3.9

Setting the vessel in the earth, one should apply a light incineration pit above it;
then, using milk, one should employ the purified sulphur in formulations.

3.10

<Purification of sulphur (2)>
The knower of the truth should purify sulphur in milk by means of the dolāyantra apparatus;
thereby it becomes purified, swooning the breath of metals.

3.11

<Purification of sulphur (3)>
One should melt sulphur mixed with ghee over a fire using an iron ladle;
then one should cast the liquefied sulphur into the midst of milk.

Thereby sulphur becomes purified; one should use it in all formulations.
Purified, it becomes the king of juices, destroying old age, death, and disease;
it is excellent for kindling the digestive fire, and it brings about an increase of semen.

3.13

<Sulphur oil>
A cloth should be smeared seven times with the milky exudate of arka and of snuhī;
grinding sulphur with butter, one should smear that cloth.

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That wick, ignited and held with bamboo sticks, should be held downwards.

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The oil falls down into a vessel; it should be collected and used in formulations.
It is excellent for kindling the digestive fire, and it brings about an increase of semen.

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<Diamond>
White, yellow, red, and black are the classes of diamond, beginning with the brahmin;
and one should recognize them by their characteristics as male, female, or hermaphrodite.

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Round, with perfect facets, full of brilliance, and larger,
free of lines and dots: these are declared to be male [diamonds].

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Those marked with lines and dots and having six angles are considered female. / Those that are triangular and elongated like a leaf should be known as neuter.

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Among all, the male are superior, transmuting [metals] and binding mercury; / female diamond is for somatic perfection, and the neuter causes pervasive penetration.

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The Brahmin [diamond] is prescribed for rejuvenation, the Kṣatriya for destroying diseases, / that of the Vaiśya caste for transmutational alchemy and the like, and the fourth for arrest of ageing.

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A female [diamond] should be given to a woman, and likewise a neuter to a eunuch; / male diamonds, being more potent, are always to be employed for all.

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Unpurified diamond brings about anaemia, pain in the flanks, white leprosy, a persistent burning sensation, / a host of diseases, and heaviness [in the body].

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<Purification of diamond (1)>
Diamond placed inside a vyāghrī tuber and cooked in a swing-apparatus / for seven days in a decoction of kodrava or of kulattha becomes pure.

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<Purification of diamond (2)>
One should cook diamond placed inside a vyāghrī tuber, smeared with clay, in an incineration pit; / having removed it after a day and a night, one should sprinkle it with horse urine, / or sprinkle it with milk-hedge latex; the diamond will become pure.

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<Calcination of diamond (1)>
Taking the root of a three-year-old cotton plant, one should grind it; / and one should grind it thoroughly with the juice of a three-year-old betel vine.

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One should insert the diamond into that lump, seal it, and cook it in an elephant incineration pit; / having thus performed seven incineration pits, the diamond surely dies.

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<Calcination of diamond (2)>
One should impregnate the diamond well with the urine of a frog in a bronze vessel; / heated twenty-one times, the diamond indeed becomes calcined.

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<Calcination of diamond (3)>
Heated twenty-one times, one should douse it with donkey urine; / having ground orpiment with bedbugs, one should place the diamond in a ball of it.

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Blown strongly and quenched with horse urine according to the previous method, / it turns into ash; consumed, it makes the body like a diamond.

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Diamond ash promotes longevity, generates happiness, imparts strength and likewise beauty, / destroys disease, and averts death exceedingly.

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<Vaikrānta>
Having eight edges, eight facets, six corners, smooth, heavy, / and endowed with pure or mixed colours, it is called vaikrānta.

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White, red, yellow, blue, pigeon-coloured, / dark green, black-coloured, and variegated: it is indeed of eight kinds.

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<Purification of vaikrānta>
Vaikrānta is purified like diamond, heated and blown into horse urine; / that ash, suitable, should be used in place of diamond by the wise.

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Vaikrānta truly bestows life, accomplishes all bondings, is extremely aphrodisiac, imparts wisdom, removes all diseases root and branch, / enkindles the digestive fire, has qualities equal to diamond, is powerful, and brings about bodily strength and metallic transformation.

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<Extraction of vaikrānta's essence>
One should grind vaikrānta in [the juice of] vajrakanda with milk-hedge juice; / then, mixed with buffalo butter and honey, it is made into a ball.

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Having dried it, one should blast it; its essence will become like a cochineal insect. / <Mica>
Pināka, dardura, nāga, and vajra: mica is of four kinds. / Blown in fire, pināka completely sheds a multitude of layers.

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[The nāga kind] emits a hissing sound like a serpent; dardura makes a sound like a frog; / the fourth should be known as the best, and it undergoes no alteration in fire.

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Therefore vajra mica should be chosen, conquering disease, old age, and death; / unpurified mica destroys life and increases vāta and kapha;

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unculeined, it lacerates the body and increases sluggish digestion and worms; / therefore purified mica should be chosen, which destroys sluggish digestion and worms.

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<Grain-mica>
Having tied mica mixed with a quarter part of paddy into a blanket, / one should keep it in water for three nights; when thoroughly moistened, one should rub it firmly.

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That which has filtered through the blanket, fine and free from sand, / is called grain-mica by the virtuous for the perfection of the body.

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<Preparation of grain-mica>
One should blast vajra mica in fire and then douse it with milk; / having separated it into leaves, with the juices of meghanāda and sour gruel, / the wise person should impregnate it for eight yāmas and make that grain-mica.

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<Grain-mica (3)>
Alternatively, one should cast heated mica into a decoction of jujube; / rubbed with the hand and dried, it excels [ordinary] grain-mica.

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<Mica ash>
One part of grain-mica and two parts of borax:

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having ground this, sealing it in a blind crucible, one should cook it with an intense fire; / when cooled naturally, the powder should be administered in all diseases.

3.46

<Calcination of mica (1)>
Grain-mica is to be rubbed firmly in calotropis latex for the duration of a day, / wrapped with calotropis leaves, and shaped into the form of a disc.

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It should be cooked in an elephant pit repeatedly seven times; / then, with decoctions of banyan aerial roots, three incineration pits should be given in the same manner.

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It dies, no doubt about it; one should administer it in all diseases. / <Calcination of mica (2)>
Taking grain-mica, [incinerate it] in three incineration pits with decoctions of musta;

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in the same manner with punarnavā water, then with the juice of kāsamarda, / combined with the juice of betel vine, [and] with calotropis latex, separately,

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grinding day by day, with decoctions made from banyan aerial roots; / having given three incineration pits, then three incineration pits with muśalī water,

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thrice with a decoction of gokṣura, thrice one should incinerate with vānarī juice; / it should be cooked thrice with plantain-tuber juice, and with kokilākṣa

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juices one should incinerate it; then with cow's urine, and repeatedly with alkaline water in an incineration pit; / with curd, ghee, honey, and clear white sugar,

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one should give one incineration pit each; thus the death of the mica takes place. / Mica becomes a destroyer of all diseases and a vehicle [for other drugs],

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destroying the arrogant pride of passionate women, praised for those devoid of virility, / aphrodisiac, life-prolonging, promoting semen, and producing offspring.

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<Calcination of mica (3)>
The three milks, aloe juice, gaṅgāpatra, human urine, / banyan shoots, and goat's blood: with these, mica thoroughly ground

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and incinerated a hundred times becomes ash like a ruby. / Mica becomes free of lustre; [taken by one of] purified body, it is a rejuvenative.

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Mica calcined lustreless creates beauty, virility, and a firm body; / it destroys death and the cluster of senility and diseases.

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<Extraction of mica's essence>
Powdered mica impregnated for one day with sour gruel / one should combine with the juices of plantain and elephant foot yam, and those arising from radish.

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With a fourth part of borax, equal in turn to small fish, / and thoroughly mixed with buffalo dung, one should then make a ball of it.

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One should blow [the fire] strongly with a fierce fire; it releases lustrous essence. / Having performed purification, the wise man who partakes of the essence attains suspension of aging.

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<Liquefaction of mica>
Triturated with the juice of Agasti flowers inside an elephant-foot yam, / and kept in ground of a cow-pen, [mica] shining like the sky becomes like water.

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<Extraction of essence (general)>
Molasses, bdellium, lac, oilcake, borax, / wool, and resin of Shorea robusta, together with small fish:

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Having ground all this to powder and made a lump with goat's milk, / blown with fierce charcoal coals, one will extract all essences,

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such as stones, clays, and those belonging to all metals, / and others which are intractable — what need be said of the essence of mica?

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When there is the state of a secondary mineral, the addition of its essence to mercury / is to be made for an increase in its qualities, if you desire skill in alchemy.

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<Extraction of earthworm essence>
Taking fresh earthworms, the wise man should feed them to a peacock, / or to a vigorous rooster, having kept it in an enclosure.

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And collecting the dung and urine, casting aside the first portion, / stirring it with milk, honey, and clarified butter, he should carefully blow [the fire] for the essence.

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They release an essence like copper; from drinking water treated with its seal, / all animal poisons are destroyed without a doubt.

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<Defects of unpurified orpiment>
Unpurified orpiment destroys lifespan, produces phlegm, wind, and urinary disorders, / and causes vomiting, boils, and contraction of the limbs; therefore one should purify it.

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<Orpiment>
Orpiment becomes purified when steamed in ash-gourd juice, then / in lime water, and separately in oil; reduced to ash, it produces no harm.

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Orpiment removes diseases: leprosy, fatal ailments, and the like; / completely purified, it brings lustre and virility, and prolongs lifespan.

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<Calcination of orpiment>
One pala of purified orpiment triturated with aloe juice, / placed in a sealed pair of shallow earthenware dishes, one should cook for twelve yāmas.

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Taking it out when self-cooled, the orpiment will be calcined; / and orpiment removes ulcerative leprosy without a doubt.

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<Purification of realgar>
Impregnated seven times with water of Agasti leaves, / or with fresh ginger juices, realgar is purified.

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<Properties of realgar>
Realgar is pungent, unctuous, bitter, destroys phlegm, and is an excellent scarifying agent; / it destroys affliction by spirits and sickness, relieves cough and dyspnoea, and is auspicious.

3.76

<Purification of calamine>
One should cook calamine for seven days with human urine and donkey urine / in a swing apparatus, and having purified it, one should then employ it in operations.

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<Purification of blue vitriol>
Blue vitriol equal to cat dung, with honey and borax, the physician / puts through three incinerations; it is purified, free from causing vomiting and delirium.

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<Properties of blue vitriol>
Blue vitriol is pungent, alkaline, astringent, clear, and light, / scarifying, purgative, beneficial for the eyes, and removes itching, worms, and poison.

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<Vimala>
Steamed in lime juice, or in Gymnema sylvestre juice, / or to be cooked with plantain juice for a day for the purification of vimala.

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<Purification of copper pyrite>
Taking one part of rock salt and three parts of copper pyrite, / in an iron vessel, one should stir it with an iron ladle.

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One should cook it over a gentle fire until it looks like red lead; / one should know copper pyrite to be well-prepared and use it in all formulations.

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<Calcination of copper pyrite>
Adding a fourth part of sulphur to the copper pyrite, one should triturate it / with castor oil; then a fine disc should be made.

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Having placed it in a sealed pair of shallow earthenware dishes, one should incinerate it with an elephant pit; / the ash of copper pyrite will resemble red lead without a doubt.

3.84

<Properties of copper pyrite>
Copper pyrite is bitter and sweet, removes urinary disorders, piles, phthisis, and leprosy, / eliminates phlegm and bile, gives strength, is a catalytic agent, and is a rejuvenative.

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<Purification of green vitriol>
Steamed once with false daisy water, green vitriol becomes pure.

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<Properties of green vitriol>
Green vitriol is cooling, unctuous, and when steamed, takes away eye diseases; / it pacifies bile and epilepsy, and acts with properties like mercury.

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<Lodestone>
One should cast salts and the two alkalis into drumstick juice / combined with the group of sours, and first impregnate it for half a day.

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With those liquids, the wise man should cook it for a day in a swing apparatus; / when the lodestone is purified, he should perform the mercurial work.

3.89

<Cowries>
Cowries that are yellowish, knotty on the back, and oblong-round, / weighing one and a half niṣkas are best, and those weighing one niṣka are middling;

3.90

those weighing three-fourths of a niṣka are declared the lowest; / they are named carācara by the mercurial physicians.

3.91

<Purification of cowries>
A cowrie steamed in sour gruel for one yāma attains purification.
<Properties of cowries>
It destroys colic due to indigestion and the like, and cures dysentery and phthisis.

3.92

It is pungent, hot, digestive, aphrodisiac, beneficial for the eyes, and removes wind and phlegm; / it is declared [useful] in the digestion of mercury and praised among alkaline substances.

3.93

<Purification of cinnabar>
Cinnabar impregnated with ewe's milk and the group of sours / seven times with effort certainly attains purity.

3.94

<Properties of cinnabar>
Divine cinnabar, born of mercury and sulphur, is bitter and hot; / it cures urinary diseases and leprosy, improves taste, gives strength, and stimulates intellect and digestive fire.

3.95

<Purification of bitumen>
Bitumen ground with cow's milk, three myrobalans, and false daisy juices / in an iron vessel for one day attains purification without a doubt.

3.96

<Properties of bitumen>
Bitumen is bitter, pungent, hot, and a rejuvenative; / it destroys phthisis, emaciation, abdominal enlargements, and piles, and overcomes bladder disorders.

3.97

Stibnite, borax, conch shell, tin-ore, and red ochre / are to be purified like cowries, and will become free from defects.

3.98

<Purification of gems>
Ruby is purified by sour [gruel], pearl by Sesbania sesban, / coral by the group of alkalis, and emerald by cow's milk;

3.99

topaz by ferments combined with horse-gram decoction, / diamond by prickly amaranth water, and sapphire by indigo juice;

3.100

hessonite by ox gall, and cat's eye by water of the three myrobalans. / Ground with Artocarpus lakoocha juice together with realgar, sulphur, and orpiment,
<Calcination of gems>
all gems except diamond are indeed calcined after eight incinerations.

3.101

<Properties of gems>
Pearl, coral, diamond, sapphire, cat's eye, crystal, and so forth:

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Gems and jewels are pungent, cold, astringent, sweet, and scarifying; / they are good for the eyes, and when worn, indeed, they remove misfortune, poverty, and poison.

Linked texts (1)

Rasamañjarī — Śālinātha, Sanskrit