Rasendracudamani 3

English (machine translation) 3

Language: English

3.1

Rcūm, 3
One should set up an alchemical laboratory in an area free from all afflictions, / rich in all medicinal herbs, pleasant, and endowed with a well,

3.2

in the auspicious quarter between the king of Yakṣas and the thousand-eyed one [the north-east], / equipped with various apparatuses and well-adorned with an outer wall.

3.3

In the eastern section of the laboratory one should install Rasabhairava, / fire operations in the south-east, and stone operations in the south;

3.4

surgical-tool operations in the south-west, washing and so forth in the west, / drying in the north-west, and likewise transmutation operations in the north;

3.5

the storage of prepared materials one should establish in the north-east quarter. / One must make a collection of materials intended for processing mercury.

3.6

A furnace for essence extraction, a fine furnace for plastering, / a ground furnace, a portable furnace, numerous water-troughs,

3.7

likewise a pair of bellows, pipes of bamboo and iron, / basins of gold, iron, bell-metal, copper, and stone, and likewise made of leather;

3.8

one should gather all kinds of various tools: / churning-sticks, grinding stones, mortar[s] shaped like troughs and circular,

3.9

iron [mortars], heated mortars, and pestles of similar kinds, / [sieves] filled with thousands of tiny holes for sifting substances,

3.10

a sieve, a matting shield, a grinding stone, a pestle, a pestle and mortar, / crucible-clay, chaff, cotton, cow-dung cakes, and powder;

3.11

threefold medicine consisting of mineral, animal, and plant roots, / charcoal, dried cow dung, coarse sugar, and white rock candy;

3.12

glass flasks and cups made of glass, iron, clay, and cowries, / winnowing baskets and other bamboo vessels, small ladles, and conches,

3.13

razor-sharp blades, scrapers, and whatever else is required there, / ladles, spoons, and knives for cutting vegetables.

3.14

For sweeping the laboratory, indeed whatever operation culminates in the cooking of mercury, / and whatever other useful items [are required] there, all of it with the supreme vidyā,

3.15

having consecrated everything with the glorious Rasāṅkuśā [mantra], one should gather it together; / otherwise, Bhairava seizes the potency contained in it.

3.16

The sieve is said to be of three kinds, and its nature is explained: / made with bamboo splints fastened together with strings,

3.17

it is renowned as always suitable for straining coarse substances; / and for sifting powders, another sieve is made of bamboo,

3.18

auspiciously fashioned four finger-breadths in width / using flexible shoots of the karṇikāra, silk-cotton tree, and pārijāta,

3.19

coiled to a width of an aratni, covered with goat skin; / another sieve has its base stretched over with horsehair cloth:

3.20

with it, one should perform sifting in order to capture extremely fine powder. / The fire-leavings, embers, are regarded as charcoal;

3.21

they are called charcoal when extinguished without water. / Piṣṭaka, chagaṇa, chāṇa, upala, and utpala,

3.22

karaṇḍa, upalasārī: these are designations for dried cow dung. / Kūpikā, champikā, siddhā, golā, and karaṇḍikā;

3.23

caṣakā, kaṭorī, vāṭikā, ghoṭikā, / kacolī, and grāhikā are indeed names having the same meaning.

3.24

Physicians versed in the treatises on mercury, commentators knowledgeable in lexicons, / and those knowing languages of all lands should also be engaged by practitioners;

3.25

righteous, truthful in speech, learned, worshipping Śiva and Keśava, / compassionate, and having a lotus [sign] on the hand: such a one should be employed in mercurial medicine.

3.26

One whose hand is marked with a banner, a jar, a lotus, a fish, or a bow, / and who has a straight line beneath the ring finger, is healing-handed.

3.27

A physician who has no teacher, is devoid of compassion, greedy, lacking practical method, / and has a black line on his hand, is blighted-handed [and] should be avoided.

3.28

At the conclusion of cooking mercury, one should constantly recite the Aghora mantra. / Attendants who are energetic, pure, courageous, and strong,

3.29

knowing mantras for controlling spirits, should be engaged in extracting treasure; / robust, endowed with vigour, red-eyed, and dark-bodied,

3.30

and skilled in the lore of terrifying spirits, should be engaged in making offerings; / free from greed, truthful in speech, worshipping gods and brahmins,

3.31

self-controlled, eating wholesome food: such men are to be employed in rejuvenation therapy; / wealthy, generous, provided with all implements,

3.32

always devoted to the words of the guru: they are auspicious in alchemy. / Knowing the names of the various medicines, pure, devoid of deceit,

3.33

and knowing languages of various regions: they are regarded as fit for collecting drugs. / For those who are pure, truthful in speech, believing, resolute,

3.34

and free from doubt in their minds, mercury succeeds, not otherwise. / When mercury is perfected by the eighteen operations, that excellent practitioner,

declaring, “This is the great elixir,” should consume that mercury in isolation; / a mortal perfected by mercury becomes a giver, an enjoyer, and never a beggar, / freed from old age, revered by the world, of divine radiance, and always happy.

Linked texts (1)

Rasendracūḍāmaṇi — Somadeva (alchemist), Sanskrit