Rasendracudamani 5

English (machine translation) 5

Language: English

5.1

Now the apparatuses will be spoken of concisely by Somadeva at present,
having examined numerous treatises on mercury.

5.2

Because mercury is constrained (yantryate) with effort by the foremost alchemists
to accomplish operations such as sweating, it is therefore called an apparatus (yantra).

5.3

Having wrapped mercury with medicine in a three-layered cloth with birch bark,
and tying the bundle of mercury firmly to a stick with a cord,

suspended inside a jar filled with fermented liquid,
one should ignite a fire beneath according to the specified rule.
This is declared to be the swing apparatus (dolāyantra), and it is indeed called the sweating apparatus.

5.5

The mortar apparatus is declared to be of three kinds in operations such as grinding:
one is made of non-porous stone, and the other is made of iron.

5.6

Ten finger-breadths in height, sixteen finger-breadths in length,
nine finger-breadths in width, and likewise six finger-breadths deep;

5.7

its rim is two finger-breadths wide, very smooth, shaped like a half-moon trough,
and the pestle is ten finger-breadths: this is known as the apparatus called a mortar.

5.8

In this, five palas of mercury are to be ground for purification;
one should purify [mercury] in other mortars according to their respective suitability.

5.9

A mortar twelve finger-breadths in width is circular,
four finger-breadths deep, and made extremely smooth in the middle.

5.10

The pestle is flat on the bottom and easy to grip at the top.
An iron mortar nine finger-breadths [wide], six finger-breadths in depth,

5.11

and its pestle eight finger-breadths: this indeed is named the heated mortar.
Having made a hearth in the shape of a mortar, let it be filled with charcoals.

5.12

Placing the mortar in it, one should blow with bellows at the side;
an amalgam paste ground in it, combined with alkalis and acids,

5.13

melts very quickly from the sweating; there is no doubt here.
If made of lodestone iron, it would be ten million times superior.

5.14

Where on an iron vessel there are two rings on the sides,
such a smaller vessel whose chamber is fitted with rings

5.15

is placed over the first vessel; one should cast into the smaller vessel
swooned mercury, filling the larger vessel with sour gruel.

5.16

In this way, one should steam it for two watches (six hours) for the purpose of recovering the mercury;
this would be the valabhī apparatus, a cause of excellence in mercury.

5.17

In a vessel made of fine lodestone, the mercury will be of superior quality.
[In] the upward sublimation apparatus (ūrdhvapātanayantra), flat at the base, perfectly round, measuring eight finger-breadths:

5.18

Equipped four fingers below the neck with a trough / that is four fingers wide and deep, firmly attached;

5.19

The pot that covers it is sixteen fingers wide at the base, / and is provided with a neck nine fingers wide.

5.20

Having placed mercury in the first pot, one should place the other pot inverted, / surrounded above and below with a firm rim.

5.21

One should pour water into the rim and the trough, and kindle a fire beneath; / this upward-distillation apparatus has indeed been taught by Nandin.

5.22

[Downward-distillation apparatus]
One should place another shallow dish inverted upon the lower dish, / with mercury smeared inside its flattened base.

5.23

Having placed it in a muddy pit, one should kindle a fire on top; / this indeed is declared to be the downward-distillation apparatus.

5.24

[Transverse-distillation apparatus]
One should place mercury in a pot fitted with a long, bent tube facing downward; / one should indeed insert that tube into the belly of another pot.

5.25

Then, having properly sealed the mouths of both pots with clay, / one should kindle an intense fire beneath the pot with mercury.

5.26

In the other pot one should pour sweet, cold water; / this is called the transverse-distillation apparatus by alchemical practitioners.

5.27

[Uses of the distillation apparatuses]
A triad of distillations has indeed been taught using a triad of apparatuses; / and without distillations, mercury certainly does not cast off its defects.

5.28

Why is it not freed from defect by three upward distillations alone? / Because of differentiation during cooking, and through contact with another substance,

5.29

and from being transferred into different vessels, various qualities certainly arise; / [just as] rice grains become freed from impurities by mortar, pestle, and water.

5.30

Great purification through distillation alone has been proclaimed by Nandin.
[Tortoise apparatus]
One should place in a wide-mouthed vessel filled with water

5.31

a wide shallow bowl correctly in the middle of its expanse; / having made a basin with alchemical fluxes, one should place mercury in its middle.

5.32

Having applied alchemical flux above and below, and carefully sealing it with a shallow bowl, / a calcining heat is applied as appropriate; this is described:

5.33

This apparatus is called the tortoise [apparatus], stated to be for the digestion of mercury.
[Intermediate apparatus]
Having made an iron crucible bearing the shape of an eggplant,

5.34

measuring a span, crafted from lodestone / or else made of crude iron, two fingers below the neck,

5.35

one should attach a two-finger ring around the middle from the neck, / a ring as broad as a tamarind leaf that holds a lid.

5.36

The lid is fitted inside, crested, with tightly joined seams; / having made an inverted vessel with a hole fashioned in its base,

5.37

there one should suspend it from the top, and having sealed and dried / the neck of the pot, one should then apply a fire-heating calcination.

5.38

Such is the apparatus named the intermediate apparatus; / with this, one should effect the liquefaction of sulphur and likewise internal liquefaction.

5.39

[Frying-pan apparatus]
Having made a frying-pan crucible out of clay, firm and measuring a cubit, / very solid, and equipped with a two-finger hole in the middle,

5.40

one should place a measure made of lodestone over the sulphur, / and fill the frying pan all around with clean sand.

5.41

And mounting it upon an oven, casting liquid alchemical flux again and again, / one should then kindle a fire with a flame the size of a big toe.

5.42

One can thoroughly digest everything, such as iron and mica, into mercury; / this is called the frying-pan apparatus, easy to use for the digestion of mercury.

5.43

[Counter-womb apparatus]
Having placed substances such as mercury and gold in a pot, covered again with a measure, / and with substances such as salt above with acid, one should heat it on an oven: that is the counter-womb apparatus.

5.44

[Womb apparatus]
One should very carefully seal a measure or a dish inside a pot; / or having placed the substance in a clay pot or in a measure and sealed it,

5.45

and having added acid and other liquids and sealed it, the cooking occurs in the womb apparatus.
[Small-dish apparatus]
A round iron cup with an upright handle bent at the tip:

5.46

this is indeed the small-dish apparatus, for the purpose of digesting sulphur.
[Water-pot apparatus]
Holding four prasthas of water and having a four-finger opening:

5.47

this is declared the water-pot apparatus, considered suitable for invigorating [mercury].
[Brick apparatus]
Having made a round pit and placed a shallow bowl there,

5.48

having placed an auspicious brick there with a pit in its middle, / one should make a rim one finger high around the pit.

5.49

Having placed mercury in the pit, one should place a cloth over the mouth of the pit; / having thrown sulphur upon it and sealed the mouth with a shallow dish,

5.50

and having sealed well with clay between the dish and the rim, / a heat called the pigeon-dung calcination and nothing more should be given with wild cow-dung cakes.

5.51

This is indeed the brick apparatus; by means of it one should digest sulphur.
[Vidyādhara apparatus]
Having placed a pot on top of a pot and sealed them well,

5.52

having poured water into the upper pot, one should kindle a fire beneath; / this is the Vidyādhara apparatus, for the extraction [of mercury] from cinnabar.

5.53

[Pellet-drum apparatus]
Where one places an inverted pot upon a pot and seals them, / that is the apparatus named the pellet-drum, beneficial for preparing mercury ash.

5.54

[Navel apparatus]
One should make a pit in the middle of a shallow bowl, and place mercury with sulphur there; / around the pit one should make a wall two fingers high.

5.55

Then one should cover it properly with a cow's-udder-shaped crucible, / sealing it well with water-clay to the exact height of the pit.

5.56

Then, having poured in water, one should kindle a fire beneath; / this navel apparatus was taught by the omniscient Nandin.

5.57

By this, mercury digests smokeless, pure sulphur.
[Water-clay]
Triturated with a decoction of babul tree prepared like an electuary,

5.58

fine powder of aged iron slag mixed with jaggery powder: / this indeed is declared water-clay, truly impenetrable by waters.

5.59

[Fire-clay]
With chalk, salt, and slag triturated with buffalo's milk, / it becomes fire-clay, which indeed withstands the heat of fierce fire.

5.60

Mercury sealed with this clay is not able to escape, / like a man bound by the mature love of an accomplished woman.

5.61

Nandin, Nāgārjuna, Brahmajyotis the lord among sages, / and the venerable Somadeva know this—no one else on the surface of the earth.

5.62

[Swallowed apparatus (grastayantra)]
A crucible placed inside the belly of a crucible, uniform and round from beginning to end, / and flat at the base, is declared by the wise to be the swallowed apparatus.

5.63

It is indeed taught by connoisseurs of mercury for the binding of the lord of mercury.
[Balance apparatus (tulāyantra)]
Two crucibles shaped like eggplants, [joined] below their necks indeed

5.64

by a tube one span in length, well sealed at the joint with clay; / there, into one of them one should place mercury, and into the other sulphur powder.

5.65

Having sealed the mouths of the two crucibles, one should place [them] in a sand apparatus. / One should ignite a fire beneath; this is declared as the balance apparatus.

5.66

It is proclaimed for the digestion of realgar, orpiment, and sulphur.
[Pot apparatus (sthālīyantra)]
Having placed copper and other [substances] in a pot and sealed its mouth with a shallow dish,

5.67

it is heated while staying in the pot; this is called the pot apparatus.
[Furnace apparatus (koṣṭhikāyantra)]
One should place auspicious sand inside the belly of a large vessel

5.68

to a height measuring one span; then, one should place there / an unbaked earthen furnace twelve finger-breadths in height,

5.69

six finger-breadths wide, made very smooth inside, / and having a five-finger-breadth lid with a sharp tip, shaped like a crest-crown.

5.70

The furnace should be neither smaller nor larger, and smooth on the outside down from the neck. / One should place six palas of finely powdered sulphur into the furnace.

5.71

Then, having inserted an iron tripod made stable, / one should set upon it an iron trough or one made of lodestone.

5.72

Into it one should cast purified mercury to the measure of twenty palas. / And one should impregnate the mercury with garlic juice when its sulphur has been digested.

5.73

Having covered it with the previously mentioned lid whose point faces downwards, / one should seal the joint using lime, clay, jaggery, and the like.

5.74

When the sealed joint has dried, one should cast sand on top. / Having sealed the mouth of the vessel, one should then ignite a fire beneath it,

5.75

intense for three watches; thereupon the smoke arising from sulphur, / clinging to the lid, melts and falls down into the mercury.

5.76

Having thus consumed six times its weight of sulphur, the mercury becomes endowed with virtues; / it produces all the extraordinary virtues stated in the recipes.

5.77

This indeed is the furnace apparatus proclaimed by Nandi.
[Sand apparatus (vālukāyantra)]
Having carefully placed [it] in a vessel filled with five āḍhakas of sand,

5.78

the ball of mercury and the like is heated; this is called the sand apparatus.
[Salt apparatus (lavaṇayantra)]
In this same manner, by adding salt, the salt apparatus is declared.

5.79

[Fumigation apparatus (dhūpayantra)]
Having constructed an iron vessel eight finger-breadths [wide] and eight finger-breadths high, / with a water reservoir located two finger-breadths below the neck,

5.80

one should place thin iron rods across horizontally; / upon them one should arrange thin leaves of gold.

5.81

Below the vessel one should place the fumigation substance described right here; / one should indeed cover that vessel with another inverted vessel.

5.82

Having smeared the joint with clay, one should kindle a fire beneath. / Thereby the leaves, blackened and destroyed in accordance with the stated procedure,

5.83

mercury runs swiftly, [producing] liquefaction as well as internal liquefaction. / With sulphur, orpiment, realgar, black sulphide of mercury, or calcined lead,

5.84

the fumigation of gold leaves is proclaimed to be supreme; / for the sake of silver, one should fumigate silver leaves with calcined tin.

5.85

And one should fumigate with suitable primary and secondary minerals. / This is declared as the fumigation apparatus for conveying substances for digestion.

5.86

[Bowl apparatus (kuṇḍakayantra / kandukayantra)]
Having poured liquid into a large pot and bound a cloth tightly across the mouth, / placing the substance to be steamed upon it, and having covered it with a lid,

5.87

one should ignite a fire beneath it; that is the bowl apparatus. / Other wise men call this the steaming apparatus (svedanayantra).

5.88

[Bowl apparatus (kuṇḍayantra, second variety)]
Or, having placed water in a pot and put grass over the mouth, / having placed the substance to be steamed and covered it with a lid,

5.89

one should ignite a fire beneath; or this is the bowl apparatus.
[Pestle-and-lever apparatus (ḍekīyantra)]
Into a hole below the neck of the pot one should insert a bamboo pipe.

5.90

Having placed two bell-metal vessels as a closed container holding water inside, / and joining the mouth of the pipe to it, one should also make that firm.

5.91

The mercury, previously put into that pot with the stated substances / and heated by fire, falls down from the tube into that water.

5.92

As soon as the whole vessel becomes even slightly warm, / condensation of the mercury occurs; this is the pestle-and-lever apparatus.

5.93

[Moon-and-fire apparatus (somānalayantra)]
Fire above, water below, and the gathering of mercury in the middle: / this is proclaimed as the moon-and-fire apparatus; it can digest mica and the like.

5.94

[Pipe apparatus (nālikāyantra)]
The wise practitioner should cook the sealed mercury contained within an iron pipe / in a vessel filled with salt; this is declared to be the pipe apparatus.

5.95

[Crucibles (mūṣā)]
Now, the names, the earth, the shapes of diverse kinds, / and the proper method of application of crucibles are proclaimed by Somadeva.

5.96

[Synonyms for crucible]
A crucible is indeed called a furnace-crucible (koṣṭhikā), white-lotus (kumudī), hand-remover (karahārikā), / stripper (pātanī), and friend-of-fire (vahnimitrā) by practitioners of alchemy.

5.97

[Etymology of crucible]
Because it steals (muṣṇāti) faults that are removable by crucible, it is called a crucible (mūṣā); / its material cause may be clay as well as iron.

5.98

Better is even a single shell-penny produced from the mouth of a crucible, / than a hundred thousand won by bowing to wicked people, for men of honour!

5.99

[Seal-paste]
In binding a crucible and its lid, [the terms used are] binding (bandhana), seal-smearing (saṃdhilepana), / blinding (andhraṇa), closing (randhraṇa), and adherent joint-binding (saṃdhibandhana).

5.100

[Clay and gravel]
Coarse, pale clay and reddish-white gravel / that withstands prolonged blowing of bellows is highly praised for crucibles; / in its absence, [clay from] an anthill or potter's clay is recommended.

5.101

Clay that is beaten with an iron rod together with burnt chaff, hemp, or peacock feathers, / or horse dung, is indeed the general [mixture] for crucibles.

5.102

White stones, burnt chaff, peacock feathers in hemp cloth, / horse dung, and slag are to be combined appropriately in the crucible clay.

5.103

[Diamond crucible (vajramūṣā)]
Three parts of clay, two parts of hemp and horse dung, and one part of burnt chaff, stone, and the like, / and half a part of slag, ground up—one should fashion the diamond crucible for the extraction of essences.

5.104

[Combination crucible (yogamūṣā)]
Clay originating from an anthill, accompanied by burnt charcoal and chaff, / mixed with each specific flux and smeared with each specific flux,

5.105

The crucible constructed from that [clay] is called the yogamūṣā. / Mercury processed by means of this becomes exceedingly potent.

5.106

[Vajradrāvaṇamūṣā]
With mud mixed with gāra [and earthworm casts] washed, with hemp and with burnt husks, / each in equal parts, and an equal part of crucible clay, ground with the milk of a female buffalo,

5.107

fermented for a fortnight, and repeatedly kneaded: / the crucible made from that is called the vajradrāvaṇikā.

5.108

[Gāramūṣā]
Rich in six parts of burnt gāra, combined with slag, charcoal, and hemp, / a crucible made with black clays is described as a gāramūṣā.

5.109

From intense blowing it does not melt by fire for two yāmas. / [Varamūṣā]
Cloth, charcoal, and husks in equal parts; four times as much clay;

5.110

and gāra equal to the clay: thoroughly ground together with all these, / it is specified as a varamūṣā, and it can endure fire for a yāma.

5.111

[Varṇamūṣā]
Combined with the powder of the red group of drugs, impregnated with liquid of the red group of drugs, / the crucible smeared with that clay, and smeared with cinnabar and mica,

5.112

is declared to be the varṇamūṣā; it is employed for the enhancement of colour. / [Rūpyamūṣā]
Likewise, [prepared] with the white group of drugs, it is known as the rūpyamūṣā.

5.113

[Viḍamūṣā]
Formed from the clay of the respective alchemical flux, smeared with the respective alchemical flux, / for the purpose of application to the body and metals, it is described as a viḍamūṣā.

5.114

[Vajradrāvaṇamūṣā (II)]
With gāra, washed earthworm casts, husk soot, and hemp, / each in equal parts, and an equal part of crucible clay, ground with the milk of a female buffalo,

5.115

fermented for a fortnight, and repeatedly kneaded: / the crucible made from that, smeared with bug blood,

5.116

and the roots of balā and dhāvanī, is the vajradrāvaṇakrauñcikā. / Employed in melting, it endures fire for four yāmas.

5.117

[Mūṣāpyāyana]
When the crucible undergoes melting on account of blowing, / lifting it out for a moment is called mūṣāpyāyana.

5.118

[Vṛntākamūṣā]
Having placed a ten-finger-breadth pipe on an eggplant-shaped crucible, / resembling an upright dhattūra blossom, firmly joined like an attached flower,

5.119

eight finger-breadths [long] and provided with a hole, that is the vṛntākamūṣikā. / Using this, one may extract the essence of soft substances such as calamine.

5.120

[Gostanīmūṣā]
A crucible that is shaped like a cow's udder, with a lid provided with a handle, / that crucible is the gostanī, used in the melting and purification of essences.

5.121

[Mallamūṣā]
The crucible formed from the enclosure of two shallow earthen bowls is indicated as the mallamūṣā; / it is declared for steaming mercurial preparations such as parpaṭī and others.

5.122

[Pakvamūṣā]
That which has the shape of a potter's vessel, is firm, and is well baked, / is declared to be the pakvamūṣā, used in the cooking of poṭalī and other [preparations].

5.123

[Golamūṣā]
Having the form of a mouthless ball, enclosing the material to be calcined within, / it is declared to be the golamūṣā, rapidly confining the material.

5.124

[Mahāmūṣā]
Shaped like an elbow at the bottom, gradually widening upwards, / thick like a plump eggplant: this is considered the mahāmūṣā. / And it is for the calcination and melting of the essence of iron, mica, and the like.

5.125

[Mañjūṣamūṣā]
A crucible shaped like a casket, with its depth, length, and width / having the measure of six finger-breadths, is named the mañjūṣā crucible. / Having buried that crucible in the earth, one should then give a puṭa on top.

5.126

[Mūśalamūṣā]
A crucible that is flattened at the base, circular, and eight finger-breadths in height: / that crucible is named the muśalā; it is beneficial for mercury bound into cakes.

5.127

[Furnaces (Introduction)]
For the purpose of extracting metallic essences, and for the purification of extracted ones, / furnaces are of various forms; their characteristics are described.

5.128

[Aṅgārakoṣṭhikā]
Having a height of one royal cubit, and half that in length and width, / four-sided, and enclosed by an earthen wall,

5.129

on one wall one should make a pit measuring the extent of a vitasti; / and a door, measuring one and a half vitastis, very firm and auspicious,

5.130

should be made below the sill, as appropriate for blowing; / and the wall above the lintel measures a span.

5.131

And a door must be made at the top, indeed measuring a span; / then, having blocked [the opening] with a brick and smeared the seams of the door,

5.132

and having filled it with charcoal, one should blow with two bellows. / Through the upper door one should cast in charcoal, blowing materials,

5.133

and pellets for extracting essence, five by five, again and again. / This charcoal-furnace extracts the essence of hard substances.

5.134

[Pātālakoṣṭhikā]
In firm ground one should make an auspicious, circular pit measuring a vitasti; / and inside that, one should construct another pit,

5.135

having a width and depth of four finger-breadths, / provided with an inclined pipe running from the pit up to the surface of the ground,

5.136

slightly raised on the outside, and sloping down facing towards the pit. / Over the inner pit one should place an earthen disc furnished with five holes.

5.137

Having filled the furnace with charcoal, one should blow it with a single bellows. / Indeed, this is the subterranean furnace that extracts the metallic essence of metals,

5.138

and of substances to be prepared by blowing, proclaimed by Nandi. / [Gārakoṣṭhī]
That which is twelve finger-breadths deep, and also measuring a span [in width],

5.139

and provided with a ledge four finger-breadths from the bottom: / upon the ledge one should place a disc having many perforations.

5.140

Having thrown charcoal into it, one should blow through a curved blowpipe. / This is indicated as the gāra furnace, destroying cleaned iron.

5.141

[Vaṅkanāla]
It should be made of bottle-clay, firm, measuring a cubit; / and facing downwards at its mouth, the pipe is five finger-breadths long.

5.142

It is declared to be the vaṅkanāla, taught for intense blowing. / [Tiryakpradhamakoṣṭhī]
Likewise, a furnace is prescribed for the processing of mercury and other substances:

5.143

twelve finger-breadths in height, and four finger-breadths at the base, / and named the oblique-blowing furnace, purifying soft substances.

5.144

[Puṭa (Definition)]
Puṭa is the indication of the killing and cooking of substances such as mercury; / undercooking or overcooking is not desired; well-cooked medicine is beneficial.

5.145

Irreversibility of metals and the like, superiority of properties, lightness, / non-sinking in water, and filling the fine lines [of the thumb]: these arise from puṭa.

5.146

From puṭa come bright colour, lightness, rapid assimilation, and stimulation of digestive fire; / even over mercury digested, greater virtue belongs to metals [subjected to puṭa].

5.147

Just as the external fire enters into a stone through application of puṭa, / and properties like powderability are attained, exactly so, without doubt, in metals.

5.148

[Mahāpuṭa]
In a four-sided pit two cubits in depth and in width, / filled with a thousand cow dung cakes, the medicine to be calcined [is placed].

5.149

[The medicinal substance] carefully sealed inside a cruciblet should be placed upon the dried cowdung cakes; / one should place five hundred wild cowdung cakes over the cruciblet.

5.150

One should kindle a fire there; this is known as the *mahāpuṭa*. / [The elephant heating (gajapuṭa):] / [A pit] one royal cubit in measurement, square and sunken;

5.151

filled with a thousand [cowdung] cakes up to the brim, one should then place [the vessel]; / one should set the *kumudī* [crucible] there, filled with the substance to be calcinated;

5.152

one should throw half as many dried cowdung cakes as before over it. / This is declared as the *gajapuṭa*, which imparts great virtues.

5.153

[The boar heating (vārāhapuṭa):] / Thus in a pit of one cubit, the heating is called *vārāha*.

5.154

[The cock heating (kukkuṭapuṭa):] / The heating on the surface of the ground that is two spans high / and as wide across the base—that should be the *kukkuṭaka* heating.

5.155

[The dove heating (kapotapuṭa):] / The heating that is applied on the ground with eight wild cowdung cakes, / for the ash of young mercury, is called the *kapotapuṭa*.

5.156

[Govara (definition; a kind of cowdung):] / Dried, pulverised cowdung crushed by cows' hooves inside a cow-pen, / that is declared to be *govara*, supreme in the processing of mercury.

5.157

[The govara heating (govarapuṭa):] / Where heating is applied with *govara* or with husks, / that is declared as the *govarapuṭa*, for the perfection of mercurial ash.

5.158

[The vessel heating (bhāṇḍapuṭa):] / In a thick vessel filled with husks, with a crucible placed in the middle, / when cooking is performed by fire, that is called the *bhāṇḍapuṭa*.

5.159

[The sand heating (vālukāpuṭa):] / Where a cruciblet is indeed covered from below and from above / with heated sands, that is the *vālukāpuṭa*.

5.160

[The earth heating (bhūdharapuṭa):] / Where one buries the crucible thoroughly two finger-breadths under the ground, / and applies heating on top, that heating is named *bhūdhara*.

5.161

[The quail heating (lāvakapuṭa):] / Where there is heating from above with husks or cowdung cakes to the measure of only a sixteenth, / that should be named *lāvaka*, for the preparation of very soft substances.

5.162

[The unspecified heating (anuktapuṭa):] / When the measure of heating is unspecified, however, from the strength and weakness of the substance to be processed, / heating should be given after discerning [it], by those skilled in reasoning and deduction.

5.163

[Synonyms for dried cowdung:] / *Piṣṭaka*, *chagaṇa*, *chāṇa*, *upala*, and likewise *utpala*, / *giriṇḍa*, *upalasāṭhī*, and *navārī* are designations for cowdung.

5.164

[Conclusion:] / Whoever reads this miscellaneous chapter composed by Somadeva / will not desire instruction from a guru even in mercurial medicine and alchemy.

Linked texts (1)

Rasendracūḍāmaṇi — Somadeva (alchemist), Sanskrit