Anandakanda 2.2

Āk 2.2
Glorious Bhairava said:
I shall explain the order of origin and so on of all metals beginning with gold.
Synonyms of gold:
Svarṇa, suvarṇa, kanaka, ujjvala, kāñcana, kalyāṇa, hāṭaka, hiraṇya, manohara,
gāṅgeya, gairika, mahārajata, agnivīrya, rukma, hema, tapanīyaka, bhāsvara,

jāmbūnada, aṣṭāpada, jātarūpa, piñjāna, cāmīkara, karbura,
kārtasvara, āpiñjaravarṇa, bhūritejas, dīpta, amala, dīpi, pītaka,

maṅgalya, saumerava, śātakumbha, śṛṅgāra, candrārka, jaja, jāmbava,
āgneya, niṣka, and agniśikhā: thus are forty-two names of gold determined.

Varieties of gold:
Elemental, innate, born of fire, born of mines,

and born of transmutation by the lord of mercury: gold is declared to be of five kinds.
That which surrounds the cosmic egg, born indeed from the quality of rajas—

that is called elemental, hard to obtain even for the gods.
That by which Brahmā was enveloped at birth is indeed innate gold.

The yellow, exceedingly unbearable energy of Śiva, emitted by fire,
became gold; that is designated as fire-born gold.

This triad of golds is divine, endowed with sixteen carats;
merely by wearing it, it makes the body free from senescence and disease.

That which is born of mountain mines is known as mined gold;
endowed with fourteen carats, when consumed, it cures all diseases.

That which is produced by transmutation by the lord of mercury is declared to be transmutation-born;
transmutation-born gold is an exceptionally supreme and sacred rejuvenation therapy.

Gold is of two kinds: having a reddish lustre and of a yellow colour.
Acceptable and unacceptable forms of gold:
Red when burnt, white upon cut, saffron-coloured on the touchstone,

heavy, unctuous, soft, clear, free of layers, and reddish-yellow,
gold endowed with sixteen carats is commended for the body and for metals.

White-bodied, hard, dry, discoloured, impure, layered,
becoming whitish-black when burnt, white on the touchstone, and light [should be rejected].

Gold that is unpurified and unincinerated produces a multitude of diseases;
it destroys happiness, vigor, and strength. Therefore, purification is declared.

Purification of gold:
Termite mound soil, soot, red ochre, brick, and salt:
having ground these five soils with jambīra lime juices or sour gruel,

one should smear gold leaves [with it] and, covered with ash in an earthen vessel,
subject it to fire in a pit until it is liquid; through this, it is thoroughly purified.

With earth impregnated for five days with sour juice of citron,
one should purify gold together with ash and salt by heating in a pit.

One should impregnate the five earths for three days with sour citron juice;
with rock salt and earth ashes, gold is purified as before.

In oil, buttermilk, cow's urine, sour gruel, and horse-gram decoction,
one should quench heated [metal] seven times successively in each of these liquids.

This purification of sheets of metals such as gold is commended;
one should likewise pour melted lead and tin [into them] for purification.

One should first pour gold into juice produced from kāñcanāra
seven times; then the gold will certainly be fit for alchemical work.

Gold ash (1):
Powder of lead combined with realgar and mixed with milky sap of euphorbia:
by smearing and heating in a pit, one should coat gold leaves [with this].

Having ground incinerated lead with milky sap of snuhī or with some sour liquid,
one should smear the gold leaves, seal them, and cook them in an elephant pit.

Taking it out, one should grind incinerated lead, an eighth part, in sour liquid,
and cook it sealed in an elephant pit, combined with lead as before.

Thus, through repeated cooking eight times, it is certainly killed.
Gold ash (2):
Sulphur equal to purified mercury, and copper pyrites along with sour gruel;

through eight firings in a pit, gold is killed by the procedure described before.
Gold ash (3):
One should make a ball in a mortar of gold equal to purified mercury;

Placing sulfur above and below equal to all, and sealing [it], / one should give fourteen such calcinations with thirty wild cow-dung cakes.

It becomes an unrevivable ash; sulfur must be given repeatedly. / <Gold ash (4)> / Melting one tola of gold, [and] throwing in one māṣa of purified lead,

taking that powder, [and adding] an equal amount of sulfur and pyrite, / one should grind it with sour liquid for one watch, seal it, and cook it in a light calcination pit.

Sulfur should be given repeatedly; it is killed in ten calcinations. / <Killing of gold using mercury and other substances> / One should make thin leaves of gold [and] smear them with ash of mercury.

One should calcine it ground with sour liquid; the gold becomes lifeless. / Or, calcinated with pyrite, gold turns to ash.

Or one may incinerate it with incinerated lead combined with realgar; / or else smeared with an portion of incinerated diamond and yoginī [plant],

it turns to ash through secondary minerals, mercuries, and primary minerals; / and smeared with [these] ground with sour liquid and calcinated, it turns to ash.

<Killing of gold (5)> / One should grind quicksilver with sour liquid for a watch with twice the amount of gold. / Throwing prepared pyrite equal to the gold into a crucible,

above it the ground gold, above that purified pyrite / equal to the gold must be placed, and above it equal sulfur.

One should add all of it pulverized, seal the crucible, and blow strongly. / Taken out when cooled naturally, five parts of that ash,

borax, and white glass—one part of each—one should grind. / The triad, mixed into a ball with honey and clarified butter,

and one part of processed mica placed below and above— / sealing it, one should blow strongly in a crucible for two ghaṭikās.

An unrevivable ash is produced; one should employ it in various formulations. / <Killing of gold (6)> / A quarter [part] of incinerated quicksilver compared to gold, ground with some sour liquid,

smeared on the foil, cooked in a calcination pit, is surely killed in eight [rounds]. / Such is the method for the killing of all purified metals.

<Killing of gold (7)> / One part of purified pyrite, one part of prepared pyrite, / [and] adding two parts of quicksilver, one should grind the three with sour liquid.

Smearing one part of gold foil, one should grind it with sour liquid. / One should vigorously cook that ball in a sublimation apparatus for three watches.

Thus the gold is killed, becoming unrevivable; there is no doubt here. / <Killing of gold (8)> / With barley, tamarind, rajovṛkṣa, marking-nut, and borax,

smearing the leaves of gold, sealing, one should cook it in an elephant-calcination pit. / Ground with those juices, it is killed with seven calcinations.

Ground pīlu, kaṅkuṣṭha, bukkāṇa, and black salt— / smearing the leaves of gold, it is killed in seven calcinations.

<Properties of gold> / Gold is nourishing, unctuous, sweet in taste and post-digestive effect, / destructive of poison defects, cooling, slightly astringent, and slightly bitter;

beneficial to the heart, radiance-giving, strengthening, rejuvenating, heavy, scraping, / generating intellect, memory, and retention, wound-healing, and granting purity of speech;

pacifying phthisis and insanity, beneficial to the eyes, a rejuvenation therapy, / pacifying the three humors, gentle, life-prolonging, pleasing, pure;

it confers wisdom, virility, and voice; sovereignty arises from wearing it.