Rasarnava 9

English (machine translation) 9

Language: English

9.1

The glorious Devī said:
The apprehension of seeds has been explained, and especially their preparation.
You should speak of those alchemical fluxes by which they are digested in mercury.

The glorious Bhairava said:
Green vitriol, rock salt, alum, sauvīra antimony, three pungents, sulfur,
sauvarcala salt, soda, and what originates from the juice of jasmine,
sprinkled with the juice of moringa root—this alchemical flux digests everything.

9.3

Burnt conch powder, drenched a hundred times with the milk of the sun-plant (Calotropis),
subjected repeatedly to calcination fire, O Devī, is an excellent alchemical flux for digestion.

9.4

Or the powder of sulfur may be drenched a hundred times with cow's urine.

9.5

Burnt conch powder, processed with water of moringa root
a hundred times, combined with poison and rock salt, is called Vaḍavāmukha ("Mare's Mouth").

9.6

O Devī, one should process borax a hundred times with juices of the flame-of-the-forest.
This alchemical flux is named Vahnimukha ("Fire-Faced"), for the digestion of metals, O beloved.

9.7

Sal ammoniac, sulfur, and the entrance into loadstone, O beloved—
each one alone is sufficient for the digestion of iron powder.

9.8

Sulfur, orpiment, rock salt, sal ammoniac, borax, and earth-salt (salpetre)—
one should cook them with alkalis and urines; this is the Jvālāmukha ("Blaze-Faced") alchemical flux.

9.9

Processed twenty-one times with the leaf-juice of devadālī,
alkali of the nicula tree digests all metallic essences.

9.10

Vāstuka, castor, banana, devadālī, hogweed,
vāsā, palāśa, nicula, sesame, and pyrite—

9.11

cut all parts into small pieces, not overly dry, on a stone surface,
along with burnt stalks of sesame, and the five parts of radish—

9.12

one should flood them with the urine group. The liquid strained from that,
one knowing the measure of fire should cook in an iron vessel in the apparatus over a gentle fire.

9.13

When many vapors and bubbles emerge,
then green vitriol, alum, the three alkalis, the three pungents,

9.14

white sulfur, cinnabar, and the six salts—
one should throw in the powder of these. Placed within an iron crucible,
kept in the earth for seven days, and then placed in grain, this is a superior alchemical flux.

9.15

Cooking with the acid of jambīra lime and with the liquid of moringa root;
sprinkled a hundred times in succession with sal ammoniac and sulfur—these are two alchemical fluxes.

9.16

With the leaf-juice of koṣātakī or with alkalis derived from nicula,
one should process devadālī, śivā seeds, guñjā, rock salt, and borax
with the acid group: this alchemical flux digests gold.

9.17

With the alkalis of radish, ginger, and leadwort filtered through cow's urine,
sulfur is to be processed a hundred times: this alchemical flux is for the digestion of gold.

9.18

Orpiment, realgar, alkali, salt, conch shell, and oyster shell,
cooked over a gentle fire: this becomes an alchemical flux for the digestion of gold.

9.19

Gathering these provisions in this way, one should perform mercurial operations.
Tell me then, O ruler of gods: what else do you wish to hear?

Linked texts (1)

Rasārṇava — Sanskrit