Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c26.s5.6

v1.c26.s5.6

We would be presenting (in Vol. II chapter 8) our view that Nāgārjuna, the Indian alchemist was a contemporary of the Sātavāhana king Yajñaśrī Gautamīputra (AD 166-203), and therefore his Rasaratnākara must have been originally a second century AD text although what we have today is possibly a version edited during a later period such as the seventh century AD. We have provided in the earlier footnote in this chapter the second century AD. Rasaratnākara reference to cementation and distillation processes for making brass. The details of the said Sanskrit text and similar texts on zinc and brass from Rasārṇava (twelfth century AD), Rasaprakāśasudhākara, Rasacintāmaṇi, Rasakalpa (thirteenth century AD) and Rasaratnasamuccaya (fourteenth century AD) would be presented in the chapters 8 and 9, Vol. II of this monograph.