Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c37.10

v2.c37.10

One millennium of gemmology studies in India has been reviewed in chapter 7. The studies on medicine were initiated during the age of Atharvaveda, when botanical as well as mineralogical recipes were tried on patients, and their effects studied. From Caraka to Patañjali to Nāgārjuna, the Rasaśāstra was developed in stages which grew to its full stature during the Tāntric period of alchemy (AD 700 to 1300). Around AD 1300 started the iatrochemical period. Some fifteen centuries of progress in Rasaśāstra (reviewed in chapter 8) also reflected India’s continuing involvement in gems, minerals and metals. Chapter 9 presents the highlights of the fourteenth century AD text Rasaratnasamuccaya which gives us almost the last word about ‘ancient’ India’s progress in the field of our study.