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Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c44: 8. Non-Gem Minerals and Metals in Ancient Texts Culminating to Rasaśāstra

Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c44

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8. Non-Gem Minerals and Metals in Ancient Texts Culminating to Rasaśāstra

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So far, we have discussed the references to minerals and metals contained in the Vedic and post-Vedic literatures, and to the gems in the Indian gemmology texts known as Ratnaśāstra. It is surprising that Indians, who had known the uses of non-gem minerals and the manufacture of copper and iron from their respective compounds in the Pre-Historical period, wrote little about these materials. This may be explained in terms of gradual casteist division and compartmental isolation between the low caste metalsmiths and the high-caste philosopher-cum-writers.

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Fortunately for our purpose, some writers took interest in (a) atomic constitution of matter and (b) medical uses of minerals, metal oxides and sulphides, etc., which involved reduction of minerals to the metallic stage and subsequent oxidation or reaction with sulphur. The chemistry and therapeutic aspects of medicines, both organic and inorganic, were covered in the alchemical texts called Rasaśāstra. Although the alchemical texts evolved in India during the middle of the first millennium after Christ, their basis had been laid earlier over centuries, and we would discuss this background first.

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The concept of five elements as the basis of the material universe occurs in the Āraṇyakas and the Upaniṣads (c. eighth century BC), and thus antedates the Greek theory of Empedocles (c. fifth century BC). Chāndogya Upaniṣad mentioned seed which gradually evolved into grosser material stuff. The matter was created from energy. The Vedānta philosophy distinguished between two kinds of ākāśa : purāṇaṃ kham or kāraṇākāśa, the motionless, primordial matter-rudiment, and kāryākāśa, materialisation from non-atomic ākāśa. The twofold aspect of *ākāśa*, non-material and material, related to each other as cause and effect was a very significant concept in the Indian Philosophy. (Seal, 1958:121)

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Kapila the originator of the *Sāmkhya* philosophy proposed that *tanmātras* or infra-atomic entities, derived from the conscious principle, gave rise to *aṇus* or atoms and five kinds of grosser elements or *bhūtas* : space or ether (*ākāśa*), air (*vāyu*), fire (*tejas*), water (*ap*) and earth (*kṣiti*). Patañjali of the second century BC perfected the *Sāmkhya* system of philosophy. According to this philosophy, the *prakṛti* or nature is an equilibrium of three principles: *sattva*, the essence or intelligence stuff, *rajas* the energy stuff and *tamas*, the inertia or the matter stuff.

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Kaṇāda, the founder of the *Vaiśeṣika* system of philosophy was primarily concerned with the material aspects of the universe. He postulated only four kinds of elements: *kṣiti*, *ap*, *tejas* and *vāyu*. In his view *ākāśa* is non-material and serves merely as an inert substratum for sound and energy to travel. The later-day astronomer, Āryabhaṭ also accepted this principle of four elements, ignored the Vedāntic concept of twin forms of *ākāśa* and the origin of matter from non-matter. Kaṇāda believed that light and heat are different forms of *tejas* and the atoms or *aṇus* are eternal, ultimate, indivisible and infinitesimal. (Gough, 1975: 138)

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*Vaiśeṣika Sūtra* (4.1.1-2) states that *sat akāraṇavat nityam tasya kāryalingam* atoms are eternal, uncaused, non-destructive and are inferred from their effects. Kaṇāda’s conception of atoms bears resemblance to that of the Greek philosopher Democritus (c. 470-360 BC). H.T. Colebrooke and H.H. Wilson concluded that the resemblance is explained in terms of Greeks being the borrowers. According to the Greek tradition, Thales, Empedocles, Democritus, etc. undertook journey to the oriental countries in order to study philosophy.

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According to the *Vaiśeṣika* system, atoms possess an intrinsic vibratory or rotatory motion (*parispanda*) and combine to form binary molecule (*dvyāṇuka*), ternary (*tryāṇuka*), etc. Chemical combination occurs under the influence of heat corpuscles. Atoms though eternal in themselves, are non-eternal as aggregates.

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The Buddhist schools accepted the atomic view of matter with some qualifications. According to the Jainas, interlinking between atoms and molecules in *pudgala* or matter must precede all compound formations: *aṇu* (atom) to *skandha* (aggregate). (Ray, Priyada, 1956: 46-47; Sikdar, 1970) A detailed presentation of the atomic theory and chemical combination found in Umāsvāmī’s (c. AD 40). *Tattvārthādhigama-sūtra* bears some crude resemblance to the ‘dualistic hypothesis’ of Berzelius, propounded in the nineteenth century.

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Vātsyāyana of the fourth century AD elaborated on chemical changes initiated by external or internal heat (Vātsyāyana-bhāṣya, ch. IV, āhnika 1, sūtra, 47). The above postulates, as well as the Greek theories of atomism could not advance very far on account of lack of experimentation, only which could spur further investigation in this scientific topic. (Ray, Priyada Ranjan, 1966 and 1986: 136-51) Thus the Indian expertise on minerals and metals remained isolated from the theoretical notions of matter and its constitution.

Saṃhitās of Caraka and Suśruta

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The above two saṃhitās along with Aṣṭāṅgahṛdaya by Vāgbhaṭa, known as the ‘great trio’ of ancient Indian medical texts, provide many references to the uses of minerals and metals in medicine.

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Caraka wrote (26.12) that there is ‘nothing in the world which does not have therapeutic ability’. Three types of matter were recognised.

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जंगम् उद्भिद पार्थिवम् jaṅgam udbhid pārthivam (1.68) — animal, plant and mineral.

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The mineral-cum-metals were further subdivided:

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सुवर्ण समला: पंचलोहा: ससिकता: सुधा। मन:शिलाले मणयो लवणं गैरिकंजने।। suvarṇa samalāḥ pañcalohāḥ sasikatāḥ sudhā । manaḥśilāle maṇayo lavaṇam gairikāñjane ।। (1.70)

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gold, five lohas (copper, silver, tin, lead and iron) their by-products, silica, red and yellow arsenic, gems, salt, collyrium, etc.

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Five varieties of salt were described:

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सौवर्चलं सैन्धवं च विडम् औद्भिदम् एव च। सामुद्रेण सहैतानि पंच स्यु: लवणानि च।। sauvarcalam saindhavam ca vidam audbhidam eva ca । sāmudreṇa sahaitāni pañca syuḥ lavaṇāni ca ।। (1.88)

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sauvarcala (saltpetre, sodium/potassium nitrate), saindhava (rock salt), viḍa (ammonium chloride) audbhida (plant product, potassium carbonate?) *sāmudra* (sea salt), etc. These were used for improving digestion and as medicines.

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Young plant *Butea frondosa* used to be dried, reduced to ashes and lixiviated with water to produce potassium carbonate, *audbhida* salt or *kṣāra* (alkali).

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Minerals like sulphate of copper, sulphate of iron (*aśmakāsīsa*), realgar (*manaḥśila*), orpiment (*haritāla*), and sulphur (*gandhaka*) were prescribed for external application in many skin diseases. Under the recipe of a pearl compound, there is mention of pearl, powder of iron, copper and sulphur. The metals were obviously used after being roasted with sulphur. This was one of the early landmarks of *rasaśāstra* or Indian alchemy. The text also described the uses of coral, lapis lazuli, ashes of conch-shell, calces of iron and copper (‘killing’ of metals to produce oxides), sulphide of antimony (*sauvīrāñjana*), etc. The mention of coral (*vidruma*), emerald (*marakata*), *romaka*, etc. indicated that a part of the *Saṃhitā* was written after the trade with Rome had been started.

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Elaborate descriptions about the preparation and properties of alkali carbonates (prepared by lixiviation of burnt plant ash) and caustic alkali (lixiviation of burnt limestone, conch-shell and bivalve shells) were provided in *Suśruta Saṃhitā*. Mild (*mṛdu*), medium strength (*madhyama*) and strong (*tīkṣṇa*) solutions of alkali (*kṣāra*) were prepared by lixiviation and successive operations of evaporation and concentration. There was widespread use of caustic alkali solutions for cauterisation in surgery. The application of the pungent acid of *kañjika* (fermented rice water, i.e., crude vinegar) was known to relieve the burning sensation and taste of the ‘fire-like hot alkaline caustic’, ‘just as fire is extinguished by water’. Distinction was made between *yavakṣāra* (factitious carbonate of potash) and *sarjikākṣāra* (carbonate and bicarbonate of soda from river bed alluvium).

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Suśruta recommended as drugs, the oxides (calces) of tin, lead, copper, silver, iron and gold which were prepared by roasting the metals with minerals like alum-earth and red ochre. For the roasting of iron, thin leaves of the metal were smeared with the levigated powder of the salts including common salt, saltpetre, sulphate of magnesia, and heated in the fire of cow-dung cakes. This process, called *ayaskrti*, affected the metal and produced oxides and oxy-salts. Mercury was not well-known during Suśruta’s time. Two types of pyrites (*mākṣika*) known to ‘resemble gold and silver’ were evidently chalcopyrite and ordinary iron-bearing pyrite. Compounds of arsenic (*phenasama bhasma*) and orpiment were recognised as poisons.

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Both Caraka and Suśruta mentioned crude processes of calcination, distillation (of liquor from fermented juices), sublimation, steaming, fixation, etc. They distinguished between chemical compounds and mechanical mixtures.

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At this stage, it may be useful to mention the compilatory nature of the *Saṃhitās* of Caraka and Suśruta. The two texts recognised that *Āyurveda* or the early medical science of India was an *upaveda* of the *Atharvaveda*. Even in the Atharvavedic age, minerals and metals were used as medicines (see chapter 3). There must have been many medical texts between the *Atharvaveda* and the *Caraka Saṃhitā*.

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*Caraka Saṃhitā* is based on an earlier work of Agniveśa, whose teacher Ātreya taught medicine in the University of Takṣaśilā (Taxilā) during the age of Buddha. The *Saṃhitā* must have been redacted in several versions by Carakas of successive centuries, till the final version was organised by Dṛḍhabala, the court physician of King Kaniṣka (AD 100). Suśruta was a teacher in the University of Varanasi during Buddha’s time, and a disciple of Dhanvantari. His surgico-medical treatise was gradually elaborated over centuries, and the extant version is generally believed to be an edition executed by the famous Buddhist chemist Nāgārjuna. Thus the two *Saṃhitās*, containing various references on minerals and metals, depict Indian progress on the knowledge of these materials over centuries (fourth century BC to second century AD).

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During the above period, considerable progress about the sciences of minerals, metals were made. Kauṭilya mentioned *rasapāka* which has been translated as ‘distillation and condensation of mercury’ by Shamashastri, and as ‘chemistry’ by Jolly and Schmidt. During Aśoka’s reign, techniques were developed for quarrying laterite and sandstone rocks, mining gold deposits at Kanakagiri or Subarṇagiri (near the present Haity gold mines and Raichur), rock-cutting and polishing granite-gneiss rock pillars, stone-railings and caves at Karmachampar, Barabar, Gaya etc. (Brown, 1956; Lahiri, 1971: 495; Roy, 1946: 117)

Yājñavalkya and Patañjali

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In the pre-Christian era, Yājñavalkya wrote about minerals and metals in his *Smṛti*; the *Śloka* 181 of *Vyavahāra* dealt with the relative deterioration of metals when treated with fire: ‘Gold does not suffer deterioration, of silver is two palas, of tin and lead eight, of copper five and of iron ten palas per hundred’. In *Ācārādhyāya*, 190, he recommends that

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त्रपुसीसकताम्राणां क्षारम्लोदक वारिभिः।
भस्माद्रिः कांस्यलोहानां शुद्धिः प्लावो द्रव्य च।।
*trapusīsakatāmrāṇāṃ kṣārāmlodaka vāribhiḥ* |
*bhasmādriḥ kāṃsyalohānāṃ śuddhiḥ plāvo dravasya ca* ||

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tin, lead and copper may be cleaned by alkali and acid water whereas iron and *kāmsya*, copper alloy (could it mean brass also as suggested by Roy, 1946:108? Brass was mentioned as *riti* by Caraka and Manu) should be cleaned by ash and water. Yājñavalkya advised the kings to use copper plates to write deeds (*Ācāra*, 318-320).

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Patañjali was a contemporary of Puśyamitra Śuṅga (c. 187-151 bc). He was not only a great grammarian, composing the famous *Mahābhāṣya* of Pāṇini, but also a philosopher of mind and body. Bhoja commented in his *Nyāyavartika*.

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योगेन चित्तस्य पदेन वाचां मलं शरीरस्य तु वैद्यकेन
योऽपाकरोत् तं प्रवरं मुनीनां पतंजलिं प्राञ्जलिः आनतोऽस्मि
*yogena cittasya padena vācām malaṃ śarīrasya tu vaidyakena*
*yo’pākarot taṃ pravaraṃ munīnām patañjaliṃ prāñjaliḥ ānato’smi*

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that he was the physician of the mind (vide his *Yogasūtra*) and of the body. Patañjali was interested in alchemy and medicine, and recommended the use of minerals and metals for health and other purposes. Al-Beruni quoted Patañjali’s view that ‘one of the methods leading to liberation is *Rasāyana*’. (Sachau, 1983: Vol.1, p.189) Nāgārjuna, who is acknowledged as the Father of Indian Chemistry considered Patañjali to be a leader in alchemy.

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Patañjali wrote on metallurgy and his *Lohaśāstra* has been partially quoted by other authors. He observed that the Mauryas, in order to replenish their treasury, had sold metallic images of gods like Śiva, Skanda, etc. He mentioned the use of vessels made of bronze (and brass?) as containers of milk products:

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बहुक्षीरघृतमोदनं कांस्यपात्र्याम् भुञ्जीरन्निति ।।
*bahukṣīraghṛtamodanaṃ kāmsyapātryām bhuñjīranniti* ||
(*Mahābhāṣya*, 8.2.3.1)

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He also mentioned the use of trapu or tin (6.1.69.5 and 6.1.85.17 in *Mahābhāṣya*).

Patañjali’s Successor : Nāgārjuna

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Nāgārjuna, the alchemist, is widely regarded as the inventor of distillation and calcination. According to Vṛnda and Cakrapāṇi, Nāgārjuna was the inventor of the use of *kajjali* or Cinnabar (mercuric sulphide HgS) to produce mercury. The later day *Rasaśāstra* texts eulogize him as the pioneer in metallurgy (*dhātuvāda*) and the use of metallic salts in medicine. Dallaṇa makes him the redacter of the *Suśruta Saṃhitā*:

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प्रति-संस्कर्तापीह नागार्जुन एव
*prati-saṃskartāpīha nāgārjuna eva*
(*Nibandha-Saṃgraha* I)

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Nāgārjuna compiled several medical texts related to metals and metallic salts: Lauhaśāstra, Kakṣapuṭatantra, Rasaratnākara (on which we would comment later), etc. Several medical recipes, based on haridrā (turmeric), abhra (mica), etc. and formulated by Nāgārjuna, used to be written on stone slabs in Pāṭaliputra for the public. (Mukhopadhyaya, 1923)

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Rasāyana has been defined by Caraka (1.2.6) as the science or medicine which promotes longevity, retentive memory, health, virility, etc. Few experts in Rasāyana who might have preceded Nāgārjuna were Vyāḍi or Vyālācārya and Māndavya of whom we do not know very much.

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We would now comment on the date of Nāgārjuna and his precise identity. Al-Beruni mentioned the popularity of the Indian Science Rasāyana, and that the Indians were ‘inclined towards the mineralogical method of alchemy’. In that connection, he wrote that ‘a famous representative of this art was Nāgārjuna, a native of the fort Daihak near Somnāth. . . . His book is very rare . . . He lived nearly a hundred years before our time’. (Sachau, 1910, 1983: 189) Quoting Al-Beruni, many authors have put Nāgārjuna in the ninth/eighth century AD. (Ray, 1956:116-18) However as Filliozat (1951) has pointed out, Hiuen-Tsang attested in AD 630 that the alchemist Nāgārjuna had lived much before his time: ‘Nāgārjuna in Sangharama not far to the south of the city Kosala or Berar; he was well-practised in the art of compounding medicines which provided long life; Sadvaha-rāja had partaken of this mysterious medicine’. (Beal, 1884, 1969: 212)

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It is quite likely that the original Indian source from which Kumārajiva wrote Nāgārjuna’s biography in Chinese (AD 405), had mixed up the famous alchemist-cum-tāntric teacher, the contemporary of Yajñaśrī Gautamīputra Sātavāhana or Sātakarṇi (AD 166-96 or 174-203), with the (Mādhyamika) philosopher Nāgārjuna who was probably a contemporary of King Kaniṣka (AD 78-102) (Nalinākṣa Dutt’s view in Majumdar, Volume 2, 1980: 388). We are concerned with the alchemist (vide Sylvain Lévi). The suggestion that the alchemist and the philosopher were the same person is difficult to accept.

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The alchemist Nāgārjuna lived in the monastery of Kosala or Berar, modern Chāndā (near Nāgpur or Amrāvati), and was a friend of the Sātavāhana King addressed to whom he wrote a book: Suhrillekha (Letters to a Friend). Hiuen-Tsang wrote that when the king had fallen short of gold, Nāgārjuna used a ‘divine decoction and converted some stone into gold with which four statues of Buddha were made’. (Beal, 1884, 1969: 216). The allusion was most probably to the yellow or gold-coloured brass, widely publicised by Nāgārjuna.

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We quote two very relevant passages from Nāgārjuna’s Rasa-Ratnākara (RR):

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किमत्र चित्रं रसको रसेन . . . . . . क्रमेण कृत्वाम्बुधरेण रंजितः करोति शुल्वं त्रिपुटेन कांचनम् kimatra citraṃ rasako rasena . . . . . . krameṇa kṛtvāmbudhareṇa rañjitaḥ karoti śulvaṃ tripuṭena kāñcanam (RR, 3)

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What wonder is that calamine (rasaka or zinc ore calamine) roasted thrice with copper (śulva) convert the latter into gold (actually gold-coloured brass).

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क्षारस्नेहैश्च धान्याम्लै रसकं भावितं बहु। ऊर्णा लाक्षा तथा पथ्या भूलता धूमसंयुतम्।। मुकमुषागतं ध्मातं टंकणेन समन्वितम्। सत्वं कुटिलसंकाशम् पतते नात्र संशयः।। kṣārasnehaiśca dhānyāmlai rasakaṃ bhāvitaṃ bahu । ūrṇā lakṣā tathā pathyā bhūlatā dhūmasaṃyutam ।। mukamuṣāgataṃ dhmātaṃ ṭaṅkanena samanvitam ।। satvaṃ kuṭilasaṃkāśaṃ patate nātra saṃśayaḥ ।। (RR, 31-32)

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Rasaka (Calamine) digested repeatedly with fermented paddy-water, natron and clarified butter, and mixed with wool, lac, Terminalia Chebula and borax and roasted in a covered crucible, yields an essence of the appearance of tin; of this there is no doubt.

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The above passages from Nāgārjuna are the earliest literary references to the ancient art of making brass and zinc. The latter passage quoted (RR, 31-32) vividly recalls the distillation of zinc, ‘the falling of the tin-like metal’. The ore was named rasaka because it yielded a distillation product like rasa or mercury. Much later, the metal zinc was named yaśada, yaśadāyaka, yaśatva (later colloquially yastā or dastā), ‘that which gives fame’, a reference to the gold-like colour of its alloy.

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Brass has been widely used in India since the pre-Christian era of Taxila. We may also mention the first century BC brass coins of Dhanadeva and Āryavarmā of Ayodhyā, second century AD cast brass casket at Mānikyālaya, numerous fifth/sixth century brass statues of Buddha, seventh century AD unfinished brass vihāra or convent at Nālandā etc. Hiuen-Tsang mentioned widespread use of teou-shih or brass in India.

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Alchemists like Nāgārjuna were interested in the therapeutic use of metallic salts of mercury (*rasa*), zinc (*rasaka*), etc. Minerals or metal salts were stated to provide hardness to metal as well as to body :

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वलीपलितनाशश्च तथा कालस्य ध्वंसनम्।
यथा लोहे तथा देहे क्षमते नात्र संशयः।।
*valipalitanāśaśca tathā kālasya dhvaṃsanam* |
*yathā lohe tathā dehe kṣamate nātra saṃśayaḥ* ||

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In his *Rasa-Ratnākara* (*RR*), Nāgārjuna dwelt on several other topics related to minerals and metals: purification of *rājāvarta* or lapis lazuli (*RR*, 1), extraction of metals from chalcopyrite (*mākṣika*), lead ore (*capala*), purification of crude molten copper by poling (*RR*, 14), extraction of metal from *vaikrānta* (*RR*, 23-25), extraction of metal from *vimala*, *darada* (cinnabar), etc.

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The distillation of mercury from cinnabar was described:

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दरदं पातनायन्त्रे पातितश्च जलाशये।
*daradaṃ pātanāyantre pātit aśca jalāśaye* |
(*RR*, 37)

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Pearl was stated to be soluble in vegetable acids:

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एक एव महाद्रावौ अम्लकांजिकैः।
मुक्ताफलानि सप्ताहं वेतसाम्लेन भावयेत्।
*eka eva mahādrāvau amlakāñjikaiḥ* |
*muktāphalāni saptāhaṃ vetasāmlena bhāvayet* |
(*RR*, 50-51)

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Nāgārjuna described the use of *navasāra* or salt ammoniac (*RR*, 2.1), vegetable recipes in metal making, various tools and so on.

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There is no doubt that the alchemist Nāgārjuna belonged to the latter half of the second century AD (Bose, Sen and Subbarayappa, 1971:41) although it is not clear whether he was also the celebrated philosopher, and whether the present form of *Rasa-Ratnākara* was edited in the eighth century. (Ray, 1956:118)

The Yavanajātaka

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Ever since Alexander's invasion and particularly after the decline of the Maurya empire, the Greeks or Ionians, known in India as the Yavanas intruded into India and interacted with the Indians. Some of them contributed to the cultural life and the scientific pursuits in the sub-continent.

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Yavaneśvara and Sphujidhvaja were Indianised Greeks settled in the domains of the Western Kṣatrapas in Gujarat, Mālwā and Rajasthan. The date of Yavaneśvara corresponds to the middle of the reign of Rudradaman I, the greatest of the Western Śakas. Yavaneśvara’s Greek book on astrology and mineralogy (AD 150) was translated one century later into Sanskrit text Yavanajātaka by Sphujidhvaja (AD 270). An English translation of the same has been provided by David Pingree (1978).

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It may be noted that both Nāgārjuna and Yavaneśvara belonged to the second half of the second century AD. As a matter of fact, the Sātavāhana King Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi claimed to have come into conflict with the Śakas and Yavanas of Kāṭhiāwār and Mālwā. Thus, the book Yavanajātaka reflects the state of knowledge on minerals and metals prevalent in India during Nāgārjuna’s time.

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The verses 7-15 in the chapter 62 of the text of Yavanajātaka contain references to minerals and metals. The word dhātu was used to indicate metals as well as minerals. Dhātus were known to belong to two categories: dhāmya (bright) and adhāmya (dull). Dhāmya lohas (metals) were known to be of six types: suvarṇa, raupya, trapu (tin), sīsā (lead), tāmra (copper) and kṛṣṇāyas (iron). Mauktika (pearl), yukta (alloy) and śastram (steel) also belonged to the dhāmya (bright) category.

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Some of the dull materials or adhāmya dhātu listed were: manaḥśilā (red arsenic), hiṅgulaka (cinnabar), amlaśāla (acidic sorrel), saurāṣṭrajāta (some mineral earth from Saurāṣṭra or Gujarat), rasaka (calamine or zinc ore), paṅka (ointments), añjana (unguents), bālikayā samāna (powdery stuff). Śilā and āla were abbreviations of manaḥśilā (red arsenic sulphide) and haritāla (yellow arsenic sulphide) respectively.

v2.c44.s4.6

Some of the materials and minerals having varieties of uses including medicinal were: śarkarā (sugar or sand), kāsīsa (green sulphate of iron), mṛd (clay), kardama (slime), gairika (red chalk, iron ore?), tāpya (sulphuret of iron), mākṣika (pyrite), etc.

v2.c44.s4.7

It is noteworthy that Yavaneśvara mentioned rasaka or calamine, a zinc ore which was available in the Gujarat-Rajasthan area and, as stated by Nāgārjuna, was used for making brass.

Minerals and Metals in the Gupta Era Literatures

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The political disintegration which followed the dissolution of the Kuṣāṇa empire continued right up to the beginning of the fourth century AD. The Gupta era started on AD 320 and listed till AD 570. Out of this period of two and half centuries, the first one and half (up to AD 467 when Skandagupta died), may be considered to be the ‘golden era’. During the Gupta era, several literatures showed the sustained use of minerals and metals in India.

v2.c44.s5.2

We may recall that at the turn of the Christian era, the Roman traders and writers like Pliny, Ptolemy, the author of The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea noted the diversity of gems, non-gem minerals and metals processed and used in India. The Indians were ‘the first nation who employed minerals internally’. Since the first century AD. cinnabar was used for fumigations which produced speedy and safe salivations. Arsenic and arsenious acids were remedies to intermittants. Mention of stibnite, ochre, realgar in the preparation of medicines is found in Bower manuscript (second half of the fourth century AD). The Bower manuscript (Hoernle, 1893,1907) mentioned the uses of yavakṣāra and sarjikākṣāra (K and Na carbonates), copper and iron sulphates, srotaja añjana, Co/Sb sulphide, calx of brass, etc. in medicine.

v2.c44.s5.3

As early as AD 531-72 Muslim students used to come from Baghdād to India to learn about Indian medicine. Later, Vāgbhaṭa (c. eighth century) mentioned the use of iron and copper sulphates for medicinal purposes.

v2.c44.s5.4

Pakśīlasvāmin Vātsyāyana of the middle of the fourth century AD wrote a commentary on the Nyāyasūtra of Gautama, the first work (c. second century AD) on Indian logic. Vātsyāyana Mallanāga, possibly a different person, who came later in the fifth century AD, referred to sixty-four fine arts (kalās) in his treatise Kāmasūtra which included rūpa-ratna-parīkṣā (testing of precious metals and stones), dhātuvāda (smelting of metals), maṇirāgakarajñānam (the technologies of gems, colouring of glass, mines, etc.) Mining and metallurgy were standard practices in the then commercial life of India.

Aṅgavijjā and Amarakośa

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Two important compilations made during the Gupta era provide a wealth of information regarding the material culture of the period in India; we would extract from them certain references to minerals and metals.

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Aṅgavijjā is a text of the Jains written in Prākṛt by Pubbāyariya (Munipunyavijaya, 1957). This text dealing mainly with the science of prognostications contains useful references to the then uses of minerals and metals.

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The compilation was made during the beginning of the Gupta era (fourth century AD) when the Kuṣāṇa and Kṣatrapa influences were still perceptible in the Western India. The text mentions joṇikā or javanikā, a Greek woman and several kinds of coins bearing foreign influences. Māṣaka, kārṣāpaṇa, nāṇaka were ancient traditional coins of India. Khattapaka was however the Kṣatrapa coin of Rudradāman (AD 150) also known as rudradāmaka. Sateraka was the Greek gold coin ‘stater’ weighing 133.2 grams. Dināra was the Gupta age gold coin, but the name was derived from the pre-Christian era Roman silver coin denarius. Nāṇaka was low denomination copper coin. The Kṣatrapas used lead also for such low-value coins.

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Aṅgavijjā provided a fairly long list of prevalent professions. There were suvarṇakāras (gold smiths), kaṃsakāra (bronze smith), loṇakāra (dealer in salt), maṇikāra (lapidary, dealer in gems), koṭṭaka (inlayers), etc. Dhātus were classified in Aṅgavijjā into two categories: maṇidhātu (gems) and loha (metals). Probably Yavanajātaka’s notion of dhāmya, something which is bright, was applied to the word dhātu, excluding those which are adhāmya or dull.

v2.c44.s5.t1.5

The metals used were gold, silver, copper, lead, trapu or tin, hārakūḍa or brass, kāla loha (pig iron), kaṃsa loha (bronze), bahu loha (many metal alloy), etc. Also mentioned were tikkhaloha (cast iron) and muṇḍaloha (wrought iron).

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A special remark may be made of hārakūḍa or ārakūṭa of Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra or brass. It was compared in colour with gold:

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तत्थ पीतकेसु सुवन्नकं हारकूडकं चेव विन्नेयम्
पंचवरेसु सोवहवेसु य पीत एसु हारकूडकं विन्नेयम्
tattha pitakesu suvannakaṃ hārakūḍakaṃ ceva vinneyam
pañcavaresu sovahavesu ya pīta esu hārakūḍakaṃ vinneyam
(Aṅgavijjā, 1957:233)

v2.c44.s5.t1.8

The bright yellow colour of brass was considered to qualify it as a suitable replacement for gold as suggested by Nāgārjuna.

v2.c44.s5.t1.9

Lohitākṣa (carnelian), masārakalla or marakata (emerald), veruliya or vaidūrya (beryl), gomeda (zircon), phāliya or sphaṭika (quartz) were adored as gems. Khāramaṇi was a general name modified according to colour: raktakhāra (garnet), svetakhāra or vimalaka (pyrite?), nīlakhāra (sapphire), kālakhāra (galena?), etc. The gems like coral, pearl, chank- or conch-shell, ivory, etc. were separately categorised as praṇayonigata or those having biological origin. The metals were beaten, khāramaṇis scalloped, coral and chank were rubbed (ghaṭṭha) and the pearls smoothened (parimaddita).

v2.c44.s5.t1.10

The eyes were decorated with collyrium (añjana), the brows with the lampblack, the temple with cinnabar (hiṅgula), orpiment (haritāla), realgar (manaḥśilā), and the lips with lac-dye (alaktaka). For other decorative purposes were used geruā (red ochre), palepaka (plaster), nīlakadhātu (ultramarine?), sassekechunna (blue vitriol, copper sulphate or malachite/azurite powder?).

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*Nāmaliṅgānuśāsanam* by Amarasiṃha (AD 450) popularly known as *Amarakośa* is one of the most celebrated lexicons in the Sanskrit language. The author was Buddhist Scholar with a strong leaning towards *Sāṃkhya* philosophy. He compiled a large number of technical words related to minerals and metals. Many of these are from the Vedic sources, Pāṇini and Kauṭilya, which we have already mentioned. We would mention here only some of the additions made around fourth century AD.

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Like *Aṅgavijjā*, *Amarakośa* contained a list of different kinds of salts such as *sauvarcala* (saltpetre), *saindhava* (rock salt), *yavakṣāra* (potassium carbonate in plant ash), etc. Saltpetre, also known as *naipālī* (from Nepal) was probably used in rocket or fire-works, mentioned as *Yogavārtikā* by Daṇḍi (sixth century AD) in his *Daśakumāracarita*.

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Some of the other inorganic materials used for decorative purpose were: *tutthāñjana mayuraka akṣa* (blue vitriol or copper sulphate), *sindūra* or *nāgasambhava* (red lead), *kulali* (blue collyrium), etc. *Amarakośa* provided three names for alum: *kāmksi*, *tuvari* and *saurāṣṭraja*. For minerals and gems, alternative names were mentioned: *śubhra/abhra* for mica, *phala/muktā* for pearl, *kulisa/vajra* for diamond. Both *marakata* (emerald) and *vaidūrya* (beryl) were referred to.

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Some of the new names for metals and alloys are found in the *Amarakośa*: *kupyam* — base metal, *aśmasāra* — iron, *kusī* — wrought iron, *pārada/capala* — mercury, *thuṇa* — iron statue, *vaṅga* — tin. It may be noted that the famous *thuṇa* or iron pillar of Delhi was made in the Gupta era. Tin had a new name *vaṅga* (Bengal); it is significant that tin-based bronzes were being made in the Bengal area (Nālandā, etc.) using Hazārībāgh tin ore or the metal imported from Malaysia. *Ārakūṭa* continued to stand for brass. *Riti* meant brass as well as rust or calx of brass. *Caraka Saṃhitā* had used the same word *riti* and recommended its medicinal use. *Ritipuṣpam* meant flower-like substance from heated brass.

v2.c44.s5.t1.15

*Amarakośa* referred to an iron smith not only as *lohakāra* but also as *vyokāra*. *Kalāda* was silver smith, *saulvika* a copper-smith, and *kāmbavika* a shell-worker.

Varāhamihira’s Bṛhatsaṃhitā

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We have earlier discussed the valuable references to gem minerals in *Bṛhatsaṃhitā* (*Bṛ. Saṃ.*), a composition belonging to the later part of the Gupta era (sixth century AD). This treatise also contains some useful references to rocks, non-gem materials and metals, which we propose to cite.

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The colour and plant associations of rocks enabled one to decide whether some rock had subsurface water. The rocks associated with *muñja* or sacrificial grass, or a colour resembling beryl or green gram were likely to yield sweet water (*Br. Sam.*, 54.103 and 107). Land coloured like the sun, fire or ashes (igneous rock) is likely to be waterless (*Br. Sam.*, 54.106). On the other hand:

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सशर्करा ताम्रमही कषायं क्षारं धरित्री कपिला करोति आपाण्डुरायं लवणं प्रविष्टं मृष्टं पयो नीलवसुन्धरायाम्।। *saśarkarā tāmramahī kaṣāyaṃ kṣāraṃ dharitrī kapilā karoti* *āpāṇḍurāyāṃ lavaṇaṃ praviṣṭaṃ mṛṣṭaṃ payo nīlavasundharāyām* (*Br. Sam.*, 54.104)

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A copper-coloured earth mixed with gravel or rocks with copper-red spots (probably allude to garnet porphyroblasts) will yield water with astringent taste; red-brown earth makes the water brackish; pale white earth salt-water and blue earth, sweet water.

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Varāhamihira prescribed several methods for quarrying massive rocks, using the principle of alternate heating and cooling for disintegrating the rocks (*Br. Sam.*, 54.112-114). Presence of horizontal and vertical joints sometimes helped in the quarrying of massive sand stones (like the Vindhyan sandstones). (Lahiri, 1971: 496) Recently a series of stone quarries has been discovered near Chunar in Mirzapur. The Maurya period massive pillar-like stones were carefully chiselled.

v2.c44.s5.t2.6

*Mākṣika* (pyrite) and *śilājatu* (bitumen) powder were recommended (*Br. Sam.*, 76.3) as ingredients in health tonics. The use of alum as a mordant in the dyeing process were suggested:

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“*Tuvari* (alum), *mañjiṣṭha* (maddar dye), *rāgabandhanī* (colour-binding)”. Earlier, Pāṇini had suggested (4.1.42) the use of various dyes such as indigo, lac and red ochre; turmeric and maddar were mentioned in *Saṃyutta Nikāya*.

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*Bṛhat Saṃhitā* described several preparations of cements or powders called *vajra-lepa*, characterised as ‘paints or coatings as strong as *vajra* or diamond’. The various recipes included concentrated aqueous extracts of plant products rich in gummy and resinous substances, levigated powder of lac, resins, gummy fruits, concentrated extract of animal matters rich in glue or gelatine, etc. (*Br. Sam.*, 57.1-7). These were used as cements in temple architecture.

v2.c44.s5.t2.9

The metal cement *vajra-saṅghāta* was described as :

v2.c44.s5.t2.10

अष्टौ सीसकभागाः कांसस्य द्वौ तु रीतिकाभागः।

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मयकथितो योगः अयम् विज्ञेयो वज्रसंघातः।। aṣṭau sīsakabhāgāḥ kāṁsasya dvau tu ritikābhāgaḥ | mayakathito yogaḥ ayam vijñeyo vajrasaṁghātaḥ ||

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A compound of eight parts of lead, two of bell-metal, and one of brass has been mentioned by Maya and is to be known as vajrasaṁghāta, a metal-joining cement.

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This was possibly used in hot soldering of broken metallic parts of the idol, made of bronze or brass etc.

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In a separate chapter (no. 50) on swords, entitled khaḍgalakṣaṇam, Varāhamihira provided some recipes about the hardening of steel which was called śastrapāna or ‘sword-drink’ (the word śastra had been used in Yavanajātaka to indicate steel). A sword rubbed with sesamum oil, and then smeared with an unguent prepared with the juice of the plant arka (calotropis gigantea), the gelatine from the horn of the sheep, and the excreta from the doves and mice, was to be given one of the ‘drinks’; the steel pasted with oil and unguent was made red-hot in fire and then treated with one of the following: blood, ghī, water, milk of mammal animals or fish-bile. Then this had to be sharpened. (Br. Saṁ., 50. 23-25) Another process of heat-treatment was described as:

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क्षारे कदल्या मथितेन युक्ते
दिनोषिते पायितमायसं यत्
सम्यक् शितं चाश्मनि नैति खड्ग
न चान्यलोहेषु अपि तस्य कौण्ठयम्
kṣāre kadalyā mathitena yukte
dinoṣite pāyitamāyasam yat
samyak śitam cāśmani naiti khadga
na cānyaloheṣu api tasya kauṇṭhayam
(Br. Saṁ., 50.26).

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An iron weapon treated with a day-old drink made of the burnt powder of bananas (or its ribs) mixed with butter-milk, and then sharpened properly, will not break on stones, not become blunt on other instruments’.

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Bṛhat Saṁhitā reveals that during its era, the metallurgical activity in the country was intense. Gold was tested, melted, heated in the fire, hammered for testing its purity, purified nikaṣa santāpa abhiniveśaiḥ kanakasya eva adhikatarā amalīkṛtasya to make sacrificial ladles, thrones, images, etc. (Br. Saṁ., 26.9; 43.12; 47.46) Varāhamihira’s statement shows that in India of his time, there were silver mines or rajatākara (Br. Sam., 16.26). Red-hot copper, evidently used for casting into various shapes, was referred to: taptatāmraprabhābhaḥ (6.13). References were made to the metal-smiths who fabricated weapons, and made a living working on fires:

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शस्त्रवार्ता: जीवन्ति च ये हुताशवृत्या
śastravārtāḥ jīvanti ca ye hutāśavṛtyā
(Br. Sam., 5.35 see also 5.28, 10.4, 85.29 etc.)

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Archaeological evidences such as copper images of Buddha, Mehrauli iron pillar made during Candragupta II’s reign etc., substantiate the literary claims about the advanced state of Indian metallurgy during the Gupta era. Even later, Vāṇa (seventh century AD) mentioned some of his companions as assayists and metallurgists. Hiuen-Tsang reported widespread use of noble metals and brass in India.

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The two subjects of astronomy and mathematics were deeply pursued during the Gupta era. One of the outstanding scientists, Āryabhaṭa (born AD 476), emphasized on direct observations and only four elements, de-emphasizing the fifth: non-material ākāśa.

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The Padārtha-dharma-saṃgraha of Praśastapāda was probably composed in the fifth century AD. It was more than a commentary on the Vaiśeṣikasūtra of Kaṇāda. This treatise gave a new exposition of the subject-matter and important additions to the original work. Chandra’s Daśa-padārtha-śāstra is available only in the Chinese varsion of AD 648.

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Praśastapāda described the formation of gross bodies from the atoms (aṇu) through dyads (dvyāṇuka) and the structural arrangement (vyūha) of the dyads to triads (tryāṇuka) which gives rise to different qualities in a substance. In Praśastapāda-bhāṣya was outlined the notion of impetus (vega) which accounts for continued motion of a body.

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Some Buddhist scholars like Dignāga and Vasubandhu had questioned the Vaiśeṣika postulates on atoms. But others like Sarvāstivādin Śubhagupta, who flourished in the second century AD, defended atomism and the idea of a central atom combining with other atoms surrounding it. Dignāga had denied the existence of atom because it could not be separately perceived. Śubhagupta argued:

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न अणु आभासम् इति प्राहः
चित्त च एतसिकानां च सन्दिधता भवेत् एव
na aṇu ābhāsam iti prāhuḥ
citta ca etasikānāṃ ca sandigdhatā bhavet eva

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that in that case one had to doubt the existence of mind and the mental phenomena.as well!

The Rasaśāstra Texts

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The Indian literatures on atomism provided at best a polemical ground and could not establish any viable link with the experimental discipline of Rasaśāstra or Indian alchemy, later developed into Iatro-chemistry. The Rasaśāstra tradition had its origin in Atharvaveda, the Sāṃkhya system and the Āyurvedic texts of Caraka and Suśruta. Through Nāgārjuna and other stalwarts, the subject evolved gradually, and gathered momentum after the seventh century AD. A chronological account of the relevant texts is summarised in Table 8.1.

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Table 8. 1

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**Chronological Account of Principal Rasaśāstra Texts** **(Dates Approximate)**

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| 600 BC | Sāṃkhya System of Philosophy, Kapila |
| 500 BC | Vaiśeṣika System of Kaṇāda |
| 400 BC | Āyurveda of Caraka and Suśruta (codified later) |
| 300 BC | Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya |
| 200 BC | Yoga system of Patañjali. Also Yājñavalkya |
| 1st century AD | Saṃhitās of Caraka and Suśruta codified |
| AD 50 | Atomic theory of the Jainas |
| 2nd century AD | Nyāyasūtra of Gautama and its commentary |
| AD 200 | Mādhyamika Philosophy and Rasaratnākara (RR) of Nāgārjuna. Was RR in present form compiled later in the 7th-8th century AD? |
| AD 270 | Yavanajātaka of Sphujidhvaja |
| 4th century AD | Bower Manuscript of Ancient Medicine |
| 5th century AD | Kāmasūtra of Vātsāyana; Padārthadharmasaṃgraha of Praśastapāda |
| AD 450 | Amara-kośa or Nāmaliṅgānuśāsanam of Amarsiṃha |
| AD 499 | Āryabhaṭīya of Āryabhaṭa |
| AD 550 | Bṛhatsaṃhitā of Varāhamihira |
| **700-1300 AD : Tantric Period** | |
| 7th-8th century AD | Compilation of RR, the Buddhist text of Nāgārjuna (?) |

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8th century AD | *Nidāna* of Mādhavācārya or Mādhavakara 800-850 AD | *Aṣṭāṅgahṛdaya* (ASHR) of Vāgbhaṭa 9th century AD | Probable date of *Sarveśvararāyana* (SSRS) and *Dhātuvāda* (DV) of Nalina, later translated into Tibetan in 11th century AD. AD 1000 | *Siddhayoga* of Vṛnda AD 1019-1029 | *Al-Birūnī* in India AD 1050 | *Chakradatta* of Chakrapani Dutta

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11th-13th Century AD : Safe Retreat of Rasaśāstra texts to Bhutan and Tibet 11th century AD | *Rasaṛdaya* (RHR) by Govindabhāgavat written at Kirataland or Bhutan (P.C. Ray thinks it could belong to 9th-10th century)

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| *Rasārṇavakalpa* (RNVK)

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12th century AD | *Rasārṇava* (RNV), a Hindu Tāntric text. 12th century AD | *Rasendracūḍāmaṇi* (RCD) of Somadeva

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1300-1550 AD : Iatro-Chemical Period 13th century AD | *Rasaprakāśa Sudhākara* (RPS) of Yaśodhara 13th century AD | *Rasacintāmaṇi* (RCM) of Madanāntadeva 13th century AD | *Rasakalpa* (RKP), part of *Rudrayamala Tantra* (RYT) Late 13th or Early 14th century AD | *Rasaratnasamuccaya* (RRS) of Vāgbhaṭācārya 14th century AD | *Rasajalalakṣmī* (RJL) of Viṣṇudeva 14th century AD | *Rasendra-Cintāmaṇi* (RCT) of Dhuṇḍhuknāth 14th century AD | *Rasendra-Sāra-Saṃgraha* (RASASA) 14th century AD | *Rasanakṣatramālikā* (RNM) of Mathanasimha 14th century AD | *Dhāturatnamālā* (DRN) 15th-16th century AD | *Rasapradīpa* 15th-16th century AD | *Dhātukriyā* or *Dhātumañjarī* (DKM), a part of RYT 15th-16th century AD | *Suvarṇatantra* or *Svarṇatantra* (ST)

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The Indian alchemy revolved around two objectives: (i) the transmutation process for converting base metals (like lead, tin, mercury or copper) into the noble metals (gold and silver) and (ii) preparation of the ‘Elixir of Life’ for attaining immortality. The Indian alchemists pursued the above objectives in their laboratories, driven by superstitious premises.

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Initially, the recipes of Patañjali, Caraka, Suśruta and the Mahāyāna mystic Nāgārjuna provided some impetus. After second century AD Indian alchemy came in contact with the Chinese tradition which believed in the efficacy of cinnabar or mercuric sulphide composed of Yin (female) and Yang (male) principles. The Indians adapted the Chinese idea, and evolved a Tāntric notion of alchemy by associating mercury with God Śiva’s semen and sulphur with Goddess Pārvatī’s menstrual discharge. Cinnabar became the symbol of the entire creation. Possibly the Mahāyāna Buddhists like Nāgārjuna and Asaṅga, who had access to both the Chinese (Taoist) and Indian (Tāntric) traditions, initiated the Tāntric variety of Indian alchemy, which gradually blossomed during the period AD 700-1300.

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Around AD 1300, the Rasavidyā of India entered a more mature Iatro-chemical phase. Ray (1956:158) wrote:

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The fantastic and extravagant ideas, impossible of realisation, had subsided into something more practical and tangible. The numerous preparations of mecury, iron, copper and other metals, although they could not secure immortality or revive the dead, were found to be helpful accessories in medicine.

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AD 1300-1600 period has been labelled as the era of Indian Iatro-chemistry during which many contacts were established with the Arab alchemy. During this period, the tradition of European alchemy was evolved mainly due to the efforts of Paracelsus (AD 1490-1541). The evolved Indian rasaśāstra texts such as Rasaratnasamuccaya described a number of chemical substances under the titles mahārasas, uparasas, dhātus, etc. and also several apparatus for synthesis and purification of these materials.

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Many of these texts compiled old informations and added some newly derived laboratory data. We would omit the first category (old informations) and mention the relatively new acquisitions of knowledge pertaining to the non-gem minerals and metals.

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The Texts of the Tāntric Alchemy Period (7th-13th Century AD)

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We have already pointed out that the Mahāyāna Buddhist scholar, Nāgārjuna introduced alchemy during the second century AD. His Rasaratnākara text might have been amplified and re-edited during successive centuries. For nearly four centuries, the Hindu (Śaiva)-Buddhist (Mahāyāna) and Indo-Chinese cultural contacts resulted in Tāntric philosophy and mineral/metal-based medicines.

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The medical treatise Aṣṭāṅgahṛdaya of Vāgbhaṭa (AD 800-850) mentioned widespread uses of minerals and natural salts like copper sulphate, red ochre, realgar, orpiment, iron sulphate, etc. in external applications for sores. The idea of cauterisation of wounds by alkalis was borrowed from Suśruta. There were only a few examples of mercury salt therapy which was evidently not widespread in its use.

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Nidāna of Mādhavācārya or Mādhavakara might have been composed in the eighth century AD (or ninth, according to another view). Nidāna was one of the medical treatises translated by the order of the Caliphs.

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Sarveśvararasāyana (SSRS) and Nalina’s Dhātuvāda (DV) were probably composed during the ninth century AD, and translated into Tibetan two centuries later. (Bhattacharyya, 1932; Ray, 1956: 123-24) SSRS, 5 described the reaction between copper and sulphur to produce copper sulphide. The art of purifying ranga or tin was known (SSRS, 6) Dhātuvāda described the preparations of gold-silver-lead alloy and copper amalgam using copper and quicksilver (DV, 4-5).

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Dhātuvāda described a process of coating iron with metallic copper. Plant ash (potassium salt) and sour wine (vinegar or acetic acid) when kept in a copper vessel gives a ‘paint’ (solution containing copper acetate) which when applied on iron gives a deposit of copper (DV, 2-3; Ray, 1956:144 and 452). This is the first Indian reference to the hydrometallurgical route of making copper, using the displacement reaction with iron:

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Cu²⁺ + Fe⁰ → Cu⁰ + Fe²⁺ (Solution) (Metal) (Metal) (Solution)

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In a well-researched paper, T.N. Lung (1986) has documented that China was the first nation to discover the above cementation route to make copper from the mine water and vitriol spring containing cupric ion in solution. Several records on the process were written during the period second century BC to second century AD. One Eastern Han Period (AD 25-220) recipe actually used vinegar antedating Nalina’s process mentioned in his Dhātuvāda. Commercial production of cement copper started in China around AD 1086. It is quite possible that the reference in Dhātuvāda on cementation of copper indicated India’s scientific-cum-technological contact with China through Tibet.

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Ever since the days of Vāgbhaṭa the medicinal use of metallic preparations went on increasing. This was witnessed and recorded by Al-Biruni. Vrinda’s Siddhayoga (AD 1000) mentioned many metallic preparations such as ‘killed’ or oxidised iron, killed copper, a Nāgārjuna-varti, the reaction product of copper and sulphur : parpaṭitāmram, of mercury and sulphur: rasāmṛta-cūrṇam, etc. Vrinda recorded that नागार्जुनन लिखिता स्तम्भे पाटलीपुत्रके nāgārjunena likhitā stambhe pāṭaliputrake (Siddhayoga, LX. 148-149)

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Such recipes suggested by Nāgārjuna were written on pillars at Pāṭaliputra.

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Similarly Cakrapāṇi Dutta mentioned in his *Cakradatta* (AD 1050) the medicinal uses of killed iron, *mandura* or the rust of iron, *raupyamal*, the calx of silver, *kajjali* or mercuric sulphide and *tāmrayoga*, a product of sulphur and copper from Nepal. He also formulated a depilatory soap to be made by saponifying mustard oil with plant ash (potassium carbonate) and lime.

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The Indian contact with Tibet had begun several centuries earlier but this culminated with the migration of Dīpaṅkara or Atisa (AD 980-1053), the famous Buddhist monk of Udandapura and Vikramasila. These famous monasteries were destroyed by Muslim invaders in the twelfth century, and by that time many Buddhist and alchemical texts had been safely transported to Bhutan and Tibet.

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Govindabhagavat wrote *Rasahṛdaya* (*RHR*) in the eleventh century AD at the request of the king of the Kirataland, i.e., the region adjoining the modern Bhutan. He mentioned eight *rasas* including *vaikrānta* (tourmaline?), *kānta* (a kind of iron); eight *uparasas* such as *kankustha* (magnesium and sodium sulphate, a purgative); six salts including *sauvarchala* (saltpetre), *chulika* (sal ammoniac), *romaka* etc.

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A special feature in *Rasahṛdaya* text is the description of eighteen steps for purification of mercury in an apparatus like *dipikā yantra* (*RHR*, 1.1-8). It was stated that pure copper, amalgamated with mercury, when subjected to heat and distillation (*pātana*), produced pure mercury freed from lead and tin impurities (*RHR*, 1.8). Also described were various processes of ‘killing’ mercury with sulphur (*RHR*, 16.11-13). Orpiment or a mixture of sulphur and mica (*RHR*, 3.19-23). *Abhra* was probably a sulphide mineral with metallic lustre sometimes mistranslated as a ‘mica’.

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Another worth-mentioning text written in the eleventh century AD is *Samarāṅgana-Sūtradhāra* of Bhoja, the Paramāra ruler of Dhārā (AD 1000-1055). This work on medieval Indian architecture dealt, in its eighth chapter, with the examination of the earth and the varieties of its clay prior to building (8.02-8.77). Chapter 29 described beautification of seats, chairs, etc. with gold, silver, bell metal, brass (*arakūṭa*, 29.06) and gems. Bhoja mentioned the property of phosphorescence exhibited by diamond, shining in the dark.

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In the twelfth century AD, Somadeva culled his materials for *Rasendracūḍāmaṇi* from the pre-existing chemical treatises. He mentioned an alloy made of copper, tin, zinc and lead. Lead and tin metals when ‘killed’ were known as *capala* (quick-flowing), because on heating, these ‘resurrect’ quick-flowing or low-melting metals. Somadeva mentioned antimony as a metal (*varaṇāga*-lead like) and its preparation:

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तीक्ष्णं नीलाञ्जनोपेतं ध्मातं हि बहुशो दृढम्।
मृदुकृष्णं द्रुतद्रावं वरनागं तदुच्यते।।
*tīkṣṇaṃ nīlāñjanopetaṃ dhmātaṃ hi bahuśo dṛḍham* |
*mṛdukṛṣṇaṃ drutadrāvaṃ varaṇāgaṃ taducyate* ||

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Nilāñjana (stibnite), mixed with *tīkṣṇaṃ* (cast iron) and strongly heated several times, yields a superior kind of lead, which is readily fusible and is of mild black colour.

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*Rasaratnasamuccaya* (8.98) reported that Somadeva had compiled the technical terms from different texts ‘like the jewels from the ocean’.

Rasārṇava — A Brāhmaṇical Tantra

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Many of the early *Rasaśāstra* texts had been composed by the Mahāyāna Buddhists who maintained close links with the Brāhmaṇical tradition of *Tantra* and the Śiva-Pārvatī cult. With the flight of Buddhist monks and demolition of monasteries by the Muslim invaders, the Brāhmaṇical texts like *Rasārṇava* (*RNV*) of the twelfth century AD became very important.

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*Rasārṇava* described a large number of equipment or apparatus, crucibles, furnace, etc. for processing of minerals, and metals. (Ray and Kaviratna, 1910, 1985) *Dolayantram* for example was an apparatus for steam-heating of suspended solids. Crucibles were made of different kinds of earth, iron-rust and burnt husks of paddy. Covered crucible resembled the nipple of a cow and were fitted with lids having raised heads. The flames were stated to be specifically coloured due to specific salts of copper, tin, lead, etc. (*RNV*, 49). The characteristic of molten pure metal in a crucible was described:

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न विस्फुलिंगा न च बुद्बुदाश्च यदा न रेखापटलं न शब्दः।
मूषागतं रत्नसमं स्थिरश्च तदा विशुद्धं प्रवदन्ति लोहम्।।
*na visphuliṅgā na ca budbudāśca yadā na rekhāpaṭalaṃ na śabdaḥ* |
*mūsāgataṃ ratnasamaṃ sthiraśca tadā viśuddhaṃ pravadanti loham* ||
(*RNV*, 52-55)

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A pure metal is that, which when melted in a crucible, does not give off sparks nor bubbles, nor spurts, nor emits any sound, nor shows any lines on the surface, but is tranquil like a gem (shows signs of tranquil fusion).

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