Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c44.s3.7

v2.c44.s3.7

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.