A Concise History of Science in India c8.s8.t3.1

c8.s8.t3.1

The works of the *Rasacikitsā* school of this period compare favourably, in material and presentation, with earlier works of this branch of medical and chemical knowledge. *Rasaratnākara*, the monumental work by Siddha Nityanātha in five volumes, was the earliest work of this period, though it might have been composed in the last years of the ancient period. It is a compendium of medical knowledge pertaining to this non-Āyurvedic school and deals with non-mercurial metallic compounds, mercurial preparations, therapeutic actions and rejuvenating effects of such preparations and the religious faith of the *Rasacikitsā* school. *Rasasāra* and *Rasahṛdayatantra*, two important works on alchemy and mercurial preparations, are widely believed to have been written by Govinda Bhāgavata Padācārya, the preceptor of Śaṅkarācārya (ninth century), but they are very possibly the works of another later Govinda Bhāgavata (*c.* thirteenth century) of Gujarat. The *Rasendrasārasaṃgraha* by Gopālakṛṣṇa (fourteenth century) has been a favourite book for inorganic remedies in North India and Eastern India for many centuries. The *Dhāturatnamālā* by Devadatta (fourteenth century)—a complete manuscript is available in the Palace Library, Bikaneer—describes the winning of metals from native ores and their conversion into oxides, carbonates and salts by oxidative methods and action of mineral acids. *Rasāvatāra*, a voluminous treatise by an unknown author of unknown date, and *Pārada Saṃhitā* by Niranjan Prasad Gupta (eighteenth century or earlier) are informative treatises on the mercurial faith, mercurial remedies and the Rasa school of medicine.