A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c48.13

v3.c48.13

Chapter seven (188 1/2 verses) deals with the origin of the gems (1–5); diamonds (vajra), their varieties, characteristics, and uses (6–14), their purification (15–19), vajrabhasman as a rasāyana (20–35ab), vajraudana (35cd–39), the liquefaction (druti) of diamonds (40–42ab) and other gems (42cd–44), and the properties of vajrabhasman (45–49ab); gold, its varieties, purification, bhasman, its use as a rasāyana, its liquefaction (49cd–82); kānta(loha), its origin and varieties (83–96), the extraction of its essence (sattvapātana; 97–104), its properties and purification (105–111ab), mantras to be employed (111cd–115), the preparation of the bhasman, its amṛtīkaraṇa, pāka, and uses as a rasāyana (116–139ab), 15 the liquefaction of kānta (139cd–140ab); the four types of iron (kiṭṭa, muṇḍa, tīkṣṇa, kānta) and the superiority of kānta for alchemical purposes (140cd–143ab); mica (abhraka), its origin, four varieties, the superiority of the variety called vajra, the preparation of dhānyābhraka (143cd–164), the extraction of abhrakasattva (165–168), 16 the bhasman of the sattva (169–174), the uses of the sattva (175–183ab), the liquefaction of the sattva (183cd–185ab), and the properties of mica (185cd–189ab).