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A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c49.s4: Rasapaddhati

A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c49.s4

Language
English

Contents

Rasapaddhati

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The *Rasapaddhati* by Bindu¹ is a short work in 231 verses² on alchemy and iatrochemistry.

Contents

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The *Rasapaddhati* can conveniently be divided into two sections: 12–132, devoted to alchemy, and 133–231, devoted to formulae against diseases.

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The *maṅgala* is addressed to Śiva as Ardhanārīnaṭeśvara.⁴ Three systems of therapy are distinguished, hierarchically arranged: *daivī cikitsā*, the superior system, which employs well-prepared rasas; *mānavī cikitsā*, treatment by means of vegetable preparations; *āsurī cikitsā*, the inferior method, making use of surgical procedures (2–3).⁵ The seven doṣas of mercury are enumerated: nāga, vaṅga, viṣa, mala, capalatā, vahnija, and girija, and the disorders caused by them (4). The eight saṃskāras which are necessary for medical purposes are listed (5) and described (6–14), followed by some alternatives for those without the means to carry them out (15–17). The preparation of mercury from cinnabar is discussed (18).

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Subjects dealt with in the next verses are: the purification of the metals (loha; 19–20); the preparation of the bhasman of gold (21–23ab), silver (23cd), iron (24–25), copper (26–30), lead (31–32ab), tin (32cd–34), and the alloys (35); the medicinal properties of these bhasmans (36–37). Verses 38–54 are about the six mahārasas: vaikrānta, gagana (= abhraka), śilāja (= śilājatu), capala, tāpīja (= vimalā and mākṣika), and tuttha. Verses 55–58 are concerned with the uparasas: gandha, (hari)tāla and manaḥśilā. The saṃskāras which are necessary for vedha (transmutation) are described in verses 59–60ab (jāraṇa), 60cd–62ab (cāraṇa), 62cd–63 (sāraṇa), 64–66 (mukhabandha), and 67–74 (krāmaṇa and vedha). Verses 75–79 deal with the processes to which mercury obtained from cinnabar has to be subjected in order to attain vedha, verses 80–82 with mukhakaraṇa by means of jāraṇa of sulphur, verses 83–87 with ways of preparing rasasindūra and rasakarpūra.

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Relatively much attention is given to the gems (88–132). Nine gems are enumerated: vajra, vidruma, mauktika, marakata, vaidūrya, gomedaka, māṇikya, harinīla, and puṣpadṛṣad (= puṣparāga) (88); their connections with the nine grahas are explained (89–90). The origin of diamonds is described (91–95), their varieties are dealt with (96–99ab), their blemishes (99cd–102), their properties (103), the regions where they are found (104),⁶ their weights and prices (105–112),⁷ and their examination (113–116). Pearls (mauktika) and their varieties are elaborately described (117–132); eight types are distinguished, originating respectively from elephants (karin), boars (kiri), bamboos (tvaksāra), fishes (matsya), clouds (ambumuc), shells (kambu), serpents (urogati), and oysters (śukti).⁸

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Verses on the treatment of raktapitta (133–137ab), kāsa, śvāsa and hikkā (137cd–139), rājayakṣman (140–147ab), and some other diseases (147cd–149) follow. The last part of the treatise (150–231) contains formulae of rasayogas, mainly to be prescribed against fevers.

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Sources are not referred to.

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Authorities mentioned are: Agastya (147), Ātreyasūri (193),⁹ Bhāluki (54),¹⁰ Candraśikhara (199),¹¹ Nāgārjuna (155),¹² Vasiṣṭha (147), and Viṣṇu (160).¹³

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The *Rasapaddhati* is quoted or referred to in the paribhāṣā pariśiṣṭa of the *Ānandakanda*, *Āyurvedābdhisāra*, *Āyurvedaprakāśa*, *Bṛhadrasarājasundara*, *Dhātumaṅgala*,¹⁴ Gulrājśarmamiśra’s commentary on the *Āyurvedaprakāśa*, Harisāraṇānanda’s *Kūpīpakvarasanirmāṇavijñāna*, Hāzārīlāl Sukul’s commentary on the *Rasaratnasamuccaya*, *Pāradasaṃhitā*, *Rasakāmadhenu*, *Rasadiddhiprakāśa*,¹⁵ the commentary on the *Rasatarangiṇī*, *Rasatattvavivecana*, *Rasavidyāmārṇava*, *Rasayogasāgara*, *Rasendrapurāṇa*, Somadevaśarman’s commentary on the *Āyurvedaprakāśa*, and Yādavji Trikamji’s *Rasāmṛta*.

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Bindu is quoted in Hāzārīlāl Sukul’s commentary on the *Rasaratnasamuccaya*. The *Rasapaddhatikṛt* is quoted in the commentary on the *Āyurvedābdhisāra*.

Special features

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Anuvāsana is not described as a separate saṃskāra.¹⁶

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The metals enumerated are gold, silver, iron, copper, lead (uraga), tin (raṅga), ghana (= kāmṣya), vartula,¹⁷ and ghoṣa;¹⁸ the last three items of this series are called upaloha; iron is of three types: kānta, tīkṣṇa and muṇḍa (19). Zinc is not mentioned.¹⁹ The term dhātu is not employed for the metals.

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The mahārasas are only six in number (38); the inclusion of capala and tuttha is noteworthy. Vaikrānta is of seven types, but only the black variety, used in alchemical operations, is taken into consideration (38).²⁰ The usual four varieties of mica are described (40). Śilājatu is of two types: acalodbhūta²¹ and uṣodbhava²² (44). Capala is of four varieties: white, black, yellow and red (46).²³ Tāpīja is of two types: vimalā²⁴ and mākṣika. Vimalā is of three varieties: hema-, tāra- and kāmṣyavimalā²⁵ (48). Mākṣika is of two varieties: svarṇa- and rajatamākṣika; some are said to distinguish a third variety, called kāmṣyamākṣika (49). Tuttha is of two varieties: mayūra- and kharparatuttha (51). The uparasas are only three in number: gandhaka, haritāla and manaḥśilā (55). Three varieties of sulphur (gandhaka) are described: yellow, red and white;²⁶ the white variety is sometimes called khaṭī;²⁷ names of the yellow variety are āmalakacchavi, dṛṣadgandhaka and lavaṇaka (55). The two usual varieties of haritāla are mentioned: pattrin and piṇḍa (57). Manaḥśilā is of two varieties: śyāmāṅgī and kaṇavīrikā (58).²⁸

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The list of saṃskāras necessary to achieve vedha is short (59–74); mukhabandha is regarded as a distinct saṃskāra; the two types of druti are not mentioned.

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The five blemishes of diamonds are: bindu, kākapada, yava, mala and rekhā (99–102ab).29 Eight regions are mentioned where diamond mines (khani) are or were found: Kośala and Kāliṅga in the Kṛtayuga, Vaṅga and Mālava in the Tretāyuga, Saurāṣṭra and Maṇipuṇḍraka in the Dvāparayuga, Sopāra30 and Vajrākara31 in the Kaliyuga.32 Pearl oysters are said to be found in the seas near Ādāya, Barbara,33 Āralāṭa, Siṃhala, Ūrmija and Pārasika (129).

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The verses on the treatment of various diseases mention syphilis (phiraṅgavā-tajanitasphoṭa and phiraṅgābhidhavāta) and rasakarpūra, the drug preferentially prescribed against this disease (149).

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Some of the rasayogas in the last part of the Rasapaddhati are not found in other treatises; examples are ātaṅkāntakarasa (154cd–155) and ekasūteśvararasa (173–174).34 The gaurīyantra is referred to (71; 80). A substance called lohakharpara is mentioned (13).35

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Noteworthy plant names are jambha (18, 21, 23),36 jambhala (17),37 mānavī (8), nīravānīra (24),38 śitidhūrta (12), and sṛṣṭyambujā (8).

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The author Bindu mentions his name in the introductory verse.

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Date The references to syphilis and its treatment with rasakarpūra indicate that the Rasapaddhati is later than the Bhāvaprakāśa (second half sixteenth century), which describes phiraṅgaroga and its therapy for the first time in Indian medical literature. The Rasapaddhati may date from the first half of the seventeenth century, because it is one of the sources of the Āyurvedaprakāśa and since the earliest MS39 was completed in A.D. 1664.40

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Commentary A commentary on the Rasapaddhati, reaching up to verse 186, was written by Mahādeva.

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Authorities and works quoted or referred to in the commentary are: Amara (1, 6, 7, 8, 89, 90, 98, 104, 150, 152–153, 153–154), Aṣṭāṅgahṛdaya (1), Caraka (45cd), Rājamṛgāṅka (87), Rasarājalakṣmī (83), Rasaratnākara (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 58, 59–60ab, 61–62ab, 69–74, 80, 85–87), Rasaratnasamuccaya (9, 117–122, 129–132), Rasavāgbhaṭṭa (81–82), Somanātha (29–30), and Vāgbhaṭṭa (44–45ab, 45cd).

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Many quotations are not referred to their source.41 Mahādeva quotes (ad 85–87) a list of divyauṣadhis from a source not mentioned by name.42 He enumerates the following uparatnas (ad 88): vaikrānta, sūryakānta, rājāvarta, lāla,43 and peroja.

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The ṭīkā of the Rasapaddhati and its author are quoted in the commentaries of Gulrājśarmamiśra and Somadevaśarman on the Āyurvedaprakāśa and in the Rasakāmadhenu. The commentary on the Rasapaddhati is one of the sources of Harīśaraṇānanda’s Kūpīpakvarasanirūpaṇavijñāna and Mādhava’s Āyurvedaprakāśa. Mahādeva is quoted in Hazārīlāl Sukul’s commentary on the Rasaratnasamuccaya.

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Mahādeva is regarded as the son of Bindu.44 Both father and son may have been residents of Mahārāṣṭra.45 Mahādeva is than Nityanātha, who wrote the

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Rasaratnākara, and Vāgbhaṭa, to whom the Rasaratnasamuccaya is attributed, because the works of these authors are quoted by him; he is also posterior to Bindu, on whose treatise he commented. He is earlier than Mādhava, the author of the Āyurvedaprakāśa, who used Mahādeva’s work as one of his sources. This evidence establishes that Mahādeva lived, like Bindu, in the first half of the seventeenth century.

Cites (8)