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A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c51.s2: The Rasārṇavakalpa

A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c51.s2

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English

The Rasārṇavakalpa

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The Rasārṇavakalpa 202 is a treatise on alchemy that forms part of the Rudrayā-malatantra. 203 The work, in the form of a dialogue between Bhairava and Pārvatī, is written in the verse, with the exception of two passages in prose (368–370; 651), and consists of 814 stanzas. A division into chapters is absent, but the text can broadly be divided into three parts: (1) 77: rasāyana preparations; (2) 78–207: alchemical operations; (3) 213–814: kalpas. 204

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Contents 205 Part one describes several rasāyana preparations, all of them containing mercury or one of its compounds.

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Part two describes several methods of making artificial gold; 206 a number of saṃ-skāras of mercury are referred to; the medicinal qualities of some preparations are men-tioned; some substances are used for rasāyana purposes, to obtain dehasiddhi, or to revive the dead. Part two is also concerned with the alchemical uses of a number of plants; the groups of verses on these plants resemble kalpas; some of the plants are described: vartulaparṇī (152), jyotiṣmatī (173), and dagdharohā (177–180); the sixty-four divyauṣadhis are referred to (135); kulauṣadhis and tṛṇauṣadhis are distinguished; the tṛṇauṣadhis are, in contrast with the kulauṣadhis, useless for alchemical purposes (133cd–137).

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Part three consists of thirty-one kalpas, describing the origin of particular sub-stances, their names, characteristics, properties and uses. 207 Twenty-two kalpas are concerned with plants, three with inorganic substances (various substances, gandhaka, tālaka), and six with types of soil and water. 208

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The kalpas are devoted to: aparājitā (213–229), 209 brahmadaṇḍī (230–241), 210 aśvagandhā (242–250), 211 muṣalī (251–256), 212 a number of inorganic substances (257–260: śrīṅkālalakalpa), jyotiṣmatī (261–301), 213 śvetārka (302–322), 214 gandhaka (323–376), 215 tālaka (377–406), raktavajrī (407–414), uccatā (415–437), 216 kuṣmāṇḍī (438–448), īśvarī (449–491), 217 tṛṇajyotis (492–500), 218 vīrā (501–516), devadālī (517–545), 219 pītadevadālī (546–564), kaṭutumbī (565–578), 220 kṣīrakaṇṭacukī (579–590), 221 rudravantī (591–603), 222 somarājī (604–611), 223 dakṣiṇadeśatāmravarṇa-(mṛttikā) (612–617), mayūragira(rasa) (618–650), nāgamaṇḍala(rasa, -kardama, etc.) (651–701), 224 candrodaka (702–729), 225 viṣodaka (730–745), 226 śailodaka (746–756), 227 kolakavṛkṣa (757–764), śālmalī (765–782), 228 śrīvṛkṣa (738–789), and eraṇḍa (790–814). 229

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Sources are not referred to. An ancient authority mentioned is Nārada (215). ²³⁰ Part two of the Rasārṇavakalpa is closely related to Rasārṇava 12.8–182. The candrodaka-, viṣodaka- and śailodakakalpas also find counterparts in the Rasārṇava. ²³¹ Noteworthy agreements exist between verses of part three of the Rasārṇavakalpa and verses of the Kākacaṇḍīśvarakalpatantra. ²³²

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Special features Interesting plant names found in parts one and two are: ²³³ ajanāyikā (97), ²³⁴ anāmikā (66), arkanamitā (66), ²³⁵ arkavallī (61), ²³⁶ bahulā (64), ²³⁷ bhṛṅga (57), ²³⁸ dagdhārohā (177–181), ²³⁹ dvipadī (105; 106), ²⁴⁰ ekavīrā (153), gajadhvajī (66), ²⁴¹ gajāri (148), ²⁴² haṃsagamanī (66), ²⁴³ haṃsāṅghri (162), ²⁴⁴ harīndarī (130), ²⁴⁵ jaṭādhara (67), ²⁴⁶ kaṅkālakhecarī (115–116; 118), khecarī (122; 123), ²⁴⁷ koravallī (148), ²⁴⁸ kṛṣṇanāla (181), ²⁴⁹ kṣīrakaṇḍa (193), ²⁵⁰ kṣamāpāla (143), lajjākā (66), ²⁵¹ mantrasimhasanā (122; 123), niśācara (78; 80; 81; 84; 87; 90; 92; 96; 145), ²⁵² payovallī (59), ²⁵³ puṣpī (6; 123), ²⁵⁴ raktakañcukī (154), ²⁵⁵ śambhu (61), ²⁵⁶ siṃhatuṇḍa (109), ²⁵⁷ śukacañcu (162), ²⁵⁸ suśīraktī (61), ²⁵⁹ tṛṇajyotis (163cd–165), ²⁶⁰ vajrakaṇḍa (156), ²⁶¹ vartulaparṇī (152), vellakāra (61), ²⁶² and vṛścikā (155). ²⁶³

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The Rasārṇavakalpa contains a large number of geographical names. Regions mentioned are: Cyavana (613), Joṅgala (502), Kaṅkaṇaka (438), Nāgamaṇḍala (615; 654; 657; 667; 669), Pāṇḍava (613), and Pāriyātra (651). Cities and other places referred to are: Deūliyā (752), Karahāṭa (618), ²⁶⁴ Tillāpada (612), and Ujjayinī (180). Names of rivers are: Bhagavatī (750), ²⁶⁵ Candrabhāgā (653; 668; 680), ²⁶⁶ Gaṅgā (180; 653; 668), Kulā (670), Narmadā (653; 693; 695), Pāra (651), Pārā (669), ²⁶⁷ Sarasvatī (653; 669), ²⁶⁸ and Śoṇa (672). ²⁶⁹ Names of mountains are: Amarakaṇṭaka (703), ²⁷⁰ Bhadra (= Meru; 751), Brahmagiri (751), ²⁷¹ Candrakānta (429), Gandhaparvata (= Gandhamādana; 703), ²⁷² Gokarṇa (750), ²⁷³ Harīścandra (703), Hemaprastha (429), Himālaya (428), Himavant (704), Jālandhara (428), ²⁷⁴ Kapila (665; 666), Kardama (747), Karvura (654; 667; 668; 669; 680), Kumeru (427), Mahendra (503; 703), ²⁷⁵ Malaya (502; 703), Mayūragira (618), ²⁷⁶ Nṛsiṃha (752), Paryaṅka (749), Piṅgala (654; 668; 677; 699–701), Ṛkṣa (751), ²⁷⁷ Sahya (752), ²⁷⁸ Śrīsaila (703; 749), ²⁷⁹ Sunanda (654; 667), Trikūṭa (704), ²⁸⁰ Vindhya (428; 502; 751), and Vyāghra (667; 668).

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These geographical names are regarded as indications that the Rasārṇavakalpa has been composed in the Vindhya region. This hypothesis is thought to be supported by the consideration that the Rudrayāmalatantra came into being in the Viṣṇukrāntā area, which extended from the Vindhyas to Chaṭṭala (i.e., Chittagong). ²⁸¹

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Date Parts of the Rasārṇavakalpa are closely related to parts of chapter twelve of the Rasārṇava. Mira Roy and B.V. Subbarayappa expressed as their opinion that the Rasārṇava is posterior to the Rasārṇavakalpa, without claiming that the former borrowed from the latter, since indebtedness to a common source cannot be brushed aside easily. B.V. Subbarayappa is convinced that the Rasārṇavakalpa, on account of its emphasis on Tantric practices and its esoteric approach to alchemical procedures, dates from the be-

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ginning of the flourishing period of Indian alchemy, i.e., in his estimate, the period A.D. 900–1100. He assigns the Rasārṇava to the twelfth, the Rasārṇavakalpa to the eleventh century. The terminus post quem is in his view the date of the Rasaratnākara (i.e., in his opinion, the eighth or ninth century), because one of the verses of this work forms part of the Rasārṇavakalpa; ²⁸² this argument can be disregarded, because the pertinent verse is not from the Rasaratnākara, but from the Rasendramaṅgala.

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It seems hazardous to assume that an unsystematic text of a compilatory character like the Rasārṇavakalpa may be dated rather accurately. The chronological position of the Rudrayāmala, to which it is said to belong, and the different versions of that text should therefore carefully be taken into consideration.

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Rasasaṃketakalikā to Rasendracūḍāmaṇi

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