Copper in Ancient India c11.s2.14

c11.s2.14

³ Dr. Ray has evidently failed to interpret the meaning of this passage correctly. He has rendered the passage as follows--"Copper in combination with the burning water gives rise to tuttha (green) vitriol." This interpretation is evidently meaningless owing to the rendering, possibly through oversight, of 'tuttha' as green vitriol instead of blue vitriol or copper sulphate. The synonym "burning water" for sulphuric acid is very apposite and reminds one of the synonyms of "aqua fortis" for nitric acid and "aqua regia" for nitro-muriatic acid. That sulphuric acid was used for dissolving metals is independently shown by the following passage in Yasodhara's Rasaprakāsa-sudhākara--"the essence of alum is to be used for treating (dissolving) metals and not as a medicine (तत् तुवरी सत्त्वं धातुवादार्थे चोपध नौमपच्यते )."