A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c12.t2: Book II. The Rasas
A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c12.t2
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Book II. The Rasas
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[In the Hindu Materia Medica the mineral kingdom is broadly divided into the Rasas and the Uparasas, the Ratnas (gems) and the Lohas (metals). The term Rasa is in general reserved for mercury, though it is equally applicable to a mineral or a metallic salt. In the oldest medical works, *e. g.* the Charaka and the Susruta, Rasa has the literal meaning of juice or fluid of the body, which according to the notions of humoral pathology engenders blood, serum, sweat, &c., (see p. 42). Rasakriyā¹ in the Susruta means fluid extract or concentrated decoction. As mercurial and metallic preparations gradually came into vogue and even began to supplant the vegetable drugs, the term *rasa* began to be substituted for quicksilver on account of its semi-fluid character and its supposed miraculous therapeutical action on the juices or humours of the body (Cf. *Rig-Veda*, "Somarasa": *Vide* Intro.) In the Bāvaprakāsa we find rasa used in a two-fold sense,—ancient and comparatively modern.¹
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¹ सालसारादिसारेषु पटोलविफलासु च रसक्रिया विधातव्या शोधनो शोधनेषु च। Sútra. Chap. xxxvi, 19.
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In the older works Rasāyana (derived from rasa, juice, and ayana, way) means a medicine preventing old age and prolonging life—the *Elixir vitæ*.² Later on Rasāyana was almost exclusively applied to the employment of mercury and other metals in medicine and at present it means also alchemy (chemistry). Our author uses the term
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(1) सम्यक् पक्वस्य भक्तस्य सारो निर्गदितारसः ।
स तु द्रवः सितः शीतः स्वादुः स्निग्धश्चलोभवत् ॥ Vol. I, p. 59. ed. Kálisa Chandra Sen Gupta.
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In the above sloka, rasa is used in the sense of chyle. Again :—
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रसायनार्थिभिर्लोकैः पारदो रसने यतः ।
ततो रस इति प्रोक्तः स च धातुरपि स्मृतः ॥ ibid. p. 442.
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Here “rasa” is used as a synonym of mercury and regarded as a metal.
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(3) For the definition of the term Rasáyana in the Charaka, see p. 32; cf. also “रसायनञ्च तज्ज्ञेयं यज्जराव्याधिनाशनम्” Sarngadhara. Cf. also : “Dies Wort (rasa) nämlich hat nicht nur der rasagnána, d. i. Kenntniss der Säfte, einem Kapitel der Medicin, sondern einer Benennung der Alchemie, rasasástra, dann rasasiddhi, durch Quecksilber erlangte Vollkommenheit, das Vertrautsein mit der Alchemie, sowie desgl. rasendradarsana (wortl. Untersuchung des Säfte-Herrschers d. i. Quecksilbers), Lehre der Alchemisten (dieser heisst Rasáyana) seinen Namen geliehen und ausserdam in Compositen einer Menge chemischer Substanzen.”—Pott : “Chemie order Chymie?” “Zeit. deut. Morg. Ges.” xxx. 7 “Rasasiddhipradāyaka” (1-5), which is derivied from rasa, mercury, siddhi, accomplishment and pradāyaka, giver or bestower, *i.e.* lit. giver of accomplishment in mercury *i.e.* an expert on alchemy. Wilson in his Dictionary thus happily renders Rasasiddhi: “The knowledge of alchemy, the possession of peculiar familiarity with mercury obtained by the performance of chemical operations conjoined with certain mystical and magical rites and the securing thence to the adept of happiness, health and wealth ; the power of transmuting metals and the art of prolonging life.”
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With these prefatory remarks, we shall now allow our author to proceed.]
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Abhra (mica), Vaikrānta, Mākshika (pyrites), Vimala, Adrija (bitumen), Sasyaka, Chapala, and Rasaka : these 8 rasas are to be identified and collected.¹ [*Vide* “Explanatory Notes on the Minerals” at the end of Chap. I]
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¹ Rasārnava (p. 69) recognises the following eight minerals :—mākshika, vimala, adrija, chapala, rasaka, darada (cinnabar) and srotonjana (stibium).
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Abhra
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There are three varieties of mica, namely, pinākam, nāgamandūkam and vajram and each of these again are of four different colours—white, red, yellow and black. 5-10
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Mica, the layers of which can be easily detached, is preferred. Mica, which is as bright as the moon and which has the lustre of the rust of iron, does not take up or combine with (lit. swallow) mercury. That which has taken up mercury can alone be used with the metals and administered in medicine. Mica, which has been killed, is prescribed in the treatment of various diseases. The variety which has the lustre of the moon, if taken internally, brings on dyspepsia and urinary disorders. 12-14
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Mica, heated seven times and plunged into sour gruel or cow's urine or decoction of the chebulic myrobalans or cow's milk, is freed from all impurities. 17-18
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Mica, mixed with paddy grains and reduced to powder, tied in a piece of cloth and suspended in sour gruel and then passed through linen, is known as Dhānyabhram (lit. mica in combination with paddy). Dhānyabhram, rubbed with the juice of cassia sophora and roasted ten times in a closed crucible, is killed thereby. 24
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Vaikranta
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Vaikrānta has eight faces and six angles, is slippery and heavy and of uniform or mixed tint. It has 8 different colours, viz., white, red, yellow, blue, with the shades met with in the down of the pigeon, grass-green, black and variegated 55-56
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Vaikrānta is a powerful tonic and reckoned among the sovereign medicines. It is a destroyer of all (bodily) disorders and is employed in the place of diamond. 57-58
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Vaikrānta is purified by being heated three days with the salts and the alkalies or by digestion with the acids, urines or a decoction of dolichos uniflorus and the plantain or of paspalum scrobiculatum. It is killed by being roasted in a covered crucible eight times in combination with sulphur and lemon juice and pasp. scrobi. 67-68
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Vaikrānta, after being heated and plunged into the urine of the horse, ought to be repeatedly roasted and then reduced to ashes. 69
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Vaikrānta after incineration is substituted for diamond. 70
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Macerated in the ashes of schrebera swiet. butea frondosa and cow's urine and mixed with the powdered root of euphorb. antiq., turmeric . . .
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borax, powdered lac and made into balls with the milky juice of *asclepias gem.*, and honey and strongly heated in a closed crucible, vaikrānta yields its essence. Of this there is no doubt. 71-72
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Copper Pyrites
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Mākshikam (pyrities) is born of mountains yielding gold . . and is produced in the bed of the river Tāpī and in the lands of the Kirātās, the Chinese and the Yavanas. 77
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Pyrites is of two kinds—golden and silvery: the former is a native of Kanouj and is of golden yellow colour. The silvery pyrites is associated with stones and is of inferior quality. 81
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Rubbed with the juice of lemons and sulphur and roasted in a closed crucible it is *killed*. 84
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Mākshika, repeatedly steeped in honey, oil of the seeds of *ricinus communis*, urine of the cow, clarified butter and the extract of the bulbous root of *musa sapientum* and gently roasted in a crucible, yields an essence in the shape of copper. 89-90
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Vimala
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Vimala is described as of three kinds according as it has the lustre of gold, silver and brass respectively. 96
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It is rounded and is also endowed with angles and faces.
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It is killed by being roasted ten times with sulphur, bitumen, *artocarpus lakoocha* and the acids. 100 Vimala, rubbed with borax, the juice of *artocarpus lakoocha* and the ash of *schrebera swiet*., and roasted in a covered crucible, yields an essence of the appearance of gold.¹ 101 Vimala digested with alum, green vitriol, borax and the watery liquid expressed from *moringa pter*., *musā s*. and finally roasted in a covered crucible in combination with the ashes of *schrebera swiet*., yields an essence in the shape of chandrārka (lit. copper of gold-like lustre).
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Silajatu
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Silajatu (bitumen) is of two kinds, one having the smell of cow's urine, the other resembling camphor. It oozes out in the heat of the sun at the foot of the Himalayas from the bowels of gold, silver and copper respectively.² (cf. *ante* p. 46) 106
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(1) The text reads : : भामसांनभ = *lead-like*, which however conveys no adequate meaning. A variant is सौतसंनंभ = *gold-like*.
(2) The resins of the styrax benzoicum and also a variety of bitumen, especially the latter are referred to. The description is evidently borrowed from the Charaka and the Susruta.
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Sasyaka
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Sasyaka (blue vitriol) . . . has the play of colour in the throat of the peacock (i.e. has blue tint). Mayuratuttham is an emetic, an antidote to poisons and a destroyer of the whiteness of the skin.
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It is killed by being roasted in a covered crucible with the juice of *artocarpus lakoocha*, sulphur, bitumen and borax, 132
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Extraction of Copper
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Take blue vitriol and one-fourth its weight of borax and soak the mixture in the oil expressed from the seeds of *pongamia glabra* for one day only and then place it in a covered crucible and heat in the charcoal fire—by this process an essence is obtained from it of the beautiful appearance of coccinella insect.¹
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¹ *i. e.* red ; in the Charka, blood is described as having the colour of the coccinella insect. Couplets 133 and 134 have been borrowed almost *verbatim* from Rasārnava.
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Or, enclosed in a crucible with borax and the juice of lemons and strongly heated, it yields an essence in the shape of copper. 135
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Pure blue vitriol, of the colour of peacock, in combination with the aforesaid drugs and by the application of various processes, gives up its essence. 136
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Chapala
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There are four varieties of Chapala—yellow, white, red and black. That which has the lustre of gold or silver is most appropriate for the fixation of mercury. The last two are indifferent and readily melt like lac and are useless. Chapala melts like tin when heated over fire—hence the name. 143-144
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Chapala has six faces and the lustre of a crystal.¹ 146
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¹ It is not clear what substance is really meant by the term Chapala ; its radical meaning is mobile or fickle, hence it is a name often given to quicksilver.
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Rasaka
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Rasaka(calamine) is of two kinds : the one of laminated structure is known as dardura ; the other, non-laminated, is called karavellaka. 149
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Calamine is to be heated and plunged seven times into the juice expressed from the seeds of lemon or immersed in the urine of man or of horse or in sour gruel or sour milk and thus purified. 154-155
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Extraction of Zinc
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Rub calamine with turmeric, the chebulic myrobalans, resin, the salts, soot, borax and one fourth its weight of semicarpus anacardium, and the acid juices. Smear the inside of a tubulated crucible with the above mixture and dry it in the sun and close its mouth with another inverted over it, and apply heat. When the flame issuing from the molten calamine changes from blue to white, the crucible is caught hold of by means of a pair of tongs and its mouth held downwards and it is thrown on the ground, care being taken not to break its tubulure.¹ The essence possessing the lustre of tin which is dropped is collected for use.
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¹ The Benares Ms. reads “यथा नाल भञ्जन” and drops न which would mean so “as to break its tubulure.”
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Calamine is be powdered with lac, treacle, white mustard, the myrobalans, natron and borax and the mixture boiled with milk and clarified butter and made into balls. These are to be enclosed in a crucible and strongly heated. The contents are then poured on a slab of stone—the essence of calamine of the beautiful appearance of tin (thus obtained) is to be used.
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Or a vessel filled with water is to be placed inside a koshthī apparatus and a perforated cup or saucer placed over it; a crucible charged as above is to be fixed in an inverted position over the saucer and strongly heated by means of the fire of jujube (*zizyphus iujuba*) charcoal: the essence which drops into the water should be applied (in medicine). [vide illustrations] 165-166
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This essence is to be mixed with orpiment and thrown over an earthen dish and rubbed with an iron rod till it is reduced to ashes. [From the context it is evident that the operation is to be performed over fire.] 167-168
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BOOK III.
Linked texts (7)
- Carakasaṃhitā — Agniveśa (Āyurveda) & Caraka, Sanskrit
- Suśrutasaṃhitā — Suśruta & Nāgārjuna (siddha/alchemist), Sanskrit
- Rasaratnasamuccaya — Vāgbhaṭa (alchemist), Sanskrit
- Śārṅgadharasaṃhitā — Śārṅgadhara (physician), Sanskrit
- Rasārṇava — Sanskrit
- Bhāvaprakāśa — Bhāvamiśra 1550, Sanskrit
- Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit