A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c12.t3: Book III. The Uparasas or Inferior Rasas

A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c12.t3

Language: English

Book III. The Uparasas or Inferior Rasas

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Sulphur, red ochre, vitriol, alum, orpiment, realgar, anjana and *kamkushtha*—these are the eight uparasas, useful in operations of mercury. I

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[Here follows the mythical origin of sulphur.]

Sulphur is of three kinds: that of the first quality resembles the beak of a parrot; that of the second quality is yellow; whereas the white variety is the worst. Another authority says: there are four kinds of sulphur according as it is of white, yellow, red and black colour respectively......the black variety is rare.¹ 12-15

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Melted sulphur is poured into the juice of *verbesina calendulacea* and thus purified.

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A vessel which contains milk has its mouth tied down with a piece of cloth, over which is deposited finely powdered sulphur; the latter again covered with an earthen bowl. Heat is applied from above by burning cow-dung cakes. The melted sulphur drops into the milk and is thus purified. 24-25

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Gairika

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Gairika (red ochre) is of two kinds: the one, pāshāna gairika, is hard and copper-coloured; the other is svarna gairika *i. e.* of the colour of gold (yellow). 46

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(1) Cf...“il y a des soufres des diverses couleurs; l’un rouge, l’autre jaune un autre blanc pariel á l’ivoire ;...un autre, noir, qui ne vaut rien.” “La Chimie au moyen âge,” 1, 307.

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Kasisa

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Kāsisa (sulphate of iron) is of two kinds: vālukā-kāsisa and pushpa-kāsisa. [The former termed in other works dhātukāsisa is the green variety and the latter, the basic or yellowish variety.] 51

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Its essence is to be extracted like that of alum. 54

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Tuvari

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Tuvarī (alum): the fragrant earth produced in the mountains of Surat is known as tuvarī, which dyes cloth and fixes the colour of madder.¹ 59

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¹ i.e. forms lakes.

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A second variety of it called phatakī or phullikā is slightly yellow . . . Another variety known as phulla tuvarī is white and acid in taste; iron changes to copper by the process of lepa [cf. Bk. VIII, 80, where the term “लेप:” is used in the sense of transmutation of the baser metals. The author seems to convey the idea that alum plays an important part in this process.] 60-62

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Alum is astringent, acid, beneficial to the eye... and killer of mercury.²

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² पारदजारणो ; Cf. the various formulæ for the preparation of calomel in which alum yields sulphuric acid and plays an important part.

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Alum is to be macerated in the bile of the ox one-hundred times and then its essence is to be extracted by distillation¹—a very secret process, not to be divulged. 65

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Talaka

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Tālaka (orpiment) is of two kinds: the one is of a leafy structure, the other is found in balls or cakes and is of golden colour . . . and bright. 66

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It is purified by being digested in the juice of cucumber and the alkaline water of the ashes of sesamum or in lime water. 69

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Tālaka is to be rubbed with buffalo's urine and thrice macerated in the decoction of *butea frondosa* of the consistency of honey, and then to be roasted in a covered crucible and powdered. This operation is to be repeated twelve times. It is then fit to be used in medicines.² 74-75

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Take one pala of tālaka and rub it for one day with the milky juice of *calopropis gigantea* and mix

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(1) पातयेत् सत्वम् ; here distillation is expressly mentioned. Couplet 65 is borrowed from Rasārnava.

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(2) Most likely a sulpharsenite of potash is formed. The process in Rasendrasārasamgraha is more scientific. “Tālaka is to be cut into small pieces and rubbed with lime water and the alkaline water derived from the ash of *achyranthes aspera* and is then to be enclosed in carbonate of potash and roasted.”

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it with the same weight of oil and heat it in an open place for 7 days and nights together. Collect the white essence when it has cooled down.¹ 80-81

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¹ It is evident that the operation is to be performed in a glass retort or in the koshtī apparatus described below under realgar.

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Manassila

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Manassila (realgar) is mixed with one-eighth part of its weight of iron-rust, molasses, bdellium and clarified butter and enclosed in the koshtī apparatus [see p. 69] and strongly heated, when it yields its essence. 95

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The Anjanas

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The Anjanas (collyriums) : of these there are Sauvīrānjana, Rasānjana, Srotonjana, Pushpānjana, and Nīlānjana ; their properties are described below. 97-98

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Nīlānjana is a *killer of gold* [cf. the *killing* of gold, silver, iron and copper in Vāgbhata, p. 55] and induces softness in iron, *i.e.* renders it easily pulverizable [as the iron becomes impregnated with the brittle sulphide of iron ; cf also Bk. viii, 38.] 104

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The essence of the anjanas is to be extracted like that of realgar.

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[We quote below the account given in Dutt's "Materia Medica of the Hindus" as our author gives rather scanty information on this point:

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"Galena or sulphide of lead is called anjana or sauvīrānjana in Sanskrit, and krishna surma in vernacular. It is called anjana which literally means collyrium or medicine for the eyes, from the circumstance of its being considered the best application or cosmetic for them. The other varieties of anjana mentioned are Srotonjāna, Pushpānjana and Rāsānjana.

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"Sauvīrānjana (सौवीराञ्जन is said to be obtained from the mountains of Sauvira, a country along the Indus, whence it derives its name. The article supplied under its vernacular name surma is the sulphide of lead ore. Sauvira is usually translated as sulphide of antimony, but I have not been able to obtain a single specimen of the antimonial ore from the shops of Calcutta and of some other towns. The sulphide of antimony occurs in fine, streaky, fibrous, crystalline, masses of a radiated texture: The lead ore on the contrary occurs in cubic masses destitute of rays and is tabular in its crystalline arrangement.

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"Srotonjana (स्रोतोञ्जन ) is described as of white colour, and is said to be produced in the bed

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of the Yamunā and other rivers. It is called Saffed Surma in the vernacular, and the article supplied under this name by Hindustani medicine-vendors is calcareous Iceland spar.¹ It is used as a collyrium for the eyes, but is considered inferier to the black surma or galena.

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¹ See, however, ante p. 55.

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"Pushpānjana (पुष्पाञ्जन is described as an alkaline substance. I have not met with any vernacular translation of this word nor with any person who could identify or supply the drug. Wilson, in his Sanskrit-English Dictionary, translates the term as calx of brass, but I know not on what authority.

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"Rasānjana (रसाञ्जन is the extract of the wood of berberis Asiatica called rasot in the vernacular."]

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Kāmkushtham is produced at the foot of the Himalayas . . . Some are of opinion that it is the excrement of a new-born elephant . . . it is of white and yellow colour and is a strong purgative.²

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² Not weil made out. According to Wilson, it is a medicinal earth, described as of two colours, one of a silvery and the other of a gold colour.

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The Common Rasas

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Kampilla, Chapala¹ Gauripāshāna, Navasāraka, Kaparda, Agnijāra, Hingula, Girisindūra, Mriddārasringakam : these are the eight common Rasas regarded as useful adjuncts to chemical operations by Nāgārjuna and other experts.

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Kampilla² is like brick-dust . . . a purgative . . . natural product of Surat . . . and a vermifuge.

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Gauripāshāna³ is of the lustre of rock-crystal, conch and turmeric respectively . . . its white essence is to be extracted like that of orpiment.

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Navasara and Other Rasas

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Navasāra (sal ammoniac) is begot of the decomposition of the shoots of bamboos and of the wood of careya arborea; navasāra is an alkali, its another name is chulikālavana (lit. salt deposited in

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(1) Including Chapala there are nine common Rasas ; but Chapala has already been considered as a mahārasa. (see p. 87)

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(2) The red mealy powder covering the capsules of mallotus Phillippensis, also known as kamalā. It is not clear why this substance should have found a place among the products of the mineral kingdom.

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(3) Not easy to identify; lit., it means white stone or marble.

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the hearth), it is produced during the burning of the brick . . . it kills mercury, liquefies iron, is a stomachic, an absorbent of the spleen, and aids digestion after much eating.¹ 127-129

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¹ It is of interest to note that Royle, who wrote in 1837, regrets that "no Hindu work on this subject (chemistry) has yet been translated" and is bold enough to predict that "Sal ammoniac must have been familiar to the Hindus, ever since they have burnt bricks, as they now do, with the manure of animals as some may usually be found crystallized at the unburnt extremity of the kiln."—"Antiquity of Hindu Medicine." Royle's surmises have proved to be literally correct. The word "Navasāra" is apparently of Persian origin being corrupted from "Nausadar."

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Varātaka (cowrie or marine shell): alchemists prefer shells which are of yellow colour, knotty and possessed of circular lines on the dorsal side . . . macerated for three hours in sour gruel, it undergoes purifications.² 130-134

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² The text is almost exactly the same as in "Rasendrasāra-samgraha," which gives an additional method of purifying the cowrie, namely:—"Dig a hole in the ground and fill it partly with the husk of paddy, now place on it a crucible containing cowries ; cover it with cow-dung cakes and set fire to the mass. By this process the cowries are reduced to ashes." It is the lime thus obtained, which is often used in medicine.

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Agnijāra is a substance discharged from the womb of a kind of sea-crocodile and dried in the sun.¹

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¹ Not identified. Perhaps the origin is mythical. नक्र is a crocodile, but as is well-known this Saurian never flourishes in the sea. According to राज निघण्टु agnijāra is a marine medicinal plant.

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Girisindūra (lit. vermilion derived from the rocks) occurs among the big mountains (inside the rocks). 137

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Hingula (cinnabar : Syn. darada, see p.78 ); quicksilver extracted from it is as efficacious as killed sulphur. When darada is placed in a retort and its essence collected in water, it yields the same substance as quicksilver—of this there is no doubt. (The apparatus referred to is shown in the illustrations).

Linked texts (5)

Rasaratnasamuccaya — Vāgbhaṭa (alchemist), Sanskrit
Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā — Vāgbhaṭa, Sanskrit
Rājanighaṇṭu (Nighaṇṭurāja, Abhidhānacūḍāmaṇi) — Narahari Paṇḍita, Sanskrit
Rasārṇava — Sanskrit
Rasendrasārasaṃgraha (Gopāla Kṛṣṇā) — Gopāla Kṛṣṇā 1800, Sanskrit