A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c12.t4: Book IV. The Gems

A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c12.t4

Language: English

Book IV. The Gems

v1.c12.t4.1

The gems also are regarded as the agencies, which help the fixation or coagulation of mercury. These are the gems: Vaikrānta, Suryakānta (sun-stone), Hīrakam (diamond), Mauktikam (pearls), Chandrakānta (moon-stone), Rājāvarta (lapis lazuli) and Garudodgara, the emerald (lit. derived from the vomit of Garuda); the topaz, the sapphire, the coral, the cat's eye are also reckoned among the gems. These are to be carefully collected for the fixation of mercury.¹

v1.c12.t4.2

(1) The ruby and the zircon are also mentioned. The Vaikrānta "is a kind of gem said to resemble a diamond, and to be of similar properties." Wilson. Suryakānta and Chandrakānta are gems of fabulous existence, supposed to be formed by the congelation of the rays of the sun and moon respectively. They may also refer to some sort of crystals. The description of the gems, other than diamond, is meagre and vague. The following extracts from Manimāla or "A Treatise on Gems" by Sir Raja Saurindra Mohan Tagore, Mus. Doc., will, to a certain extent, make up for the deficiencies.

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"Mention is made of gems and jewels in the earliest writings of the Hindus. The Vedas speak of a place illuminated by rubies and diamonds, which gave out a light as refulgent as that of the planets. Precious stones play a prominent part in the mythologies

v1.c12.t4.4

Vajram

v1.c12.t4.5

Vajram (diamond) is of three kinds: male, female and hermaphrodite, and its medicinal properties vary in excellence in the order in which they have been spoken. 26

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The one with 8 angles and 8 faces and 6 corners, very brilliant, with the play of rainbow-colours¹ is known as the male diamond, whereas the female diamond is flattened and rounded whilst the neuter is rounded, obtuse-angled and slightly heavy. 27-28

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Each of these again is divided into 4 classes according to its colour namely: Brāhmana, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sūdra.² 30

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of the Hindus, in their traditions, poems and legends. In the two great epics of Hindustan, the Rāmāyana and the Mahābhārata, frequent mention is made of stones and pearls with which the kings and the people of the period used to decorate their person.”

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(1) The high refractive and dispersive power of diamond is evidently referred to.

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(2) “Diamonds white like the conch, waterlily, or crystal are Brāhmanas; those which are red like the eyes of the hare are Kshatriyas; those which are verdant like the cool plantain-leaf are Vaisyas; those which resemble in colour the clean sword, are nown as Sudras.” Manimāla, i.100.

v1.c12.t4.11

Diamond is a bestower of long life, a tonic, an allayer of the three derangements [namely, of air, phlegm and bile], a killer of all the ailments, a fixer of mercury, a subduer of death—in short it is like nectar.

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Diamond is digested in the decoction of kulattha (*dolichos uniflorus*) or of kodrava (*paspulum scrobiculatum*) for three hours and thus purified. Diamond is to be macerated four times in the blood of the bug and enclosed in a ball made of the flesh of the musk-rat and then to be roasted in a covered crucible 30 times or to be heated 100 times and plunged in the decoction of kulattha. 34-37

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Diamond is to be placed in a covered crucible, the inside of which has been coated with realgar, rubbed with the decoction of kulattha and the juice of *artocarpus lakoocha* and roasted 8 times in succession in the fire of dry cow-dung cakes. It is then heated 100 times and thrown into pure mercury—the diamond is thus killed and reduced to fine ashes. 38-39

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The veracious alchemist Somasenānī, after having convinced himself of the success of this process by his own experiments, has given it to the world. 40

v1.c12.t4.15

Diamond is to be 7 times smeared in the blood of the bug and dried in the sun and then to be placed in an iron pot and filled w th the juice of *cassia sophora* and heated 7 times. The diamond is sure to be reduced to ashes. This process has been described by the sage Brahmajyoti.

v1.c12.t4.16

Diamond smeared with the powder of lead, levigated in the juice of the fruit of madana (*randia dumetorum*), and roasted 20 times in a covered crucible, is reduced to fine powder, which is to be used in medicines.¹

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¹ One or two processes not mentioned by our author may be quoted from ‘‘Rasendrachintāmanis’’:—

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General Process of Reducing Gems to Ashes

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All the gems with the exception of diamond are killed when roasted eight times with a mixture of realgar, sulphur and orpiment, rubbed in the juice of *artocarpus lakoocha*.

v1.c12.t4.20

Take asafœtida, the five salts, the three alkalies, *rumex vesicarius*, sal ammoniac, the ripe fruit of the croton plant, jālāmukhi (*anthericum tuberosum*), rudanti (*asclepias rosea*), the root of *plumbago zeylanica*, and the milky juice of *euphorbia antiquorum* and *calotropis gigantea*—rub all these together and make them into a ball. Place inside it the noble and luck-yielding gems. Wrap the ball with the leaves of betula bhojpatra and tie them with thread and enclose the ball again in a piece of cloth and suspend it in a dolāyantra (see Bk. IX) filled with the acids and sour gruel and apply strong heat for three days and nights—the liquid principle of the gems is thus collected. 64-69

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Powdered pearl is to be rubbed with the juice of rumex vesicarius and then transferred inside a lemon and stowed in a mass of paddy. At the end of a week it is heated in a crucible and liquefied.¹ 70-71

v1.c12.t4.22

"Take the root of *piper betle* or of the cotton plant (*Gossypium herbaceum*) three years old, and rub it into a paste and enclose the diamond in it and roast it in a covered crucible seven times, when the diamond will be killed."

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"An intelligent person should place in a brass vessel a frog which out of fright will pass water. A diamond is to be heated and plunged into this urine. This process being repeated several times, the diamond is killed." This last recipe is also to be found in Sarngadhara. Couplets (44-45) do not occur in the Benares Ms.

Linked texts (2)

Śārṅgadharasaṃhitā — Śārṅgadhara (physician), Sanskrit
Rasendracintāmaṇi — Ḍhuṇḍhukanātha, Sanskrit