[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Science, technology and education](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science) › [A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D.](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902) › v2.c32.s5 # A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v2.c32.s5: Chemistry in Rasendrachudamani of Somadeva A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v2.c32.s5 - **Language:** English ### Chemistry in Rasendrachudamani of Somadeva ### [v2.c32.s5.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c32.s5.1) Tests for killed iron (rouge). ### [v2.c32.s5.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c32.s5.2) As R. R. S. has borrowed these from the present work, it is unnecessary to repeat them here. \*Vide\* Vol. i, pp. 118-119. ### [v2.c32.s5.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c32.s5.3) \*Sans. texts, pp. 52-53.\* ### [v2.c32.s5.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c32.s5.4) Take lead of the weight of 30 palas and rub it with the milky juice of \*Calotropis gig.\* and calcine it till its weight is reduced to a karsha : this residue, even if it be calcined a thousand times, will not undergo further decay (\*i. e.\* diminution in weight). Metallurgists call this residue derived from lead Chapala.\* ### [v2.c32.s5.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c32.s5.5) Tin also similarly treated will yield a chapala, which, on merely being touched with the hand, kills (fixes) mercury. This mercury is recommended for metallurgical and not for chemical purposes. ### [v2.c32.s5.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c32.s5.6) ∗ Possibly it refers to lead derived from \*argentiferous galena\*. The lead, being cupelled off in the shape of litharge, will leave a button of silver, which will not undergo oxidation. ### [v2.c32.s5.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c32.s5.7) \[A somewhat complex process described, which is not very clear. We shall try to give the purport thereof. The quantitative measurements are of particular interest.\] ### [v2.c32.s5.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c32.s5.8) 1 pala of tin should be taken and rubbed with 10 nishkas of mercury and made into a cake with the addition of zinc;\* it is then to be digested with the decoction of certain herbs and plants and warm vinegar and once more rubbed with ½ pala of blue vitriol † and the juice of \*Abrus precatorius\*. The mass is then to be divided into small pills; these should then be put into a crucible with the lid on and the fire to be urged by means of bellows. The essence is then to be taken out of the crucible. This essence of the weight of 10 Sānas is then to be enclosed in a mixture of ashes and salts and roasted. This essence of the weight of 2 nishkas is then to be fused with 80 times its weight of lead \* \* \* . This (essence) is also termed chapala. Cf. "the gold-like alloy" in Vol. i, pp. 74-75. ### [v2.c32.s5.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c32.s5.9) ∗ रसकस्य सत्त्वेन. ### [v2.c32.s5.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c32.s5.10) † पलार्धमुद्र सत्त्वेन. ### [v2.c32.s5.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c32.s5.11) When quicksilver has been deprived of its physical properties (lustre, fluidity &c.) it is known as nashtapishta. Cf. Vol. i, p. 74. ### [v2.c32.s5.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c32.s5.12) Somadeva will now give a brief account of the apparatuses, after having consulted numerous chemical tantras. (Here follows the description, which has been reproduced verbatim in R. R. S. Vide Vol. i, pp. 121 et seq.) ### [v2.c32.s5.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c32.s5.13) Ūrddhavapātana apparatus as described by Nandin. Cf. Vol. i, pp. 124-25. ### [v2.c32.s5.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c32.s5.14) Koshthī apparatus as described by Nandin. Cf. Vol. i, p. 69. ## Linked texts (1) - [Rasaratnasamuccaya](https://indike.org/pramana/in.med.rasa.rasaratnasamuccaya) — Vāgbhaṭa (alchemist), Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c32.s5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c32.s5) · Pramāṇa