A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v2.c32.t1.32

v2.c32.t1.32

In the introduction to the first volume we stated: "It is to be regretted that the several works quoted by Mádhava [ on the science of mercury ] Rasárnava alone Rasahridaya. seems to have survived to our days" (l. c. lxxxiii). Since then we have been fortunate enough to procure as many as three transcripts of MSS. of Rasahridaya by Govindabhagavat from different quarters. As Mádhava speaks of this author in terms of the deepest reverence and regards him as "ancient," * we think we should not err on the wrong side if we place the author some three centuries before his time. If our surmise be correct, he should have lived about the eleventh century A. D. The only personal allusion which the author has condescended to offer for the edification of posterity is that he wrote his book at the request of the king of the Kirátaland, *i.e.*, the region adjoining modern Bhotan. Portions of this remarkable treatise after a careful collation of three MSS. have been reproduced in the proper place. The worm-eaten fragmentary MS. procured from Benares is 386 years old. Internal evidence equally goes to establish the antiquity of this work. The author was evidently a Buddhist as we learn from the colophon to the Benares MS. (*vide* trans. p. 12). It is, however, not to be found either in the India office or the Nepál MS. This important omission is easily accounted for. It is the reluctance of the latter day Hindus to acknowledge their obligations to a Buddhist author.