A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v2.c32.t1.36

v2.c32.t1.36

The introductory lines of Books viii and ix of Rasaratnasamuchchaya, in which Somadeva is mentioned as the author of the descriptive part, led us to suspect that they are merely reproductions from "a standard work on the subject by Somadeva, no longer extant."* Our surmise has proved to be partially correct. We have at last been able to recover the supposed lost work. A transcript of a MS. of Rasendrachúdámani by Somadeva, preserved in the Library of the Deccan College, Poona, reveals to us the fact that practically all the important portions of this book have been woven into the text of Rasaratnasamuchchaya; and this gives us an additional opportunity of collating many doubtful passages in both. But the present work itself does not lay claim to originality. It makes a candid admission that it culls all its materials from pre-existing chemical treatises.* It further puts forward the alchemist Nandi as the inventor of the process of sublimation and of the Koshthí apparatus (Vol. i, pp. 69 and 89).† Nágárjuna, Dandí, Sambhu and the sage Brahmajyoti are also spoken of as sources of his inspiration. We get very little inkling into the personal history of Somadeva, except that he was the ruler of a city named Karaválabhairava. The fact that R. R. S. lays Rasendrachúdámani so amply under contribution would suggest that the latter had become somewhat rare or that its contents had been well nigh forgotten when the former was compiled. Its date may therefore be put down between the 12th and 13th centuries A. D.