History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c17.11

c17.11

But judging from the internal evidences derived from the treatise Rasaratnakara itself, it can be concluded that this is a typical production representing the Mahayanist period of intellectual activity and must have been composed later than the time of Vagbhata. In Rasaratnakara we find recipes for a number of mercurial preparations, as well as descriptions of processes and apparatuses, of which there is no mention in Vagbhata or any other treatise of that time. We may not, therefore, be wide of the mark if we put down 7th or 8th century A.D. as its latest date. Reference may be made in this connection to the observations made by the great Arabian scholar, Alberuni about one Nagarjuna, a native of the fort Daihak near Somnath, nearly a century earlier than his own time. This Nagarjuna has been described by Alberuni as a great adept in *rasayana* or alchemy and as the author of a rare book which contained the substance of the whole literature on the subject. If we shift Alberuni's date about Nagarjuna a century or two backwards, then it will tally with the time we have fixed above for the composition of Rasaratnakara. In view of the strength of internal evidences we are inclined to adhere to this later date of 8th century A.D. for Rasaratnakara and its author Nagarjuna. The story of Nagarjuna, the founder of the Madhyamika philosophy, and his friend, king Sadvahana, might have been an imposition, intentionally introduced in Rasaratnakara with a view to impress the stamp of a great and recognized authority on it. In the catalogue of palm-leaf and selected paper manuscripts, belonging to the Durbar Library, Nepal, prepared by H. P. Sastri, we find mention of two other treatises by Nagarjuna, named Yogasara (Catalogue Vol. I, p. 235) and Yogasatak (Vol. II, p. 75). In the former there is a recipe for improving the physical body, and the latter contains recipes for cosmetics and for cure of the diseases of the hair.