History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c17.33

c17.33

From the facts cited above, with particular reference to their chronological order, it will now be recognized that alchemy in India developed all along on independent lines. Its origin and growth were interwoven with a phase of religious activity—the outcome of purely indigenous trait. The progress of magic, witchcraft and alchemy can be traced, as we have seen, from the Atharvaveda onwards to the later Tantras without any breach of continuity, natural to any evolutionary process. The question of Indian alchemy deriving its origin from that of the Greeks and Arabs does not, therefore, arise at all, as suggested by some western scholars. There is, in fact, no evidence that Indian alchemy is of exotic origin. In the Greek doctrines of alchemy, which were adopted more or less by the Arabs, we find the formulation of a mystic relationship between the planets and the metals, the latter being supposed to be engendered in the womb of the earth under the influence of the planets. Each metal, so to say, is begotten by a particular planet. It is idle to look for any such reference in the Indian alchemical or astronomical works.