History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c26.10

c26.10

Rasasara is an important treatise of this period. It is a comprehensive but purely chemical work dealing with 18 operations on mercury; various chemical processes are incidentally described, a good many of which, however, overlap each other The author, Govindacharya, as a devout Hindu begins with his adoration of Siva and Vishnu, and tells us at the outset that his treatise is a composition and epitome based upon standard works on the subject and the contribution of the adepts It is interesting to note that he declares his indebtedness to the Buddhists of Tibet for a knowledge of certain processes This seems to indicate that the cultivation of alchemy and chemical knowledge had become neglected, almost forgotten, in India proper, and the earnest searchers for the lore had to repair during the time of our author to Tibet. Confirmatory evidence to the effect is equally furnished in the colophon to Rasahrıdaya of the previous period. We have already discussed that during the decadence of Buddhism and the corresponding ascendancy of Brahminisin in Bengal, circa 11th to 13th century A D, this branch of science found a safe retreat in the land of the Kiratas The work is very likely a product of the 13th century A D, and there is mention of opium in it. But the author was evidently quite in the dark as to the origin of opium, which he believed to be derived from certain kinds of poisonous sea-fish or snakes (The Sanskrit word for opium, *ahiphena*, lit foam of the snake.)