History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c26.s1: Chemistry In Rasaratnasamuchchaya

History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c26.s1

Language: English

Chemistry In Rasaratnasamuchchaya

Salutation to him—the excellent, the greatest physician of the world, by the nectarous ocean of whose benign glance, resplendent with brilliance, born of everything that is joyous and auspicious, and which acts like unfailing elixir, the diseases of his devotees, such as birth, death and old age, and worldly attachment are cured in an instant. (The salutation is strictly Buddhistic.) 1

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Adima, Chandrasena, Lankesa, Bisarada, Kapali, Matta, Mandavya, Bhaskara, Surasenaka, Ratnakosa, Sambhu, Sattvika, Naravahana, Indrada, Gomukha, Kambali, Vyadi, Nagarjuna, Surananda, Nagabodhi, Yosodhana, Khanda, Kapalika, Brahma, Govinda, Lampaka and Hari—these are the twenty-seven experts on alchemy as also Rasamkusa, Bhairava, Nandi, Sachchhandabhairava, Manthanabhairava, Kakachandisvara, Vasudeva, Rishyasringa,—the compiler of alchemy, the ascetic Rasendratilaka, Bhaluki, who has got the appellation of Maithili, Mahadeva, Narendra, Ratnakara and Harisvara. 2-7

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This treatise on well-tried mercurials and minerals, named Rasaratnasamuchchaya, adopted to the treatment of diseases, is being compiled by the son of Simhagupta, after having consulted the works of the aforesaid adepts and others. It will treat of mercury, the minerals and the metals, the construction of the apparatus, the mystical formula for the purification of the metals, the extraction of the essences (active principles), liquefaction and incineration. 8-10

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(Here follows a description of the virtues of mercury and its mythical origin).

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By partaking of mercury, men are freed from a multitude of diseases, arising out of the sins of former existence—of this there is no doubt.

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He who falls foul of mercury, which is the generative principle of Siva, will rot in the hell aeon after aeon

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From the mouth of the God of fire * * * * mercury dropped into the country of Darada (Dardistan, the mountainous region about Kashmir, is famous for the ores of cinnabar; *darada* is in fact a name of cinnabar), and it has there remained ever so long The soil of that region, on being subjected to distillation, yields mercury.
89-90

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Here ends Book First of Rasaratnasamuchchaya, composed by Vagbhata, son of Simhagupta, prince of physicians

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BOOK II

Linked texts (1)

Rasaratnasamuccaya — Vāgbhaṭa (alchemist), Sanskrit