History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c28: Book Iii. The Uparasas or Inferior Rasas

History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c28

Language: English

c28.s1 Sulphur — 20 parts
c28.s2 The Anjanas — 9 parts
c28.s3 The Common Rasas — 14 parts

Book Iii. The Uparasas or Inferior Rasas

c28.1

Sulphur, red ochre, vitriol, alum, orpiment, realgar, *anjāna* and *kankushtha*—these are eight *uparasas*, useful in operations of mercury. 1

c28.2

( Then follows the mythical origin of sulphur. )

Sulphur

Sulphur is of three kinds: that of the first quality resembles the beak of a parrot; that of the second quality is yellow; whereas the white variety is the worst, Another authority says : there are four kinds of sulphur according as it is of white, yellow, red and black colour respectively .. the black variety is rare. 12-15

c28.s1.2

Melted sulphur is poured into the juice of *Verbesina calendulacea* and thus purified.

c28.s1.3

A vessel which contains milk has its mouth tied down with a piece of cloth, over which is deposited finely powdered sulphur; the latter again covered with an earthen bowl. Heat is applied from above by burning cow-dung cakes. The melted sulphur drops into the milk and is thus purified. 24-25

c28.s1.4

GAIRIKA

c28.s1.5

*Gairika* (red ochre) is of two kinds. the one, *pashana gairika*, is hard and copper-coloured ; the other is *swarna gairika*, i.e. of the colour of gold (yellow). 46

c28.s1.6

KASISA

c28.s1.7

*Kasisa* (sulphate of iron) is of two kinds. *valuka-kasisa* and *pushpa-kasisa*. (The former, termed in other works *dhatukasisa*, is the green variety and the latter, the basic or yellowish variety.) 51

c28.s1.8

Its essence is to be extracted like that of alum. 54

c28.s1.9

TUVARI

c28.s1.10

*Tuvari* (alum). the fragrant earth produced in the mountains of Surat is known as *tuvari*, which dyes cloth and fixes the colour of maddar. 59

c28.s1.11

A second variety of it, called *phataki* or *phullika*, is slightly yellow. Another variety, known as *phulla tuvari*, is white and acid in taste ; iron changes to copper by the process of *lepa*. (The author seems to convey the idea that alum plays an important part in this process. *Lepa* is used in the sense of transmutation of the baser metals.)

c28.s1.12

Alum is astringent, acid, beneficial to the eye and killer of mercury.

c28.s1.13

Alum is to be macerated in the bile of the ox one-hundred times and then its essence is to be extracted by distillation—a very secret process, not to be divulged.

c28.s1.14

TALAKA

c28.s1.15

*Tālaka* (orpiment) is of two kinds: the one is of a leafy structure, the other is found in balls or cakes and is of golden colour.... and bright.

c28.s1.16

It is purified by being digested in the juice of cucumber and the alkaline water of the ashes of sesamum, or in lime water.

c28.s1.17

*Tālaka* is to be rubbed with buffalo's urine and thrice macerated in the decoction of *Butea monosperma* of the consistency of honey, and then to be roasted in a covered crucible and powdered. This operation is to be repeated twelve times. It is then fit to be used in medicines. (Most likely a sulpharsenite of potash is formed in the process)

c28.s1.18

Take one pala of *tālaka* and rub it for one day with the milky juice of *Calotropis gigantea*, and mix it with the same weight of oil and heat it in an open place for seven days and nights together. Collect the white essence when it is cooled down

c28.s1.19

MANASSILA

c28.s1.20

*Manassilā* (realgar) is mixed with one-eighth part of its weight of iron-rust, molasses, bdellium and clarified butter, and then enclosed in the *koshthī* apparatus and strongly heated, when it yields its essence.

The Anjanas

c28.s2.1

The *Anjanas* (collyriums).—Of these there are *sauvīranjana*, *rasanjana*, *srotonjana*, *pushpānjana* and *nīlanjana*; their properties are described below. 97-98

c28.s2.2

*Nīlanjana* is a *killer* of gold (*cf.* the *killing* of gold, silver, iron and copper in Vagbhata, p. 71) and induces softness in iron, i e. renders it easily pulverizable. (This is due to the fact that iron becomes impregnated with brittle sulphide of iron.) 104

c28.s2.3

The essence of the anjanas is to be extracted like that of realgar.

c28.s2.4

(These five varieties of *anjanas* are used as cosmetics for the eyes. *Anjana* literally means collyrium or medicine for the eyes. *Sauvīranjana* is mostly galena or sulphide of lead, though it is usually translated as sulphide of antimony. It is said to be obtained from the mountains of Sauvīra, a country along the Indus, whence it derives its name.)

c28.s2.5

*Srotonjana* is evidently stibnite or the native sulphide of antimony The word literally means ‘produced from a river’, especially from the Yamuna.

c28.s2.6

*Nīlanjana* is undoubtedly stibnite or antimony sulphide.

c28.s2.7

*Pushpānjana* is described as an alkaline substance. It is rather unidentifiable.

c28.s2.8

*Rasanjana* is the extract of the wood of *Berberis asiatica*

c28.s2.9

*Kankushtham* is produced at the foot of the Himalayas . . . . Some are of opinion that it is the excrement of a new born elephant ..... it is of white and yellow colour, and is a strong purgative. 109-112

The Common Rasas

c28.s3.1

*Kampilla*, *chapala*, *gaurīpāshāna*, *navasāraka*, *kaparda*, *agnijāra*, *hingula*, *girisindura*, *mriddārasringakam*, ; these are the eight common *rasas* regarded as useful adjuncts to chemical operations by Nagarjuna and other experts. 120-121

c28.s3.2

*Kampilla* is like brick-dust. ..a purgative. ..a natural product of Surat....and a vermifuge (It is not clear, what *kampilla* denotes )

c28.s3.3

*Gauripashana* is of the lustre of rock-crystal, conch and turmeric respectively.....its white essence is to be extracted like that of orpiment. (This also cannot be identified.) 124-125

c28.s3.4

NAVASARA AND OTHER RASAS

c28.s3.5

*Navasara* (sal-ammoniac is produced by the decomposition of the shoots of bamboos and of the wood of *Careya arborea*; *navasara* is an alkali, its another name is *chulikalavana* (lit. salt deposited in the hearth) ; it is produced during the burning of the brick....it kills mercury, liquefies iron, is a stomachic, an absorbent of the spleen, and aids digestion after much eating. 127-129

c28.s3.6

(Sal-ammoniac cannot, however, be an alkali ; a confusion of salts with alkalies. )

c28.s3.7

*Varataka* (cowrie or marine shell).—Alchemists prefer shells which are of yellow colour, knotty and possessed of circular lines on the dorsal side...... macerated for three hours in sour gruel, it undergoes purification. 130-134

c28.s3.8

*Agnijara* is a substance discharged from the womb of a kind of sea-crocodile and dried in the sun. (This cannot be identified.) 135

c28.s3.9

*Girisindura* (lit. vermilion derived from the rocks) occurs along the big mountains (inside the rocks.) 137

c28.s3.10

*Hingula* (cinnabar, syn. *darada*) .—Quicksilver extracted from it is as efficacious as killed- sulphur. When darada is placed in a retort and its essence collected in water, it yields the same substance as quicksilver—of this there is no doubt. 141-144

Linked texts (1)

Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā — Vāgbhaṭa, Sanskrit