History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c29: Book Iv. The Gems

History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c29

Language: English

c29.s1 Vajram — 18 parts

Book Iv. The Gems

c29.1

The gems also are regarded as agencies which help the fixation or coagulation of mercury. These are the gems :—*Vaikranta*, *suryakanta* (sun-stone), *hirakam* (diamond), *mauftikam* (pearls), *chandrakanta* (moonstone), *rajavarta* (lapis lazuli) and *garudodgara* (the emerald, lit. derived from the vomit of Garuda); the topaz, the sapphire, the coral, the cat's eye are also reckoned among the gems. These are to be carefully collected for fixation of mercury. 1-3

c29.2

(The ruby and the zircon are also mentioned. The *vaikranta* is a kind of gem, said to resemble diamond and to be of similar properties. Gems and jewels are mentioned in the earliest writings of the Hindus; and precious stones play a prominent part in their mythologies, traditions, legends and poems.)

Vajram

c29.s1.1

*Vajram* (diamond) is of three kinds: male, female and hermaphrodite. Its medicinal properties vary in excellence in the order in which they have been spoken. 26

c29.s1.2

The one with eight angles and eight faces and six corners, very brilliant, with the play of rainbow colours (indicating high refraction and dispersion), is known as the male diamond; whereas the female diamond is flattened and rounded; whilst the neuter is rounded, obtuse-angled and slightly heavy. 27-28

c29.s1.3

Each of these again is divided into four classes, according to its colour; namely, *brahmana, kshatriya, vaisya* and *sudra*. 30

c29.s1.4

("Diamonds, white like the conch, water-lily or crystal, are *brahmanas*; those, which are red like the eyes of the hare, are *kshatriyas*; those, which are verdant like the cool plantain leaf, are *vaisyas*, those, which resemble in colour the clean sword, are known as *sudras*"—*Manimala*, a treaties on gems, by S. M. Tagore, p. 100.)

c29.s1.5

Diamond is a bestower of long life, a tonic, an allayer of the three derangements (namely, of air, phlegm and bile), a killer of all the ailments, a fixer of mercury, a subduer of death—in short it is like nectar. 32

c29.s1.6

Diamond is digested in the decoction of *kulattha* (*Dolichos biflorus*) or of *kodrava* (*Paspalum scrobiculatum*) for three hours and thus purified. Diamond is to be macerated four times in the blood of the bug and enclosed in a ball made of the flesh of the musk-rat, and then to be roasted in a covered crucible thirty times, or to be heated hundred times and plunged in the decoction of *kulattha*. 34-37

c29.s1.7

Diamond is to be placed in a covered crucible, the inside of which has been coated with realgar, rubbed with the decoction of *kulattha* and the juice of *Artocarpus lakoocha* and roasted eight times in succession in the fire of dry cow-dung cakes. It is then heated hundred times and thrown into pure mercury—the diamond is thus killed and reduced to fine ashes. 38-39

c29.s1.8

The veracious alchemist Somasenam, after having convinced himself of the success of this process by his own experiments, has given it to the world. 40

c29.s1.9

Diamond is to be smeared seven times in the blood of the bug and dried in the sun, and then to be placed in an iron pot and filled with the juice of *Cassia sophera*, and heated seven times. The diamond is sure to be reduced to ashes This process has been described by the sage, Brahmajyoti. 41-42

c29.s1.10

Diamond smeared with the powder of lead, levigated in the juice of the fruit of *madana* (*Randia dumetorum*) and roasted twenty times in a covered crucible, is reduced to fine powder, which is to be used in medicines. 44-45

c29.s1.11

GENERAL PROCESS OF REDUCING GEMS TO ASHES

c29.s1.12

All the gems with the exception of diamond are killed when roasted eight times with a mixture of realgar, sulphur and orpiment, rubbed in the juice of *Artocarpus lakoocha*. 63

c29.s1.13

Take asafoetida, the five salts, the three alkalies, *Rumex vesicarius*, sal-ammoniac, the ripe fruit of the croton plant, *jalamukhi* (*Anthericum tuberosum*), *rudanti* (*Asclepias rosea*), the root of *Plumbago zeylanica*, and the milky juice of *Euphorbia antiquorum* and *Calotropis gigantea*—rub all these together and make them into a ball Place inside it the noble and luck-yielding gems Wrap the ball with the leaves of *Betula bhojpattra* and tie them with thread, and enclose the ball again in a piece of cloth, and suspend it in a dola yantra filled with the acids and sour gruel, and apply strong heat for three days and nights—the liquid principle of the gems is thus collected. 64-69