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History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c39.s6: The Mahabhutas—Mechanical Mixtures

History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c39.s6

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The Mahabhutas—Mechanical Mixtures

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Susruta notes that each of the gross *bhutas* (*mahabhutas*) is found mixed up with the other *bhutas*;—e g., the *mahabhuta akasa* is the receptacle (or vehicle) of air, heat-and-light, and water vapour; the *mahabhuta vayu*, of water vapour, light-and-heat, and even fine particles of earth held in suspension, the *mahabhuta tejas*, of earth-particles in the shape of smoke, and also water vapour (Susruta, Sarirasthana, Chap. I).

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*Mono-bhautic Earth-substances* — Charaka and Susruta regard the following as Earth-substances:

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Gold, the five *lohas* (silver, copper, lead, iron and tin) and their rust, arsenic, orpiment, various mineral-earths and salts, sand, precious stones. The salts include common salt, saltpetre, etc Susruta mentions the alkalies, borax, natron, *yavakshara* (carbonate of potash), etc. The *audvidha* salt, an inflorescence of the soil, stands for *reh*

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Of these Earth-substances, some were known to be compounds; e g., the chemical salts of the metals, collyrium etc. Susruta describes the preparation of the metallic salts. The leaves of the metals were pasted over with the salts, and then roasted. These metallic salts are therefore *mono-bhautic* Earth-compounds. Susruta also gives the preparation of mild and caustic alkalies.

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According to some, precious stones are rocks (or earths) metamorphosed by natural process in the course of ages.

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*Ap-substances, Simple and Compound* :— Susruta, following Charaka, enumerates various classes of *ap* substances e.g., waters, acids, milks, curds, butters, oils, fats, honeys, molasses, alcoholic liquors, urines, etc. ; in other words, liquids in general.

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Pure *ap* (*mahabhuta*) is tasteless, and the six tastes are developed when the *mahabhuta ap* enters into combination, mechanical or chemical, with other *mahabhutas*. Susruta notes that various kinds of *kshiti* are dissolved in the waters of different localities, and where the particles so dissolved consist predominantly of *kskiti*, the water tastes acid or salt,—where predominantly watery, the resulting taste is sweet,—where the *kshiti* particles are mixed up with *tejas*, the water tastes pungent or bitter, etc. Such is the case with mechanical mixtures. In the case of *bi-bhautic* or *tri bhautic* compounds Charaka mentions that substances with *mahabhuta ap* predominating in their composition taste sweet; with *mahabhutas kshiti* and *tejas* predominating, acid; with *mahabhutas ap* and *tejas* predominating, salt; with *mahabhutas vayu* and *tejas* predominating, pungent; with *mahabhutas vayu* and *akasa* predominating, bitter; and with *mahabhutas vayu* and *kshiti* predominating, astringent (Charaka, Sutrasthana, Chap. 26; *cf.* Susruta, Sutrasthana, Chap. 42).

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In fact with the exception of Susruta's waters which are mechanical mixtures, or rather solutions, all these *ap-substances* are organic products and, as such, *penta bhautic*, i e., compounded of all the five *mahabhutas*; and the particular ‘taste’ which is developed depends on the relative proportion of the *mahabhutas*, and the predominance of one or more of them in the *penta-bhautic* compound in question.

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QUALITIES OF COMPOUNDS

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The isomeric modes of each *mahabhuta* have specific colours, tastes, etc. due to their structure, i.e., the arrangement of their atoms; and the physicochemical characters of compounds, whether of the same or of different *mahabhutas*, result from the collocation in unequal proportion of the different forces latent in the atoms of the component substances. Charaka adds that the varied forms (textures) and colours of organic substances, whether vegetable or animal, are derived in the same way.

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Susruta ignores Charaka's distinction between *mahabhuta* and subtle *bhuta*, and views every substance as in reality *penta-bhautic*, and it is only the relative predominance of a particular *bhuta* or *bhutas* in any substance that determines its class (Susruta, Sutrasthana, Chap. 41).

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CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PROCESSES

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In the writings of the medical schools of ancient India, originating from Charaka and Susruta, we frequently come across instances of chemical composition and decomposition, by processes, more or less crude, of calcination, distillation, sublimation, steaming, fixation, etc Mention may also be made of the various metallurgical processes described, e g, extraction, purification, killing, calcination, incineration, powdering, solution, distillation, precipitation, rinsing or washing, drying, steaming, melting, casting, filling, etc. To these were added several special processes for mercury (e.g., fixation). Application of heat in different measures—strong, medium and mild, was often employed to give rise to the product in view.

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ORGANIC COMPOUNDS

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These were divided into two classes—vegetable and animal The molasses, the fermented liquors, the saps and juices of plants, fruit acids, vegetable ashes and alkalies, together with the tissues of plants, are vegetable compounds. Honey, milk, curd, butter, fat, bile, urine, and other excreta, together with the organs and tissues of animals, are animal substances. Charaka notices vegetable as well as animal oils. The viscous (oily) substances are classed under four heads—butters, oils, fats, and marrows. Salts may be either mineral or vegetable salt.

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Susruta divides poisons into two classes, vegetable and animal; but several poisons, expressly termed mineral poisons, are included in the first class.

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All organic substances, whether animal or vegetable, are *penta-bhautic*, being compounded of greater or less proportions of the five *mahabhutas*.

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All the component substances of the body are *penta-bhautic* compounds, though sometimes they are assigned to the particular *bhutas* which predominate in their compositions; e.g., bile to *tejas*, lymph, chyle, blood, fat, urine, sweat and other secretions to *ap*, and skin, flesh, bones, nails, hair, etc., to *kshiti* (Charaka, Sarirasthana, Chap. II, IV and VII).

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CHEMISTRY OF DIGESTION

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The chemistry of digestion has also been elaborately discussed by Charaka and Vagbhata.

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The food we eat contains five kinds of *penta-bhautic* organic compounds From their radicles or predominant elements, the substances are named *earth-compounds*, *ap-compounds*, *tejas-compounds*, *vayu-compounds* and *akasa-compounds*. The *earth-compounds* supply the hard formed matter of the body, the *tejas-compounds* give the animal heat (or the metabolic heat), the *vayu-compounds* are the sources of the motor force in the organism, the *ap-compounds* furnish the watery parts of the organic fluids, and the *akasa-compounds* contribute to the finer etheric essence which is the vehicle of the conscious life. Roughly speaking, the *earth-compounds* answer to the nitrogen compounds in the food, the *tejas-compounds* to the hydrocarbons (heat producing), and the *vayu-compounds* to the carbohydrates (dynamic). The *ap-compounds* are the watery parts of food and drink. The flesh, for example, is a tissue composed principally of *earth-compounds*, the fat, of the *earth-* and *ap-compounds*, the bones of *earth-*, *vayu-* and *tejas-compounds*. The *tejas compounds* predominate in the composition of the blood. For purposes of digestion it is stated that different operations of the metabolic heat (perhaps different digestive fluids are also meant) are required to digest the different substances in the food.

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FORMATION OF MOLECULAR QUALITIES IN CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS

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The Charaka school, which, we have seen, was an offshoot of the Samkhya, supplemented the above account of inorganic and organic compounds with a characteristically Samkhya explanation of the formation of molecular qualities by chemical combination. In Charaka's view, the colours, tastes, etc. of the molecules of chemical compounds result from the collocation in unequal proportion and from the unstable equilibrium of the different forces latent in the atoms (*paramanus*) themselves

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CHEMISTRY OF COLOURS

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The colours of chemical compounds have also been accounted for on the basis of the doctrine of Charaka by his followers. Gangadhara, in the Jalpakalpataru, a commentary on the Charaka Samhita (Calcutta, 1869), furnishes the following explanation.

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The qualities of the atom tend to produce similar qualities in the molecule. A molecular quality is, therefore, the result of the conjunction or opposition, as the case may be, of the atomic tendencies. When, for example, the five *bhutas* combine to produce an organic compound (the human body), *tejas*, *ap* and *kshitı* (earth) tend to produce red, white and black respectively; but in the body (a compound substance) the yellow colour may happen to be produced as the result of these tendencies in that particular proportion and collocation But the molecule forms a fresh collocation, redistributes the Mass and Energy, and sets up new forces in the system, which, coming into play, modify the potencies (or tendencies) in the component atoms and thus determine the resultant This is elaborated into a curious but complete theory of the colours of chemical compounds.

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The colour and other qualities of a simple substance (an isomeric mode of any *bhuta*) are the result of the potencies lodged in that particular collocation of Mass, Energy and Essence Now, when two such substances unite, their colours etc. tend to be produced, but the combination brings on a fresh distribution of Energy, Mass and Essence, and the forces thus set free may powerfully modify or even extinguish the separate tendencies or potencies of the component simple substances For example, when we prepare a collyrium by mixing equal parts of sulphur and mercury (the black sulphide of mercury), we find the resulting compound black. It should be remembered that each of the substances (sulphur and mercury) contains *sattva* (Essence), *rajas* (Energy) and *tamas* (Mass) in different proportions, and that predominant *tamas* (Mass or Inertia) always produces black, predominant *sattva* (Essence), white, and predominant *rajas* (Energy), red. Now, in the black sulphide of mercury, the white of the mercury tends to produce white, and the yellow of the sulphur yellow and if these tendencies were not obstructed, the result would be a mixed colour. But, in the particular collocation in question, the *tamas* of the mercury becomes intensive, and the black of the now intensive *tamas* extinguishes the white of the uncompounded mercury, which was due to prevailing *sattva*, as well as the yellow of the uncompounded sulphur, which was due to the combined operation of white-producing *sattva* and red-producing *rajas*. Again, when, with proper apparatus and by the application of heat, we combine mercury and sulphur to produce the red sulphide of mercury, the resulting colour is explained by the fact that in this new collocation the *rajas* (Energy) of the mercury becomes intensive, and, extinguishing both the white-producing *sattva* of the mercury and the yellow-producing *sattva-rajas* of the sulphur, imparts a red colour to the compound. In these cases as also in the formation of red by mixing powdered turmeric with lime, or whenever a new colour is produced in the compound, it is to be explained by the dominance of *tamas*, *rajas* or *sattva*, or their combinations, and the extinction of the uncompounded tendencies (or potencies) by the forces set free in the new collocation But there are cases where the colour of the compound is a mixed colour resulting from the colours of the combining substances; e.g., when sulphide of mercury and calcined tin are mixed, the resulting colour is evidently a mixed one (*patala*, pink), which is easily explained by the colours of the component substances

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PARINAMA-VADA VERSUS ARAMBHA-VADA

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Charaka's view of the formation of a new quality or a new substance is based on the Samkhya teaching as to the conservation and transformation of Energy, and brings chemical synthesis in a line with evolutionary change (*parinam*). On this view, a new substance may arise by spontaneous or isomeric change, i.e, by the interplay of Energies within the system of any given substance, in the absence of any action from without. New qualities like new substances are only readjustments of the old, and continual changes are going on by spontaneous disintegration and recombination. Opposed to this evolutional view of chemical synthesis is the Nyaya-Vaiseshīka doctrine of *arambhavada*, according to which no change of substance or quality, no effect, in short, can take place except by the action of one component element (substance or quality) on another. A binary molecule, for example, cannot possess any 'specific quality' of a kind not represented in each of the two component atoms In the cosmic process, no atom can exist free and uncombined with another atom, and every specific quality in a substance can be ultimately analysed into the union of two 'specific qualities' of the same class in two ultimate particles, which cannot be further divided. A single colour, smell or taste in a single particle, until it can link itself on to another specific quality *of its own class* in a second particle, cannot characterise any substance formed by the union of these particles as material causes. Hence an *earth-atom* cannot unite with an *ap-atom*, to form a new substance of which both the particles must be equally regarded as material causes. At any rate, such a compound, if effected, would be smell-less, as of the two constituent atoms, only one, viz., the *earth-atom*, possesses smell. A compound of *earth* and *vayu* would be smell-less, colourless and tasteless, and so on. The Nyaya-Vaiseshika does not deny that there may be compounds of different *bhutas*, nor does it deny the causal operation of specific qualities as efficient or energising (dynamic) causes, but it refuses to place these compounds on the same footing as compounds of isomeric modes of the same *bhuta*; and it accepts the 'material' causality, in such cases, of only one of the *bhutas*, regarding the others as 'co-efficients'.

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The earlier Samkhyas including the medical schools of ancient India brushed all this aside as a distinction without a difference. The Vedantists, as we shall presently see, flouted this doctrine of *arambha-vada*. The Jainas, in opposing this Vaiseshika view of atomic combination, hit upon a solution of the problem of chemical affinity. Others again, found out a *via media*. They held that a molecule of the structure EA (one atom of *earth* and one atom of *ap*) would exhibit some variety of colour and taste resulting from the joint action of the atoms and of their several colours and tastes. But as in the combination EA only the *earth-atom* possesses smell, and the *ap-atom* is smell-less, and as, moreover, no quality in a compound substance can result except from the joint action of the similar (potential) qualities of at least two component elements, it follows that a molecule of the structure EA would not manifest the energy of smell, potentially contained in the *earth-atom*. Hence, admitting the combination EA for a smell-less compound, the upholders of this view would suppose a molecule of the type E₂A (i.e., two atoms of *earth* and one of *ap*, to explain any bhautic compound of earth and *ap* (like the plant saps and fruit juices), which exhibits smell in addition to the peculiarities of colour and taste.

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