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Hindu Achievements in Exact Science: A Study in the History of Scientific Development c16: X. Chemistry

Hindu Achievements in Exact Science: A Study in the History of Scientific Development c16

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English

X. Chemistry

c16.2

Both in the East and the West chemistry was at first alchemy. It was principally a handmaid to the science or art of medicine, and subsidiarily allied to metallurgy and the industrial arts. Whatever be the worth of that chemistry according to the modern standard, the Hindu investigators could give points to their European peers. They were, besides, teachers of the Saracens and of the Chinese.

c16.3

Leaving aside the chemists or druggists in the medical schools of India, two great specialists in chemistry *as such* were Patanjali (second century b.c.) and Nagarjuna (early Christian era). Patanjali was also a philologist, his commentary on the famous grammar of Panini is well known. His "science of iron" (*loha-shastra*) was a pioneer work on metallurgy. Nagarjuna's genius also was versatile. He is the patron-saint of alchemists. He is credited with having founded or rather systematized the philosophy of *rasa* (mercury).

c16.4

Some of the achievements of the Hindu brain have been genuine contributions to chemical science.

c16.5

The Hindu chemical investigators of the fifth and sixth centuries A.D. (the age of Gupta-Vikramadityan Renaissance) were far in advance of Roger Bacon (thirteenth century). In fact, they anticipated by one millennium the work of Paracelsus (sixteenth century) and Libavius (seventeenth century). "The physico-chemical theories as to combustion, heat, chemical affinity were clearer, more rational, and more original than those of Van Helmont or Stahl." (Seal.)⁴⁴

c16.6

1. According to Prafullachandra Ray, the earliest Hindus knew of the distinction between green and blue vitriol. But Dioscorides, the Greek, and Pliny, the Roman, both belonging to the first century A.D., confounded the two. Even Agricola's ideas were not clear (1494-1555).

c16.7

2. The scientific pharmacy of Sushruta was almost modern. About the preparation of caustic alkali he was careful enough to give the special direction that the strong lye is to be preserved in an iron vessel. It was far superior to the process of a Greek writer of the eleventh century who has been eulogized by Berthelot.⁴⁴

c16.8

3. According to Royle, the process of distillation was discovered by the Hindus.

c16.9

4. By the sixth century the Hindu chemists were masters of the chemical processes of calcination, distillation, sublimation, steaming, fixation, etc.⁵⁹

c16.10

5. These processes were used by researchers of the Patanjali and Nagarjuna cycles in order to bring about chemical composition and decomposition, e. g.,

c16.11

(*a*) In the preparation of
> (1) Perchloride of mercury;
> (2) Sulphide of mercury;
> (3) Vermilion from lead, etc.
(*b*) In the extraction of
> (1) Copper from sulphate of copper;
> (2) Zinc from calamine;
> (3) Copper from pyrites, etc.

c16.12

6. The importance of the apparatus in chemical research is thus described in "*Rasarnava*," a work on chemistry, of the eleventh century:

c16.13

"For killing (oxidizing) and coloring mercury, an apparatus is indeed a power. Without the use of herbs and drugs, mercury can be killed with the aid of an apparatus alone; hence an expert must not disparage the efficacy of the apparatus." 44

c16.14

With this preamble the author introduced his account of the chemical laboratory, instruments, crucibles, etc.

c16.15

7. In "*Madanapala-nighantu*," a work on drugs (*c.* 1374), zinc was distinctly mentioned as a separate metal. Paracelsus (1493–1541) was thus anticipated in India by about two hundred years.

c16.16

8. The philosophy of mercury was a recognized branch of learning during the fourteenth century. It was one of the celebrated sixteen in Madhavacharya's collection of philosophical systems (1331).

c16.17

He mentioned "Rasarnava" as a standard work on mercury.

c16.18

9. "Rasa-ratna-samuchchaya" (treatise on mercury and metals) is a comprehensive work of the fourteenth century. It embodies practically the whole chemical, mineralogical, and metallurgical knowledge of the Hindus developed through the ages. Like the "Brihat Samhita" (sixth century A.D.) by Varaha-mihira, it is a scientific encyclopædia. It is specially remarkable for its section on the laboratory, directions for experiments, and description of apparatus.

c16.19

10. The Hindus had no knowledge of mineral acids for a long period. But this defect was made up by their use of *Vid*, which, says Ray, could "kill all metals." This was a mixture containing *aqua regia* and other mineral acids *in potentia*. The substance had probably been discovered by Patanjali.⁵⁹ Mineral acids were discovered almost simultaneously both in India and Europe during the sixteenth century.

c16.20

The debt of Europe to Saracen chemistry or alchemy is generally acknowledged by historians of science.⁶⁸ This implies also Europe's debt to the Hindus; for they had taught these teachers of mediæval Europe.

c16.21

Gebir, the earliest Saracen (Spanish) chemist (eighth century), was familiar with Hindu *rasayana* (alchemy and metallurgy, the seventh division of the "science of life," called *Ayur-veda*). He called carbonate of soda "sagimen vitri" from the Hindu name *sajji matti*. He also knew *tutia*, the Hindu name of copper sulphate.⁷⁸

c16.22

The Saracens themselves admitted their discipleship to the Hindu professors of medicine. Chemistry naturally passed along with the medical science from India into the Saracen Empire. The famous Arabic encyclopædia, "Kitaba al Fihrist," by Nadim (*c* 950) distinctly mentions the translation of Hindu medical works into Arabic under the patronage of Caliphs from Mansur to Mamun (*c* A.D. 750–850). Saracen scholars⁵¹ of the thirteenth century, e.g., Haji Khalifa, also acknowledged what their predecessors had learned from the schools of Hindu medicine.

c16.23

The medical practice in China also was considerably influenced by Hindu chemistry. In Book XXXIV of the "Sui Shoo" (A.D. 589–618) Nagarjuna appears under the Chinese appellation of Loong (i.e., Dragon) Shoo (i.e., Tree), the exact equivalent of the Hindu name, as an authority on recipes. The chemistry of the Tantrists was further assimilated by the Chinese through treatises like the "book of recipes narrated by Chipo" (Chinese for Shiva, the god of the "Tantras").

c16.24

The history of science requires, therefore, a revision, in the department of chemistry as in algebra, arithmetic, etc., in the light of facts from the Hindu angle.

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