RASA, RASAYANA, RASATANTRA: EXPLORING CONCEPTS AND PRACTICES

Introduction

"Athāto dirghanjīvitīyamadhyāyam Vyākhyāsyamah,

iti ha smāha bhagavānātreyah" (Caraka Samhita,, Sutrasthanam, Ch I, 1 - 2)

Let the discourse on longevity begin:

Formally speaking, the rudiments of a separate discipline of Rasayana appeared on

the early Indian intellectual scene around the 7 th – 8th centuries, when the great Buddhist
exponent Nagarjuna rendered the knowledge into a sastra or theoretical form. However,
the period between the 2nd Century B.C. and 2nd century A.D. actually first witnessed the
notifications about a burgeoning body of related knowledge which appear to be
unconnected on the surface but had deeper links with each other. We have Patanjali
(Sankhya tradition) Yogasutra with Vyasa Bhasya – presenting an enlightened concept
of matter or ‘Bhuta’; Caraka Samhita compilation which exhibit a deep knowledge of the
rasa as essence of botanical and zoological ingredients and rasayana – process of
drugs preparations from these essences; and last but most important, the Kautilya
Arthasastra which discusses intricate matters of mining, mineral identification and
identification of mineral deposits. In fact both B.N. Seal and Acharya P.C. Roy had
drawn the philosophical foundations of the Caraka and Susruta to the contemporary
theories generated within the auspices of the Schools of Indian Philosphy. According to
Seal the prevailing schools of medicine and surgery were based on Sankhya teaching
with a methodology derived from the Nyaya – Vaisesika doctrine with the aid of which
they had founded an elaborate theory of inorganic and organic compounds. (1)

Around the 6th century A.D. the knowledge of materials was getting compiled in various
disciplines for different purposes, viz., in the Susruta Samhita for human health, in some
of the specific chapters of the Brhatsamhita and Amarakosa for a lexicon - informative
purposes. This influx of ideas, practices, transformed into a body of knowledge, emerged
as a new discipline in the hands of Nagarjuna in the 8 th - 9th centuries A.D., the most
scientific aspect of which is contained in its observation of materials: dravya and dravya
rasa.

Interestingly and significantly, according to Acharaya P.C. Ray - himself steeped in

the history and epistemology of Indian Rasayana (2), Nagarjuna, the Buddhist scholar
who composed the “Madhyamika Sutravrtti”, was probably not the learned metallurgist
who composed the “Lohasastra” and was the pathfinder in Rasayana who composed the
“Rasaratnakara”. But this Nagarjuna of the second century B.C. times was an all -
rounder - a reputed Buddhist scholar and an exponent of rasayana. Notably, the great
interpreter Grammarian Patanjali was also a brilliant philosopher and a metallurgist.
There is the matter of dating the compositions here, which makes it a debatable point
whether the Rasaratnakara in that case should not be dated to the 2 nd century A.D. and
whether that is at all possible. However, according to Roy himself the Rasaratnakara
was composed sometime before the 8 th century A.D. He also points out that Nagarjuna
was a “comprehensive name of the activity of Mahayanism in the first phase of its
onward course.” (3) Hence it is implied that tradition would assign all such related
knowledge to the name of Nagarjuna. Roy also refers to Buddhist tradition of Dharanis
transcending to Buddhist Tantra genre by the fifth sixth centuries A.D., (4) and that the
chemical knowledge got transmitted to the Buddhist Tantra genre by the 6 th to 8th
centuries. (5) Thus Rasaratnakara draws legacy not from the Nagarjuna, who was the
founder or ‘systematizer’ of the Madhyamika School within Buddhism of the 3 rd century
B.C. but may have had links with the Nagarjuna of the Satavahana connection, who,
according to Hiuen Tsang’s account , was also reputed as a revered Buddhist exponent,
scholar, and an alchemist. (6) Ibid, vol. I, xciii, xciv; Samuel Beal, Buddhist Records of
the Western World, vol. II, 212, 216). However, the actual text belongs to a time around
the 7th – 8th centuries A.D. (7)

But it was not a single person or a small group of intellectuals who deserve the credit
for building the new knowledge body. The rational, logical explanation for the birth of the
new discipline was the result of contributions from several working disciplines through
centuries. The knowledge of herbs and plants with intricate observations of morphology,
plant biology, properties etc., - fitting the available infrastructure of the times had had a
great contribution. Knowledge of minerals, including different varieties of clay minerals
and other natural formations, their identification, sources and properties - had been
building up from the days of the earliest civilization in South Asia. The practicing
metallurgists, potters, physicians, cosmetologists, masons and horticulturists (vide
Arthasastra, Brhatsamhita and Amarakosa) had piled up a huge inventory of knowledge
and information before the brilliant scholarship of Patanjali and Nagarjuna rendered the
format of a rational, theoretical and analytical framework combining concepts of matter
and what we now know as ‘chemistry’. In fact, it would perhaps not be wrong to claim
that the rational and scientific aspects of Rasayana were the contributions of these
practising professionals.

In the early Indian Ayurveda parlance Rasayana was related to the special treatment
for longevity. In fact the rasayana section in the Ayurvedic treatises represent the
parallel repertoire of the medical practitioners meant for healthy contingent of patients
who aspired for more health and a long life. The germ of the idea was implicit in the
Atharva Veda concept of Aysuyani - (8) - and Rasayana may be taken to be the later
formulated conception of that same germ of an idea.
Most interestingly, one may note how, even as early as the days of the Atharva Veda
(C. 8th century A.D.), the human yearnings for wealth and health were closely
intertwined – and the desire for longevity was measured in equal weight with the
imagined value of gold. (9)
The tradition of Rasatantra would catch up with this notion of all – round well – being and
success in the early medieval times.
However, the core concept of rasayana was centred round the connotation of rasa and
its physical as well as chemical rendition. Rasa in the Ayurveda genre was more
scientifically cognized. It was discussed in the context of the theories of Matter even in
the philosophical discourses. Looking at the Ayurvedic texts the concept does appear to
have got rooted in the cognizance of the body, its biological operations and the effects of
therapeutics on the body.
The development of the concept of matter in the Nyaya - Vaisesika and Sankhya - Yoga
systems (10) in the meantime did leave their influence on the physicians, practising the
often baffling and unrewarding ‘art of healing’. The workings of the body, especially the
process of digestion of food etc., and the breaking down of ingredients in their minutae,
vipaka, required the back – up knowledge of matter, as it was conceived of in those early
times. The concept of “Bhutas” elements and tanmatras or essence of potential energy,
the paramanu or atoms of which has created the universe: “Prthiviparamany
tanmatravayava” evolved in the Indian philosophy for, example in the Yoga sutra of
Patanjali. These tanmatras were understood to be of five basic categories:
sabdatanmatra, sparsatanmatra, rupatanmatra, rasatanmatra and gandhatanmatra. (11)
These theories had had a tremendous impact on the then intellectuals. Patanjali's
Yogasutra related the concept of matter to the concepts of body chemistry. The
impression was carried in the Ayruveda texts and the sections on Rasayana in these
texts. Vyasabhasya on Yoga vartika is discussed in the Sankhya system. (12)

The theories of Patanjali Yogasutra were so famous and fascinating among the
intellectuals since the early historic times down to the 11th century A.D. that Alberuni,
that great enthusiast of scientific knowledge, translated the Yogasutra in the Arabic. The
ideas were extremely useful to the physicians especially. Breaking the ground of
concepts of matter down to the bare levels of ‘tanmatra’ and ‘paramanu’ of ‘tanmatra’
was what prepared the theoretical foundations for practices which had for long times
been in operation in the workrooms of the metallurgists, potters, painters, physicians and
others. Rasa was the working counterpart of the substratum of dravya or matter which
was composed of tanmatras and paramanu of tanmatras. The ground was thus prepared
for a deeper understanding of the rasa in the context of Ayurveda too.

Concept of Rasa:
Rasa was defined in a wider sense as “the essence” in early Indian philosophical
context. However, its practical meaning to the practitioners of material science was more
critically garnered.
Rasa is first mentioned in the Caraka Samhita as the object of rasana - gustatory
sense organ. (13) The concept of rasa is clarified when the definition of dravya is laid out
(14) and rasa is termed as Dravya rasa. It was understood that dravyas have the
properties of the pancabhuta and the 63 variations of rasas also originate in the
pancabhuta . (15) Its material substance was described as manifest in the form of the
five elements: ap prthvi, akasa, vayu and Tejas - which are causative factors of the
manifestation and differentiations of rasas. Caraka mentions 6 original rasas or tastes
(16) – which were sweet, sour and saline, astringent, bitter and pungent according to
Punarvasu Atreya, the master physician. Permutations and combinations of these basic
rasas were said to produce 63 variations of rasas as properties of food and medicinal
formulae. (17) It is mentioned that the 63 variations of rasas occur due to the
combination and differences the substance, place, time.
"bhedascoisam trisastividhavikalpo dravyadesakalaprabhavad bhavanti"

Their primordial source is water. The rasas are considered in Caraka primarily in
connection with gustatory sense and its effect on the palate and ultimately human
health.

Pancamahabhutavikarastvasraya Prakrtivikrtivicarana desakalavasah, tesmasrayesu

dravyasangakesu guna gurulaghusitosnasingdharuksayah".

The above lines clearly derive the concept of dravya from the understanding of the
theory of Mahabhuta which hade evolved within the genres of Indian Philosophy. The
rasa are said to be products of the five mahabhutas - bhumi, udaka, agni, vayu and
antariksa. The substratum of rasas are dependent on natural composition, products,
preparation, place and time. The properties of the rasa reside in their substratum or
dravya - substance or drug - and they may be heavy, light, cold, hot, unctous, rough etc.

All dravyas or substances contain rasa and anurasa : avyaktebhavantu rasanam

Prakrtou bhavatyanurase anurasasamanvite va dravye". (18)
Anurasa or secondary rasa is un - manifested in the primordial source.
The admission to a gap in the knowledge of the basic elements of rasa is met with
here- as the primordial source is never explained. The ksara description clearly
distinguished between the natural mineral - dravya and the elements contained in that
element - rasa. The action on effects of the mineral are dravya guna and effects of rasa
are rasaguna.

Paraspara samsrsta bhuyisthatvannachoisam nibrttirguna prakrtinam parisankhyetvam

bhavati.
tasmanna samsrstanam rasanam karmopadisanti buddhimantah.
These lines clarify that the 63 rasa are but the results of different combinations and
permutations originating with the original 6 rasas. The knowledge that the combinations
could multiply into numerous effective rasas for gustatory and medicinal purposes was
no doubt the outcome of long observed experiences. No doubt the essentials were
realized through experience and observation of many manifestations of the actions of
rasa. The above sloka actually refers to the expert’s acknowledgement that "even
though there are observable innumerable combinations of rasas" and a later sloka
mentions 63 types of variants of rasa (19) - "the primordial source or its natural
properties and actions are not innumerable". "That is why" , the sloka explains, "the
intelligent ones do not describe the action of the combined rasas." - It follows logically
that explanation of rasas singly or dually would convey the entire idea.

Sutrasthana XXVI, 28 describes that there are two manifestations/forms of rasa -

manifest and dormant. Rasa is generally that essence which is manifest in the
preliminary dry and fresh stages of the substances as well as in the form of the dravya
as product of the end of the gustatory process. On the other hand there is the un-
manifest form or anurasa which is the subsidiary taste.

After this follows a discussion on the dravyaguna – or paradi, i.e., qualities or

properties of substance, which were understood in binary opposites like- paratva -
excellence, aparatva - non-excellence, samyoga - conjunction, vibhaga- disjunction, as
well as singular qualities like - Yukti or rationable, sankhya - enumeration, prthakatva-
separateness, parimana- measurement, samskara - processing, and abhyasa - practice.
Para adi para etc.

The gunas belong to the dravyas but there is also the overlapping concept that para
could also stand for properties of rasa.

Guna gunasraya noktastasmadrasa gunah bhisak.

Vidyadravyagunan karturabhiprayah Prthagvidhah (20)
These brief categorical descriptions, underpinning nomenclatures, connotations and
denotations of rasa vis-à-vis- substance - perceived from the health point of view - were
followed by detailed discussions on how different cases or combined rasas work in the
body and affect body conditions etc. Thereafter the chapter deals with dravya first as
rasa is the essence of dravya.That rasa or essence of dravya is what is to be considered
when prescribing medicine to a patient is made clear in a later portion of the chapter:
syah syadrasavikalpajnah syanca dosavikalpacit
na sa muhyedvikaranam hetulingopasantisu. (21)
One who is conversant with the variations of rasas vis-à-vis those of dosas (diseases),
does not confuse in deciding the cause, symptoms and treatment of diseases.

In the previous sloka - it is also mentioned that physicians, conversant with the
variations of rasas, administer drugs in various combinations or singly as required.

Dravyani dvirasadini samyuktansca rasan budhah

rasanekoikaso bapi kalpayanti gadan prati. (22)

These references clarify that in the days when the Caraka practices of the Ayurvedic
treatments were being conducted, rasa was understood to be the core of all
substances whether manifest in the ingredients used as drugs, or in the body of
human beings and also animals as body conditions and therefore obviously as
the unnatural conditions of the body too – viz., dosas.
There is one sloka in this chapter which refers to "dehadhatu" :
"Tamubaca bhagavanatreyo dehadhatupratyanikabhutani dravyani
dehadhatubhirvirodhamapadyante
parasparagunaviruddhani kanicit, samyogat samskaradaparani
desakalamatradibhiscaparani tatha svasbhavadaparani dravyani. (23)

Lord Atreya tells Agnivesa – the substance or dravya ( and rasa in the dravya) which
are contrary to dehadhatu behave with antagonism to them. This antagonism may be in
terms of properties, combination, processing, place, time, dose etc. or due to the natural
composition (of the substances and the dehadhatus). Here dhatu is mentioned in the
sense of "property" of the body - or rather - the concept is of "chemical balance of the
substances in the body" – and the whole sloka clarifies that the Caraka school
physicians well understood the ubiquity of the rasas - including their common presence
both in the dravya which is the drug and the body of the patient.
Most important clue to the holistic concept of rasa is to be found in the sloka which
exhorts that (24) the physician, desirous of success should administer rasas singly or in
combination according to the dosa as well as the drugs, the time etc. and the exhortation
that one has to understand rasa in their various combinations and conjunct qualities in
order to successfully administer specific drugs to individual patients. Rasayana, although
not specifically mentioned was implied in this sense of preparing and administering
drugs composed of dravyas which are composed of rasas meant for patients with
different rasa combinations in their physiognomic and psychological make - up .
Susruta being a later text carries the full impact of the knowledge of matter as it evolved
in the domain of philosophy.
In fact the Susruta widened the scope of Rasayana further from mere sustaining or
promoting decoctions to formulae preparations of linctuses and pastes for wounds,
astringents, sterilizing antiseptics for surgical purposes, etc.

Susruta Samhita deals with rasa in a more organized manner and the concept is spelt
out in more succinct terms: “...........Taste or rasa is said to be a water – originated
principle. All material elements are inseparably connected with one another, and there is
a sort of interdependence among them, each one contributing to the continuance of the
other and jointly entering, to a more or less extent, into the composition of all material
substances.” (25)

Not only that, - this later compilation carries the comprehension, if limited, of the
discussions on matter which had evolved in the domain of Indian schools of philosophy
by that time. This is revealed in the Susruta Sutrasthanam section that deals with:
“Rasa visesa vijnana adhyaya”. This section defines rasa as a separate matter of
discussion beginning with the contemporary concept of Bhuta.
Ākāśapavanadahanatoyabhūmisu yathāsankhyamekottaraparivrddhah
śabdaspararūparasagandhāh tasmādāpyorasah parasparasansargat
parasparānugrahāt parasparānuprabeśāscca sarvesu sarvesām sānnidhyamasti,
utkarsārpakarsāt tu grahanam. (26)
“The properties of sky, air, fire, water and earth are sound, touch, colour, taste and
smell, each of the preceding elements possessing properties less by one than those of
the one succeeding it in order of enumeration. All material elements are inseparably
connected (sansargāt) with one another, and there is a sort of interdependence
(anugrahāt) among them, each one contributing to the continuance of the other and
jointly entering (anuprabeśa), to a more or less extent, into the composition of all
material substances.”
The next verse (27) defines rasa - as flavour in the form of liquid or rasa, which
becoming modified through its contact with the rest of the material elements, get divided
into six different kinds, such as sweet, acid, saline, pungent, bitter and astringent. These,
in their turn, being combined with one another, give rise to sixty -three different kinds.
Each of these primary tastes is identified with a combination of the elements or bhutas.
The Susruta mentions the five elements not by the common names to be found in the
philosophical texts - ksiti, ap, tej, marut, byom but as akasa, pavana, dahana, toya and
bhumi. Now as to matching between rasa and bhutas - sweet rasa is largely endowed
with attributes which appertain to the material principles of earth and water
(bhumyambugunbahulyanmadhurah), amla is a gustatory flavour of the elements of
earth and fire (bhumayagnigunabahulyadamalah), salt is of water and fire
(toyagnigunabahulyallavanah), pungent or katu is of air and fire (vayavagnigunabahulyat
katukah), bitter or tikta is of air and ether/sky (vayavakasagunabahulyat tiktah) and
astringtent or kasaya is the flavour arising out of the properties of earth and air
(prithivyanilagunabahulyat kasaya). (28)
However, having said that, we must also realize that the formally declared Ayurvedic
theory of “Rasayana” was restricted to the therapeutics of longevity and vitality only. It is
surprising that this extremely rational and worked – out concept of rasa in the Caraka
and Susruta Samhita did not culminate into a more detailed and scientific concept of
Rasayana.

Discussions on Rasayana in Caraka and Susruta Samhita:

It is to be noted that the idea of “rasayana” as laid out in the Caraka and later elaborated
in the Susruta was the foundation on which the whole genre of Rasasastra was built.
Thus Rasayana and Rasatantra got confined into a niche where the main focus was not
on the science of rasa but on the formulae for longevity, youth and vigour.
Harbans Singh Puri writes that “The word rasayana literally means the path that rasa
takes (rasa: the primordial tissue or plasma; ayana: path).” It is also considered the
science which restores youth, alleviates suffering (diseases) and bestows longevity
(Susruta).” (29) As we have already noted above that in the Ayurveda tradition it was
held that the rasa essence in substances influence the health of the essences of
constituents of the body. The rasas which enhanced strength – both physical and mental
as well as promote youth, health and beauty were especially rated as the rasa for
rasayana.
We may note here, however, that the later treatise of Susruta (composed at least before
the fourth century A.D.) had widened the scope of Rasayana treatment to go beyond the
sustaining or promoting drugs to formulae preparations of linctus and pastes for wounds,
astringents, sterilizing antiseptics for surgical purposes, etc.
The preparations of general drugs for all kinds of diseases, described in the Caraka and
the Susruta Samhitas, reveal deep knowledge of ingredients and their properties.
However, the present discussion is deliberately kept focused specifically on the recipes
contained in the Rasayana sections.

Ingredients:
Since rasa was the core of the concept of healing in Ayurveda, the substances, whose
essences formed the therapeutic rasas - singly or in various combinations - formed an
important aspect of discussions in both the Caraka and Susruta. These discussions,
including the discussions on several recipes for treatments, illuminate upon the scope of
knowledge that the Ayurvedic physicians had attained in the days when Caraka and
Susruta were being composed (from the turn of the Christian era to the early centuries
A.D.).
Material or dravya for medicinal purposes at least had been listed in the Caraka as
comprising of the following three categories according to their source:
a) animal products including honey, milk, gorasa (secretions), pitta, basa (bile), majja
(marrow), blood, flesh, excreta, urine, skin, semen, bone, horn, nails, hoof, hair, bristles,
goracana (the cow drug - a bright pigment);
b) Vegetable products: innumerable herbs, and parts of plants of various categories.
c) Products of the earth – Parthiva – including, gold and five common metals(silver,
copper, lead, tin and iron) and their calces; nonmetal minerals like sand, sudha (lime),
red arsenic, gems, salt, red chalk gairika and antimony. (30)
Susruta devotes a separate chapter (31) to the discussions on the ingredients for
medicinal compositions, which is a bit more taxonomically oriented than the chapter in
Caraka. Dravya sangrahaniya adhyaya – the chapter on the categories of collectible
materials contains thirty five categories. Among these categories the majority are plant
derivatives and one category comprising minerals and metals (Trapavadi gana); and one
comprising various kind of chemical salts derived from natural sources (Usakadi gana).
The category of Anjanadi gana comprised ingredients derived from various plant and
mineral sources.
Vidarigandhādi group, Aragvadhādi group, Varunādi group, Viratarvadi group,
Sālasārādi Group (Sālsā), Rodhrādi group, Arkādi group, surasādi group, Mustakādi
group, Pippalādi group, Elādi group, Vacādi and Haridrādi group, Śyāmādi group,
Brhatyādi group, Patolādi group, Usakādi group, Sāribādi group, Añjanādi group,
Parusakādi group, Priyangavādi group, Ambasthādi group, Nyāgrodhādi group,
Guducyādi group, Utpalādi group, Mustādi group, Triphalā group, Trikatu group,
Āmalakyādi group, Trapavādi group, Lāksādi group, Svalpa pañcamūla group,
Daśamūla group, Vallī pañcamūla group, Pañcakantaka group and pañcatrna group.

Rasayana:
While giving an overview of the discussions on therapeutics, the Caraka Samhita
introduces the rasayana section as the foremost part of the Cikitsasthanam (32) among
the 30 chapters on different aspects of therapeutics.
Thereafter the rasayana treatment is discussed full length in the Cikitsasthanam section,
where the first chapter is devoted to rasayana or promotive measures. . This chapter
contains four sections.
1.1 Rasayana related to haritaki- amalaki including recipes for Brahma rasayana.
1.2 Rasayana related to vital breath or Pranakamiyam Raayanapadam.
1.3 Rasayana related to hand - plucked fruits of Amalaki or Karapracitīyam
Rasāyanapadam" (33) Ayurveda Samutthaniyam Rasayanapadam - treatments meant
for the upliftment of the science of Ayurveda.
As a whole the chapter on Rasayana consists of a quadruplet of haritaki - amalaki,
desire for vital breath, amalaki plucked with hand and traditional importance of rasayana.
(34) Some of the more interesting preparations are discussed in the third section of the
chapter on rasayana in the Caraka Cikitsasthanam, which include the sections on:
"Lauhādirasāyanam" (35)
"Aindrīrasāyanam" (36)
"Triphalārasāyanamparam" (37)
"Śilājāturasāyanam" (38)

The Cikitsasthanam section in the Susruta Samhita, on the other hand, contains three
distinct chapters dealing specifically with rasayana therapeutics:
Cikitsa Ch. XXVII deals on Sarvopaghāta Śamaniya Rasāyana.
Cikitsa Ch XXVIII deals on Medhāyuskāmiya Rasāyana.
Cikitsa ch, XXIX deals with Svabhka Vyadhi Pratisedhaniya Rasayana.
And, Cikitsa XXX deals on Nivrtta Santāpiya Rasāyana.
The review of a few of the recipes prescribed in both the Caraka and the Susruta would
reveal the rationalistic knowledge contained in the Rasayana tradition in the early days
of the Ayurveda.

One has to understand that, in the Caraka, basically rasayana is a term denoting the
process of making medicines and invigorating the patients through application of these
drugs. The actions of the drugs and reactions of the body to these drugs was what
rasayana was all about in the philosophy of the early Ayurveda tradition. But this
rasayana was limited to the promotive treatment for health only. Rasayana, is clearly
defined as that section of ‘bhesaja’ or therapeutics which promotes strength and
immunity.
Dirghmayuh smrtim medhamarogyam tarunam vayah
Prabhavrnasvaroudaryam dehenriyabalam param
Vaksiddhim pranatimkantim labhate na rasayanat.
Labhopayo hi sastranam rasadinam rasayanam. (39)

It is important to note that the Caraka states that there were two different approaches
to the Rasayana treatment: a) Kutipravesika and b) vatatapika. The first is said to be far
more effective than the last and involved strict regulations, confinement and treatment
procedures. (40) In fact the descriptions and prescriptions available in the Caraka on the
Rasayana treatment clearly indicate that the procedure of treatment and the behavioral
pattern of the patient while undergoing treatment were as important as the drugs applied
for the right result to be obtained. Just as the process of treatment was clearly
delineated and had to be followed to the word so had to be the method of preparation of
the drug recipes according to rules set down by the experienced and master physicians.
It was not a compartmentalized application of drugs in packages that were thought to
bring results. Among these rules and procedures rasayana featured as the core working
principle – the application of external rasa to the body rasa effecting changes in body
conditions to meet the requirements of health.
 The process of mixing ingredients and preparation of drugs by solutions, heating,
powdering, mixing, liquefying and showing and drugs - all these involved changes on
physical and chemical properties of each of the original ingredients . This was one
intention of the physicians- to deliberate the changes the original ingredients as well as
in the body through these combinations of these preparations.

As one travels time and looks at the early medieval and medieval Rasatantra recipes
for immortality, vigour, youth and charm – one encounters more and more preparations
based on the uses of minerals and metals along with herbs etc. As the early medieval
Rasatantra genre emerges this trend becomes more noticeable and culminates in true
alchemical practices, meant for transmutation of base metals and silver into gold, which
began to be juxtaposed with the original Rasayana practices. However, the inclusion of
minerals and metals in Rasayana could be discerned trickling into Ayurveda Rasayana
way back in the Caraka Samhita itself.
The four sections on rasayana in the Caraka Samhita and their preparations which are
related in some way to metals are :
1) "Karapracitiya rasayanapadam" (CS, Cikitsa, 1.3, 3.)
2) "Lauhadirasayanapadam" (CS, Cikisasthenam, 1.3, 15 - 23)
3) "Aindrirasayanam" (CS, cikitsasthsnam , 1.3, 24 - 29)
4) "Triphalarasayanampadam" (Cs, Cikitasathanam, 1.3, 43 - 44)
5) "Silajaturasayanam" (Cs, Cikitasaathanam, 1.3, 62 - 65)
6) Ayurveda Samutthaniyam Rasayanapadam. (CS, Cikitsa, Ch, 1.4, especially 13
– 26.)
A few preparations may enlighten us as to the pharmaceutical activities of the
ayurveda practitioners dealing with especially the Rasayana treatments.
The following is the description of one recipe from the Karapracitiya Rasayanapadam
section of Caraka which is prescribed for the general promotion of health in a normal
person an even for a pregnant woman or for a woman who had just given birth.
The description is given in the present tense as it is a translation from the actual
Sanskrit content: The amalaka which are hand plucked de - seeded, dried and powdered
should be stored and in late winter mixed 21 times with the juice of amalaka fruits again.
2 kg 560gms - 8 sera (1 adak = 8 ser) of this powder should be kept aside. A new
mixture of Jibaniya Brnghaniya Stanyajanana bulk-promoting, galactogoue, semen
producing (sukravardhana), age- sustainars (bayah-sthapana) drugs mentioned in text
(600 evacuatives) as well as finally cut heartwood of sandal, or red sandal wood, aguru,
dhava, tinisa, khadira, simsapa and asana- along with haritaka, bibhitaka, pippali, vaca,
cavya, citraka and vidanga- should be mixed together. The whole concoction should be
boiled in the time of water so that only one tenth of the original volume of liquid remains
(2lts, 560 ml). This mixture should be filtered well and added with the prepared powder
of amalaka. The new mixture should be heated on a cow dung fire of bamboo chips or
read stalks till the liquid evaporates and a paste remains. This un - burnt paste should be
collected and spread on iron plates and left to dry. When it has fired well- it should be
powdered finely with stone slabs on the deer-hide and stored carefully in an iron vessel.
This powder mixed with iron powder of one-fourth of its quantity and honey and ghee
should be used according to the power of digestion. (41)
The above was amalaka Brahma - Rasayana, which is said to relieve the user from
exertion, disease, senility, fear and helped in attaining great strength- providing a life-
span of one thousand years. It is also claimed to be effective in promoting intellect and
sense organs.

The next concoction is directly named under the section : lauhadirasayana and
naturally involved the use of metals. The prescription went for the use of paper- like
pieces of (sharp) iron, (tiksnayasasya) four fingers long and thin as the width of a
sesamum – which should be heated till they are fire-coloured. Then these are to be
dipped first in decoction of triphala, followed by dippings in cow urine, alkali prepared
form salt or lavana, alkali of ingudi and alkali of brush palasa wood, every time
punctuated by heating the pieces in fire (curing process after each time of solution)

After these processes the pieces of blackened collyrium like iron should be powdered.
The powder should be mixed with honey and juice of amalaka and made into a linctus or
paste (leha) and stored in a ghee-uncted (smeared) pot/pitcher(of clay) which is to be
kept stored in the midst of barley stores for a year. Every month the paste should be
stirred once and ghee and honey should be added to it in small quantities.

After one year the powder paste should be mixed with honey and ghee and served to
the patient - a little every day - according to his constitution and power of intake. After
digestion of the drug suitable diet should supplement the medicine. The same sloka
relates that in place of iron, gold and silver can also be made into similar medicines in
the same way. This medicine is said to promote life- prolonging life and curing all
diseases. Diseases, age and death does not touch a person taking this drug. A person
attains the strength of an elephant, strong prava or sense organs, becomes strong
intellectually, attains fame, gains qualities of a great orator, becomes powerful and
develops strong memory. (42)

The next section is Aindrarasayana. One of the preparations requires the Aindri
(Citrullus Colocynthis - a variety of makal), matsyaksika (root of kantanata - thorny
bush?), brahmi leaf, vaca (bark of Aocorus Calamus), brahma suvarcala (Cleome
Gynandra or Polanisia Icosandra?) Pippali (Long Pepper), lavana, sankhapuspi
(Andropogon aciculatus in Susruta or Canscora Decussata in lexicographical works, MW
1047) as main ingredients. All ingredients the weight of three barley grams each along
with gold in weight of two barley grains, kastha visa (wood poison?) weight of one
sesamum and ghee weight of light tola (40 gms according to the English translation of
P.V. Sharma) should be mixed together to make the decoction. After the medicine is
digested every morning by the patient a diet of ghee and honey mixed sali rice or sastika
rice should be served to the patient as supplement. It is claimed in the Caraka that the
Aindrirasayana alleviates old age and diseases, promotes memory and intellect,
enhances life-span, provides nourishment, excellence and clarity of voice, complexion
and strength. (43) It is also mentioned that leucoderma, leprosy, abdominal diseases,
spleen enlargement, gulma (piles?), chronic fever are cured by the use of this drug.
Diseases of the psychological nature or related to the brain and nerves which leads to
destruction of intellect, memory and sense are also claimed to be cured by this recipe.

.
The triphalarasayanapara section mentions one concoction, which goes as the
following :
A new iron plate should be plastered with the paste of triphala. After twenty four hours
this paste should be collected and dissolved in honey water. After the drug is digested
one should take meals with plenty of fat. By observing this for a year one lives one
hundred years devoid of senility and disease (44)
The section on Silajatu rasayana throws some significant light on the aspect of
material identification and collection etc.
 Here, the Caraka begins with a brief description of Silajatu which indicates that
probably it was a very rare material and unknown to many of the practitioners.
Therefore, the Caraka Samtita, being a practical guidebook or manual for physicians,
explains the nature and origin of this ingredient. It states that - "Silajatu originates from
four metals - gold, silver, copper and black iron and is slightly sour (acid), astringent in
taste (alkaline?) Katu in Vipaka (digestion) and is moderate (neither too hot nor too cold)
in virya. This is rasayana in effect and if applied methodically it is aphrodisiac and
alleviates diseases. Its potency enhances if it is decocted in the paste of those drugs
which are meant for alleviating the diseases arising out of the imbalances of vata, pitta
and kapha.” If we look for the actual identification of the ingredient popular in the
Ayurveda parlance as ‘silajatu’ we find the Monier Williams dictionary pointing out ‘rock
exudation’ and bitumen. (45) Whereas Silaja is severally identified as bitumen as per its
use in the Susruta; iron as per its meaning given by lexicographers like Amarasingha
(6th century A.D. ), Halayudha and Hemachandra (early medieval), benzoin and storax
according to H. H. Wilson’s identification and petroleum according to the first edition of
Monier Williams’ dictionary itself (margin notes) which was published by the Oxford
University Press, Great Britain, in 1899. (46)
By every evidence, therefore, the Caraka description is wrong which indicates lack of
proper knowledge. However, the composer – cum – physician community did use the
item but never accessed the original source. The significance of this situation is dealt
with below.

To go on with the prescriptions for rasayana treatment in the Caraka:

The description of the process of preparing the rasayana drug based on silajatu
follows next: The mixing (impregnation) is performed by dipping the silajatu in lukewarm
decoction and then taking it out at the end of the day, repeating this process for a week.
Silajatu – thus purified and mixed with powdered metals - should be taken with milk. This
preparation is said to provide long and happy life, alleviate old age and diseases,
stabilize the body, promote intellect and memory and excellence if taken with milk diet.
This is followed by the directions for therapeutic dosage : "The use of this rasayana is
threefold - for 7 weeks, 3 weeks, 1 week - superior , medium, inferior, dosages were 40
gms , 20gms, 10gms respectively. (47)
 Another concoction with triphala in the triphalarasayana para describes the use of
triphala along with all six metals including gold and vaca or with Vidanga (Embelia
Ribes) and pippali or with lavana taken with honey and ghee for a year. This concoction
is claimed to provide intellect memory and strength, promotes life-span and excellence
and alleviates senility and diseases.( 48)
As we shall note the uses of inorganic materials from natural sources increase with
time in the medicinal tradition of India. The causative factors may be many but the chief
among them was the development of multiple activities among the artisans and other
professionals which led to the discovery and uses of more and more natural substances
and their derivatives. The Susruta being a later composed treatise includes more data
and more developments in the knowledge and uses of ingredients and their properties
for newer purposes of treatment. One very remarkable development is noted in
knowledge of salts and alkalis and preparation of alkalis or ksara. These were
considered as part and parcel of the preparations of rasayana and not only as
ingredients by themselves. Salts and alkalis were the rasa in the ingredients. That is why
these vargas have been included in the Dravya Sangrahaniya Chapter. The Lavana
Varga is describes the different varieties of salt: saindhava, sauvarcala, vida, pakya,
romaka, samudraka, paktrima, yavaksara (nitrate of potash), usara prasuta and
suvarcika. ( 49) Alkalies have been discussed in a whole separate chapter altogether
entitled: Ksarapaka Vidhi Adhyaya. (50) P.C. Ray had especially noted one alkaline
preparation for dissolving gall or kidney stone, which was a mrduksara prepared out of
yavaksara, sarjjiksara and borax in prescribed amounts. (51) Process of preparing
alkaline decoctions have been described at length in the Susruta (52)
Alkaline preparation as found in the Caraka is close to this description contained in the
Susruta - only the nature of alkalis appears have gained in clarity.
The Susruta categorizes alkalies into two groups: Pratisaraniya - for external
application and Paniya - for interal intake. (53) One very interesting concoction of mrdu
ksāra or an alkali of middling potency is that which uses the ashes of burnt limestone -
burnt in the fire of ghantā - pārula (54), asita- muska (55) wood mixed with faggots of
dried sesamum plants), ksārapāka (fresh water oysters) and sankhanabhi (core of
shells). All three ingredients, taken in equal proportions should be burnt and then
immersed and pressed in a kudava measure of alkaline water. This water is prepared
from the ashes of mixed plants like- leaves, roots, fruits of kutaja (56), palāśa (57)
aśvakarna (58), paribhadraka (no match found.), vibhītaka (59), āragvadha (60) tilvaka
(61), arka (62).), śuti (63) , apamārga (no relevant match listed), patala (no relevant
match found.), naktamala (64), vrsa (65) , kadali, citraka (66) putika (67) indra-
vrksa (68), sphota (69), aśvamāraka (70), saptacchada (71), agnimantha (72),
gunjā (73) and four species of kośātakī (74). The ashes are mixed with 1 part ashes with
6 parts of pure water or cow's urine. The solution is to be filtered 21 times in succession
and then put in a cauldron over fire, boiled gently with gentle stirrings of the liquid. When
the water appears transparent, red, slimy and irritating (to the eye) it should be filtered
through a piece of clean linen. A kudava measure of this alkaline water should be
taken out of the cauldron. The rest should be again kept boiling over fire. Notably, this
water was kept aside in an iron vessel. Into this water 8 pala measures of the above-
mentioned substances are to be immersed. The mixture then should be boiled by the
physician continuously, accompanied by steady stirrings. The mixture should neither be
too thick, nor too thin. Then the mixture should be taken from fire, poured into an iron
pitcher. The mouth of this pitcher should be carefully covered. This is the preparation of
mrdu Ksāra (75)
Of the preparations listed in the four chapters on Rasayana in the Susruta, there is sea
change in the content and tone of discussion from those of the first chapter, first half of
the second chapter up to the 8th verse of the susruta, Cikitsasthanam, Ch XXVIII and
the last half of the second chapter - from the 9th chapter onwards of the Susruta Cikitsa,
Ch. XXVIII and the third , i.e. SS, Cikitsa, Ch XXIX and fourth, viz., SS, Cikitsa, Ch.,
XXX. The first chapter on Sarvopaghata Samaniya Rasayana not only deals with cut and
dried prescriptions for drugs related to rasayana treatment but also prescribes some of
the preparations of rasayana drugs for curing diseases like leprosy, jaundice etc. For
example the Vidanga rasayana is said to be effective in cases of haemarrhoids and
complaints of worms. (76) Bala Kalpa recipe is said to be applicable in cases of
haemarrhoids, Haematemesis, and diarrhoea. (77). Kasmarya kalpa is said to be
effective in cases of deranged pitta and vitiated blood. (78)
Thus in the Susruta we may note a glimpse of the transcendence of the scope of
rasayana on to a wider field of therapeutics, probably with a prior widening in the scope
of the comprehension of the logic and correlation of rasa and rasayana. This rational
development of the concept of common drugs - for both promotion of general health and
for treatment of specific diseases - was but a natural follow up of the trends that were
already emerging through the discussions on the concept of rasa and body chemistry in
the Caraka and in the Susruta. This development of the holisitic comprehension of rasa
was profoundly influenced by the contemporary philosophical conceptions of matter and
the divisibility of matter and the substratum of matter – Bhutas, tanmatras or subtle
atoms as developed within the sanctums of the Sankhya – Patanjala school. As
Surendranath Dasgupta (79) explains the concept in Patanjala Yoga system: according
to the theory of the Sankhya – Patanjala school it is different the tanmatras of a bhuta
were all the same but the combinations of tanmatras of different types of bhutas in
different degrees and numbers was what was responsible for the formation of such
innumerable substances and things around us in the Universe: “The system of
tanmatras forming the constitution of the atom of the bhuta being unchangeable, the
cause of the difference in the composition of different substances as modifications of
particular bhutas must be sought in the difference in the collocation and arrangements
and re – arrangements of the atoms of that particular bhuta.” (80) This broad
understanding of the composition of Matter led to the holistic concept of Rasa followed
by the idea of rasayana – that the meeting, action and reaction of the ideal rasa
ingredient from outside with the rasa internal to the body, if correctly applied - would lead
to excellent health.
However, if Susruta was marked by this rational approach, it was also the witness and
bearer of magical and ritualistic elements into the concepts and practices of rasayana
treatment. As mentioned above, the later chapters on rasayana in the Susruta reveal the
gradual process of linking up rituals and religious belief systems with rasayana treatment
procedures. A few examples are cited below:

Cow’s milk, with gold wax and honey taken regularly a thousand times after the
performance of a Homa ceremony is prescribed as the best of Rasayana therapeutics.
(81)
A decoction of mrnāla (lotus stalk) mixed with honey and fried paddy and duly
consecrated a hundred thousand times with oblations in fire is considered as the best of
best rasayanas. (82) This use of the term rasayana as the very preparation is also
remarkable and indicates that now the concept of rasayana had been totally interlinked
with the process of treatment and not with the dug alone. And since this process had got
closely interwoven with rituals and religious belief systems the whole concept of
rasayana was on the way to being ritualized. Most significantly, the last section in the
chapter XXVIII of he Cikitsasthanam on Rasayana which concludes the discussions,
begins with the advice that where no particular mantra has been prescribed to
accompany the treatment with specific recipes, the Tripadī Gāyatrī should be recited to
make up for the gap in instruction (83):
Yatra na udīrito mantro yogesvetesu sādhane
śabditā tatra sarvatra gāyatri tripadā bhavet.
Thus it is quite obvious that all of this procedures of treatment was accompanied by
chanting of incantations and rituals.
The rasayana tradition thus developed with its foundations on two distinct cognitive and
intellectual paradigms – one – the paradigm of technical and scietific knowledge and
practices carried out in the sphere of practical arts; the other - the paradigm of belief
systems closely linked with human fears and aspirations related chiefly with ideas of
mortality, diseases, incapability and poverty.

To get an idea of how closely the first sphere of intellection was linked up with the
development of rasayana tradition, nay the whole science of Ayurveda, one needs only
to ponder upon the questions on how and from where did the ingredients for treatment
arrive and chance upon the ken of the Ayurveda practitioner?

Given the nature and variety of ingredients so far listed above, it would not be wrong to
presume that so far as dravya or materials identification and collection were concerned
this was primarily the sphere of those personnel whose job it was to wander in far off
places - to the peripheries and depths of mountains, forests, water bodies. We have
already related the instance of silajatu. While it is clear that several other ingredients
were generally accessed by other professionals too. A number of herbs grew in remote
and difficult terrains. A few of the substances mentioned have like "sudhā" or lime,
"manah śilā" or realgar, “gairik” which has been identified in Monier Williams Dictionary
as well as by P.C. Ray as red chalk or rather re ochre , was haematite, Hingula which is
cinnabar, "Puspakāśīsa" or lead/antimony , brahma suvarcala or the plant Cleome
Gynandra – generally identified as a plant growing in salty, marshy places – the wood of
butea frondosa and catechu were in use by the ceramic manufacturers, painters,
construction workers and metal smiths in various ways.

In fact the first clear archaeological evidence for the use of bitumen comes from the
neolithic levels (Pre Ceramic Period I) at a site in Baluchistan – Mehrgarh, where stone
bladelets were found grafted into a bar of solidified bitumen to make a composite tool
like a sickle.(84). The lower walls of the Great bath at the Mature Harappan site of
Mohenjodaro was coated with a layer of bitumen, the residues of which still adhere to
the wall ruins. Ochre, haematite, etc, akin to ‘gairika’ were popular sources of pigments
even for the prehistoric artistes of rock paintings.(85). These ingredients continued in
use by the pottery painters in the Pre Harappan to Mature Harappan cultures and much
beyond that time in the paintings on the walls of the caves at Ajanta, Bagh etc.

The evidence for the circulation of knowledge and wide use of different rare natural
ingredients for different purposes is available in texts of different genres composed in
approximately in the same historical age. For example the use of “srotaja anjana” or “
srotanjana” has been prescribed for eye ointment in both the Susruta and the Bower
Manuscript and the Amarakosa. (86) The last text gives a synonym of srotanjana -
Yamuna. (87) This substance is described in the Monier Williams’ dictionary as
collyrium from antimony said to be found in the bed of the Yamuna river (88). P.C. Ray
notes that “it is one of the five kinds of anjana or substances used for collyriums. The
word literally means produced from a river, especially from the Yamuna……” and he
cites Garbe’s “Indische Mineralien.” (89) He also described the substance as “riparian
sulphide of antimony” ( 90). One may note that the Amarakosa also mentions another
term in connection with the categories of anjana –”sauvira”. (91) This substance has
been clearly defined as antimony (92). Alongside this we have the definition of anjana in
the Amarakosa which includes the following substances when the Sanskrit names are
translated in English: red ochre, galena, realgar, calx of brass (ritikusuma), rasot (93) -
in equal quantities. All these substances were being handled by the artisans, potters,
metal smiths of the times.

There is an admission to this effect in the Caraka Samhita: that it is the one who does
groundwork in field who really has the information and knowledge of the ingredients. The
shepherds, cowherds, forest dwellers and other such people have been mentioned as
the likely persons.

“Ousadhirnamarupabhyam janate hyajapa vanem, avipascoiba, gopasca, ye canye

vanavasinah.
Na Namajnanamatrena rupajnanam va punah’
Ousadhinam param praptim kascidveditumarhati.”
The knowledge of identification is only required for collection of ingredients.
 But then, it has also been pointed out that this knowledge and information is not
sufficient. One must above all know how to prepare and administer these ingredients.
Deeper knowledge of the properties and methods of preparations are required to fully
utilize the potentials:
Yogavittvapyarupajnastasam tattvaciducyate,
Kim punaryo vijaniyad osadhih sarvatha bhisak.” (94)

Thus it is clear that there were the two clear divisions in the whole matter of drug
preparations from dravya and incidentally we have various categories of professionals
taking care of these aspects of material chemistry from both ends who were not
physicians – and far from being alchemists.

That takes us to a search for the locations which were likely to yield the ingredients used
for rasayana by the Ayurvedic physician first and later by alchemists. Some indications
are available in early literature like the Arthasastra and the Amarakosa about the
possible identification of mine locations. Without going into the details of these data, it is
reasonable to assume that the developments in the knowledge concerning medicinal
ingredients and their uses were to some extent influenced and enhanced by the
contributions of the professionals from different fields of manual works. The link between
these activities and the practice of medicine has to be established by the new generation
of the historians of science so that more clarity results in the understanding of the full
scope of the scientific achievements of the early Indian society.

It may also perhaps be derived from this idea stated above - of the growing links
between the artisan, shepherd, potter, wine maker, metallurgist and pharmacist – cum -
physician communities – that the Rasatantra genre, which developed from the 9 th – 10th
centuries A.D. onwards, reflects this trend in the uses of ingredients for preparing the
potions which they regarded as recipes for immortality as well as those preparations
which were thought to be helpful in transmuting metals into gold.

In the early historical Ayurveda treatises the concern was more with knowledge for
treatment of human health than with gaining mythical wealth and health. Yet, the desire
for the eternal youth and immortality had begun to feature in the Caraka and Susruta in a
small way. Happiness vis –a vis health, is described in the first section, i.e.,
Sutrasthanam, in the Caraka in the following comprehensive scope:
“Life is happy if the person is not afflicted with any somatic psychic disorder, is
particularly youthful, capable with strength, courage, reputation, manliness and prowess,
possessing knowledge, specific knowledge and strong sense organs and sense objects;
having immense wealth and various favourable enjoyments and have achieved desired
results of all actions and moves about where he likes.” (95)
The matching results were claimed by the Ayurvedic treatises if Rasayana treatment is
pursued properly: “From promotive treatment (rasayanam), one attains longevity,
memory, intelligence, freedom from disorders, youthful age, excellence of lustre,
complexion and voice, optimum strength of physique and sense organs, command over
speech and vocabulary, power to draw respect and bodily briliance.” (96) It is for
attainment of these good results only, it was claimed, - different varieties of rasa are
used in rasayana treatment. The equation between health and happiness got enlarged
by the days of the Rasatantras to include wealth within the scope of rasayana. The
modifications sought and wrought in the Rasatantra genre also encompassed certain
other features, which we shall discuss below.

Rasatantra / Rasaśāstra / Rasavidyā: Elixir of Life and Desire for Wealth: “A Way
to Eternal Happiness”

Rasasastra texts proper appear on the scene from the 8th century onwards with he
pioneering work of Nagarjuna – the Rasasartnakara.
A list of Rasatantra texts mentioned in Acharya P.C. Ray’s compendium provides the
following compositions and the approximate date of their composition:
Rasaratnakara - Nagarjuna - 7th- 8th C.A.D.
Rasarnava – 12th Century A.D.
Rasaratnasamuccaya - 13th- 14th Somadeva
Rasendracudamani - 12th - 13th C
Rasaprakasa Sudhakara of Yasodhara - 13th C.A.D.
Rasakalpa - 13th C.A.D.
Rasarajalaksmi of Visnudeva (The Court poet of Bukka the ruler of the Vijaynagara
kingdom)- late 14th C (Karnataka)
Rasanaksatramalika of Mathanasimha - middle of the 14th C.A.D.
Rasaratnakara of Siddha Nityanatha - 1350 A.D.
Rasendracintamani - 1350 A.D.
Rasasara of Govindacarya - 13th C. A.D.
Sarngadhara Samgraha -14th C. 1363 A.D. (specific dating) (97)

Rasendrasarasamgraha of Gopalakrsna (very popular in Bengal) – 1350 A.D. and

contemporary text with Rasendracintamani (98).

Rasendrakalpadruma - middle of 14th Century A.D. (Manuscript in Bodleian Library,

Augrecht's Catelogue)
Dhaturatnamala of Devadatta from Gujrat -14th C - 16th C.
Suvarnatantra – no date mentioned in P.C. Ray volumes. But in all probability belong to
the 16th – 17th centuries A.D.

Modifications in the Concept of Rasayana and the emergence of Rasavidya:

Coming to the fountainhead of the developments of Rasatantra, the focus is found to be

on the much discussed desire for longevity and wealth as the solution and way to
happiness. However, this highly materialistic aspiration was sought to be accomplished
through a process that was enshrouded in surrealism and highly esoteric abstractions
rendered in the Tantric mode, which was the raging intellectual paradigm within the
Sanskritic culture of the early medieval and medieval Indian culture.

This desire had, in the early medieval times, guided human emotions to the obscure
channels of transmutations in Indian theories and the latter – day Rasasastra texts bear
the imprint of that human emotion in the most typical form of half ritualistic and muddled
up proto - scientific format which has evoked esoteric and later Tantric nuances. For
example the 11th century A.D. text of (99) Rasarnavakalpa is a text of the Rudrayamala
tantra - a division of Tantric philosophy and practices - concerned with strengthening the
human body through the ingestion of elixir.
However, as B.V. Subbarayappa explains, the Rasatantra trend of trasmutation, “The early
concept of transmutation had perceivably two facets: one of converting the base metals into
gold of ever-lasting glitter, and the other of transforming the transient human body into one
of permanence with the soul.” (100). Thus it was not only longevity, vitality and beauty which
were the chief concerns. The field of aspiration had widened to include the desire for quickly
gained wealth through magical transformation of base metals into gold. Wherefrom did this
vision or dream evolve? Was it from the workroom of the brassiere or the goldsmith? In
fact, the best aspects of practicing chemistry were on their way to flourish quite early and
the concept of ‘rasa’ in its various material manifestations was already being spoken of
much earlier. While tracing the roots of this concept above, it has already become clear that
it was not the exclusive domain of the alchemist that bred this knowledge, but that it was the
multiple working fields of operations that promoted the discipline of rasayana, if discipline it
may be deemed.
Apart from this very major change in the scope of the Rasatantra rasayana, there were a
number of other modifications which finally rendered the Rasatantra into a new tradition
of alchemy distinct from the Ayurveda rasayana therapeutics.

 First, the Rasa tantra texts clearly distinguish the knowledge contained and
pursued in this tradition as ’Rasavidya’. (101)
 The next modification is noticeable in the invocation of authority to legitimize the
practices. While the Ayurveda treatises of Caraka and Susruta referred to the venerable
names of illustrious sages who, according to legends derived their expertise and
knowledge from Brahma, Prajapati via Indra, and a few well known sages from the Vedic
tradition, most of the earlier Rasatantra texts start off with references to history and
legendary figures in the field of Rasavidya. Some of the later Saiva Siddha texts invoke
Siva and Parvati. In fact the conjunction of esoteric tantric religious practices and
alchemy became so closely interlinked in the psyche of the medieval Rasatantra
practitioners that they identified Siva with mercury- the core ingredient as per tantric
alchemy. The Rasa, metals, rituals, and Siva - Parvati were rendered into magical
practices. This was not unique to early medieval India but had been practised in
contemporary China, South East Asia and West Asia. The Connection with S.E. Asian
tradition is reflected in the Matrkabhedatantram and its alchemical ideas, the spread
and burgeoning of Saivism and Tantric Buddhism in Java – Kadiri and Tumapal or
Singhasari. From the 11th to the 14th centuries A.D. Significant archaeological evidence
 is available especially from Chandi Bukit Batu Pahat – a ancient temple situated in a
riverine estuary on the slopes of Kedah hill, Malaysia and the relics at Candi Sukuh in
Central Java. (102)
 Thirdly, the trend of invoking tradition for legitimizing the knowledge system is
continued as noted since the days of the Caraka Samhita but the wordings and
sentiments are quite distinct from the Ayurveda tone. The introductory verses from some
of the Rasatantra texts reveal this change in ethos. The Rasaratnasamuccaya (103) of
the 13th – 14th centuries begins with the prayer for Karunāvīksā and a declaration that
this Rasatantra knowledge will impart joy and well being to the followers and then lays
down the names of several famous bhisags of old to lay claim to a great tradition among
whom we find mention of a number of Buddhist and non – Brahmanical sages like
Candrasena, Lankeśa, Nāgārjuna, Kāpālī etc. - twenty seven experts in Rasavidya.
Salutations and the vocabulary are typical of Buddhist Mahayana – Vajrayana tradition.
It has to be noted that the Rasaratnasamuccaya follows the tradition of the 8 th century
A.D. composition -Rasaratnakara of Nagarjuna and hence the Buddhist tone. The earlier
composed Rasarnava of the 12th century was a Saiva text and begins with the reference
to Bhairava. The 11th century A.D. composition Rasarnavakalpawas another text of
Saiva Siddha tradition and begins with the verse:
“Rasah sarvamayo dhaturyena tusta Umapatih!” (104)
More illuminating perhaps is the dialogue between Nagarjuna and the Goddess
Prajnaparamita who is said to appear before him in a dreamrevealing a recipe for
Rasayana elixir. (105) The recipe is described below.
Nagarjuna, having attained Siddhi in this knowledge prepares to enlighten King
Salivahana and Ratnaghosha with remedies for “warding off wrinkles, grey hair and
other signs of old age.” (106) Thus divinity and Yogi traditions are linked up in the claim
to intellectual authority.

 The discourses on life and longevity had already attained a foothold in the
tradition of Rasatantra and the contemporary psyche of the followers and these
discourses were presented as a matter of fact. The results of the Rasayana procedure
are pronounced almost like advertisements – in grandiloquent terms. But the more
 pronounced inclination in the Rasatantra texts was towards the transmutation of metals
into gold. Alberuni’s scepticism was focused on these lofty claims and the aspect of
magic that had characterized the medieval notions of alchemy and not on the knowledge
of minerals and substances contained in the texts.

 The concept of elixir for promotion of health is derived from the Rasayana
tradition of Ayurveda, but the composition of the elixir had undergone a sea change. The
elixir in the context of Rasatantra tradition is usually described as a mixture of mercury
in compound with some other mineral, metal or vegetable substances. But mercury was
the essential ingredient in most cases. The Ayurveda Rasayana hardly dealt with
mercury as an ingredient, and cinnabar or hingula, its source, was marginally used in
drug preparations. The elixir is then juxtaposed with recipes for transmutation of base
metals into gold, often in the same sloka. There is no such trend noted in the Ayurveda
tradition of Rasayana.
 Finally it is the attainment of the knowledge of the process of transmuting base
metal into gold that supersedes the urge of decocting the elixir for longevity. There is a
preponderance of slokas related to the knowledge and practices of metallurgy, whether
correct or misconceptions, in the later composed Rasatantra texts which reflect rather a
leaning away from Ayurveda tradition towards the contemporary traditions of
metallurgical works conducted by the smiths, minters, smelters of ores .

History
From the available literature on Rasatantra it is quite clear that the tradition of Indian
alchemy per se began with Buddhist Tantrayana, although the tantra genre had
emerged much earlier if one takes into account the evidence in Banabhatta’s
Harshacarita. The 7th century A.D. litterateur provides a comic description of a
Tantrika ascetic, apparently of Dravida origin, supervising a temple dedicated to
Candika located on the road to Ujjain. The description was clearly skeptical. (107)
The 11th century A.D. evidence from Alberuni is not comical in tone but skeptical in
an almost similar way. (108) However, what is interesting is that while Banabhatta’s
description clearly indicates that the tantra rasayana applications had yet to be
groomed into a formal discipline and was in fact a matter of ridicule. Alberuni talks
about Rasayana on a more serious note. He included the Rasayana tantra work of
 Bhanuyasas alongside the works of Aryabhata and Balabahadra. In defining
Rasayana. however, Alberuni refers to the common notions of alchemy and explains
his own distrust of all alchemical traditions in general. His comments, translated by
Sachau reads: “The Hindus do not pay particular attention to alchemy, but no nation
is entirely free from it, and one nation has more bias for it than another, which must
not be construed as proving intelligence or ignorance; for we find that many
intelligent people are entirely given to alchemy, whilst ignorant people ridicule the art
and its adepts.” Thus Alberuni lends credence to the methods of alchemists if not to
the final result expected or claimed. He also explains the rush for alchemy in terms of
the aspiration for wealth among scholars, who were admittedly poor even in those
times. (109) More interestingly Alberuni describes that the Hindu alchemists try to
conceal their art and therefore he had not been privy to their art. However, he also
point out that from whatever he had been able to learn about it the Hindu alchemy
tradition seemed to be inclined towards the mineralogical method of alchemy and
used the terms like process of sublimation, calcinations, analysis and waxing of
talaka (110). Alberuni also mentions that the greatest exponent of rasayana was
Nagarjuna who lived about hundred years prior to him near the temple of Somanth.
(111)
Therefore it is quite evident that some time between the 7th century and the 11th the
Rasatantra had evolved as a full and formal discipline.
According to Acharya P.C. Ray the Buddhist tantras had emerged around the sixth -
eighth centuries A.D. The Rasaratnakara has been dated by various scholars in the 8 th
century A.D. (112) However, the tradition seems to have developed within the
Mahayanist Buddhism even before as Ray refers to a tantra MS from Japan which went
from Central India around the sixth Century A.D. to China and from thence to Japan
carried there by a Chinese monk, Kanshin, in the 8th century. (113) P.C. Ray however,
places the Rasaratnakara around the 7th – 8th centuries. In fact the Siddha Yoga tantra
text of Vrinda is dated by him to the 9th century. The 11th – 12th century texts on
Rasavidya reveal developments in terms of the use of different apparatus or yantras for
the alchemical processes. The Rasarnava mentions several of them with brief
descriptions in some cases. (114) The experts in Rasavidya are referred to as
Rasasiddhas in the early medieval and medieval texts on Rasatantra.
David Gordon White cites Guiseppe Tucci’s observation that the Siddhas were
eminent personalities in medieval India’s esoterism and that they represent the ideal link
between Saivism and Vajrayana. (115) These Siddhas were mostly invoked in the later
Rasatantra texts as experts. Among the Siddhas we get the names of Rasasiddhas, to
begin with mostly Buddhist and later of Saiva – Sakta sects. Nagarjuna, the expert
alchemist and composer of the Rasaratnakara is of solid pedigree in the tradition of
Indian Rasavidya and in fact the tradition can be traced back to Rasartnakara only.
Goraksa of Goraksa Samhita also has an imposing medieval reputation as a Siddha
virtuoso. (116) They are clearly not referred as bhisags nor are they linked with the
Ayurvedic tradition.
The presence of the Siddha Yogis on the scene is attested by Banabhatta but more
succinctly by Alberuni in the 11th century indiating the growth of the tradition between the
7th and the 11th centuries A.D.
As further external evidence we may go along the way directed by Gordon White who
has cited the foreign travelers’ accounts for an outsider’s perspective to reveal the
general notions circulating around the mystifying practices and practitioners of
Rasavidya in the time of their encounters with Indian life.
Marco Polo whose account of the 13th century clinches with this history. Marco Polo
talks about brahmans, who, as he described, generally lived for about 150 to 200 years
and whom he called ‘ciugi’ or ’yogi’. He describes quite clearly : “…………..I tell you that
they take quicksilver and sulphur and mix them together with water and make a drink out
of them; and they drink it and say it increases their life…..They do it twice on the week,
and sometimes twice each month …..and without mistake those who live so long use
this drink of sulphur and quicksilver.” (117) The passage as presented in the 1845
publication of Hugh Murray’s Travels of Marco Polo from Edinburgh and London, reads
as the following. Talking of the Hindu sages, Marco Polo is said to comment: “There are
among them an order named cuigui, who live to be as extraordinary age, even 150 or
200 years, yet can perform all the service of the monastery and idols as well as younger
men. This is owing to their great abstinence in eating and drinking; for they subsist
mostly on rice and milk. They mingle also quicksilver and sulphur, making a beverage
which they drink from their infancy, saying that it lengthens their lives.” (118)
After Marco Polo we have the French traveler Francoise Bernier’s account on India
dated to the 17th century. (119) Bernier’s description reveals a tone of cautious and
distant awe when he talks about the Indian alchemists. These ‘fakirs’ - as he refers to
them - according to him, knew the secret of preparing restorative medicines to improve
health and digestion and not only that, had the power to display tricks extraordinaire,
which left Bernier in much wonderment.

Preparations and chemistry

The secrets of these rasayana scholars/ cuiguis / fakirs were contained in the
Rasatantra texts a brief and casual review of which would make any reader sceptic
about the purpose and outcome of studying these manuscripts for learning about the
environs of science in them or any rational concern of historical study.
However, as the keen intellect of Alberuni had led him to smell out, the Indian
Rasavidya had developed in conjunction with some contemporary fields of expertise and
knowledge which rendered at least the working procedures partly grounded on a rational
approach to the subject of substances – ‘dravya’ and their properties – an intellectual
legacy which Rasavidya had inherited from the Ayurveda tradition of Rasayana and
which had evolved with inputs from a number of closely interlinked branches of
vocations and knowledge systems. Acharya P.C. Ray had delved into the heart of this
hidden knowledge in Rasatantra texts and quite confidently tagged the knowledge
contained in these texts as alchemy - especially related to the kind of disciplinary
connections that Marcellin Berthelot was trying to gauge between the medieval Arabic
and European alchemial tradition and the birth of the modern science of chemistry.
(Marcellin (or Marcelin) Pierre Eugène Berthelot, French chemist and politician noted in
thermochemistry for the Thomsen-Berthelot principle. In later life he turned to the study
of the earlier phases of the science which he did so much to advance, and students of
chemical history are greatly indebted to him for his book on Les Origines de l'alchimie
(1885) and his Introduction à l'étude de la chimie des anciens et du moyen âge (1889),
as well as for publishing translations of various old Greek, Syriac and Arabic treatises on
alchemy and chemistry (120) In our observation of the Rasayana and Rasavidya
traditions too, the most significant rational aspect of knowledge which appears to be
contained in these texts comprise of the information is related to the dravya and dravya
rasa or natural substances and their essences or derivatives. In later medieval rasavidya
texts the ingredients are not explained in terms of dravya and rasa, but simply named in
their specific nomenclature, indicating that the first identification process had matured
and the stage of specific nomenclature had appeared. A number of dravya are
mentioned in the Rasatantra texts which were not available in the repertoire of the
Ayurveda Rasayana or other therapeutic sections.
 A few instances of the type of knowledge base to be found in the Rasatantra texts are
laid out below. It is important to state at the outset that any glimmer of rational
information is inclined to be enshrouded in a miasma of irrational notions, ritualism and
beliefs in magic and the supernatural.
Rasaratnakara (121) describes the appearance of the Goddess Prajnaparamita
before Nagarjuna in a dream and give the details of a preparation of mercury (rasa, also
mentioned in other texts as mahārasa, pārada, etc.) and gold amalgam (hemasama),
sulphur (girigandhakam) , borax (tankana) , etc. mixed, crushed and roasted together,
should be drunk. This elixir is claimed to develop the devotee’s health so that his body
would never decay. But, most significantly, this sloka also illuminates upon the
contemporary belief that minerals act with the same efficacy on the metals as on human
body. (122) The text of Rasaratnakara refers to various recipes for transmuting metals
into gold. However, what essential truth in all these floating ideas is that the current
practices of metallurgy worked out by the metal smiths in various fields of work got into
the ken of the practicing alchemists, often little understood in principle, but observed in
their procedural generalities, especially in the end result - the nature of which was again
not comprehended in reality.

The later, medieval tantric renditions of the knowledge of rasayana witnessed the
development of even more overwhelming religiosity and obscurantist beliefs. Hence,
Rasa or mercury gets identified with Siva and becomes the dominant ingredient in
Rasasastra. The 11th century A. D text of Rasarnavakalpa declares that: “Mercury is to
be considered as endowed with the properties of the six metals…….” (123) “Mercury
being treated well is endowed with the qualities of metals. It is considered to be
auspicious. He who is blessed with mercury attains invincibility.” (124) Mercury is
believed to serve double pronged, both in gaining gold and everlasting youth and health.

So far as the transmutation of metals is concerned, one or two of the concepts may be
interesting to study. Most interesting is the reference to the silver cupellation process in
the text of Rasaratnakara of Nagarjuna (7th – 8th centuries A.D. at the latest) (125)
where it is stated that silver alloyed with lead and fused with ashes become purified
(126) In this connection the cupel has also been described in another text composed in
the 12th century – Rasarnava (127) It is said that there were two kinds of crucibles: open
(prakāsa musā) and covered (andha musā). The closed one resembles the nipple of a
cow (gostanākāra sannibhā): fitted with a lid which has a raised head. But for silver this
crucible is to be made in two parts of the ashes of oliceae variety known in vernacular as
mokha or paniyavalli - schrebera swietenoides (clearly mentioned as Moksakāksāra)
and one part each of brick dust (istakāmsa) and earth (mrdbhāgā). (128) The
process is meant for purifying silver -tārasuddhārthamuttamāvaravarnini – to purify silver
/tin into the best quality with the best luster. (129) A significant reference is available I
the Ain I Akbari to the process of refining silver by the use of Rasi, which the translator
has identified as aqua fortis an acid base. Now it is mentioned in the Ain that Rasi is a
kind of acid made of ashkar (130) and saltpeter. (131) Now the use of plants like the
schrebera for extraction of carbonate of soda along with the use of earth salts has been
mentioned in the Susruta to get a mixed ksara. Indeed the term ashkara is derived from
the Sanskrit ksara. Thus the composition of some kind of aqua fortis was in the making
even in the Susruta. However, its use for refining metals, especially silver probably came
only after the 14th century and especially in the 16th century, by the evidence of the Ain.
Thus it is not necessarily gold which was the object of discussions, but numerous
references in the Rasatantra texts read by the present author reveals discussions on
processes of metallurgy and chemistry. It is clear from the detailed descriptions
contained in the Rasaratnakara, Rasarnava, Rasarnavakalpa and even
Rasaratnasamuccaya that the composers had access to such knowledge. Whether this
familiarity with chemical and metallurgical knowledge was first hand or obtained through
close encounters with the actual smiths and pharmacists, is a matter that needs further
and deeper analysis of the information contained in the text to match up the inner logic
of the entire information contained in the texts taken singly. This method might give us
an understanding about the scientific nature of each particular text, which might then be
correlated to the nature of information in other texts - arranged in time frame to really get
an idea about the general atmosphere of the Rasatantra genre in each historical phase.

The verses 25 – 30, in chapter I of the Rasaratnakara, refer to extraction of copper

from varieties of pyrite: mākshika (132) and tāpya (133). It is furthermore stated (134)
that the pyrite macerated in the juice of banana plant, Musa sapientum, and in castor oil
(oil of eranda) as well as clarified butter and placed inside the bulb of arum
campannlatum (or pungapung or kunth), and roasted in crucible - undergoes perfect
purification. Some work has been done recently by Chemists in Cuba on Musa
sapientum to isolate volatile components and the major ones were found to be heptyl
acetate, isoamyl acetate, 2 – methylbutyl acetate and 2 – heptyl acetate.(135) The
acetates in the banana plant was useful for purification by fire. As Ray points out this
process no doubt indicates the practice of smelting copper from pyrites. (136)
The Rasarnava too contains a recipe involving the use of banana plant:
“Ksaudragandharvatailabhyām gomutrena ghrtena ca
Kadalikāndasārena bhābitam Māksikam mujjhuh
Musāyām muncati dhmātam sattvam śulvanibham mrdu
Vimalam sigrutoyena kancikasisatankanaih
Vajrakandasamyuktam Bhābitam kadaliraseh
Moksikā ksārasamyuktam dhāpitam mukamusayā
Sattvam candrārka samkaśam prayacchati na samśayam.” (137)
In Ch I verses 31 – 32 of Rasaratnakara there is clear reference to extraction of zinc
from calamine. Along with it a very significant reference was made to a composition of
calamine (zinc) and copper which was thought to create gold but actually was brass by
any logic of metallurgical practices. (138)
It is interesting to note that the tradition continued to the fourteenth century too.
The Rasaratnasamuccaya of the 14th century gives two detailed accounts of
distillation of zinc. The first recipe involves mixing zinc ore with haridrā (curcuma longa
or turmeric) and triphala (chebula myrobalan), lāksā (resins), sindhu or salt, bhumouh,
sārusara or the essence of alkaline earth (139) borax nuts and amla or acid juices. The
mixture is to be smeared into a musā then dried. Finally the mouth of the crucible should
be closed with another inverted one and heated in fire. When the flame turns from blue
to white the crucible is caught with a pair of tongs mouth held downwards, taking care
not to break the tubular vessel. The result would be lustre of tin collected for use.
The other process required the ore to be mixed with lāksā or resin, guda or treacle,
haridrā, sarjja or natron or carbonated soda, (140) - lanoih - borax, pathyā or myrobalan
(141), āsuri or black salt or the plant Sinapis Ramosa L (142) and white mustard, ,– the
mixture to be boiled in milk and clarified butter solution and then made into balls. (143)

These references gain in significance as a literary evidence for zinc production in early
medieval India. The practice of zinc production in India may belong to an even earlier
date. P.T. Craddock, L.K. Gurjar and K.T.M Hegde, the three internationally reputed
experts in archaeological sciences (chemist – metallurgists) had carried out extensive
surveys and analyses at the Zawar mines in Rajasthan. first reported in modern times in
the mid nineteenth century by J.C. Brooke. Their surveys unearthed evidence pointing to
the use of the zinc deposits, probably at mass scale, from at least the 13th century
onwards. The postscript added to their article in the Journal World Archaeology adds
that the timber scaffolding at old parts of Zawar mines yielded a radiocarbon date around
the first century A.D. (2120 ± 60 years before present ) which makes it the earliest used
zinc mine in the world context. (144)
These continuities in tradition between the 7h century A.D. composition Rasaratnakara,
the 11th - 12th century A.D, composition of Rasarnava and the 14th century composition
of Rasaratnasamuccaya - clearly indicate the continuation of a rational, workable
tradition of chemistry having been nurtured within the Rasatantra genre side by side with
the esoteric trends and growing beliefs in magical procedures for attaining longevity and
wealth.
So far as the use of mercury is concerned numerous workable methods have been
mentioned in the Rasatantra texts.
The Rasarnava text reads “Rasaka, - there are three kinds of it; namely of yellow
colour, of the appearance of treacle, and of the colour of stones. What wonder is it that
rasaka mixed with (certain organic matters) and roasted three times with copper
converts the latter into gold? (145)

“mrttika guda pāsānabhedeto rasakastrdhā

Kim atra citram rasako rasena,
* * * bhābitah
Kramena bhutvā turagena rañjitah
Karoti sulvam triputena kāñcanam.

This clearly is a reference to orpiment and realgar mixed with copper that turns into
bronze. P.C. Ray points out that the Rasaratnakara contains exactly the same sloka.
(146) Cinnabar occurring in the Dong huan copper mines of China has the colour and
crystalline form of treacle. Rock and mineral guide in the Columbia Encyclopaedia
describes that the colour of cinnabar may vary from brick red to dark black, hence
reference to pasanabheda or bitumen. Most interestingly, the ancient users had had the
capacity to distinguish between cinnabar and orpiment (haritala, ala, pinjara) and their
different properties. And cinnabar (sindura, hingulaka, darada) had a different
nomenclature from mercury (rasa, pārada, capala). Realgar (manahśilā), however, was
often put together with orpiment.

But the most significant is the reference to reference to extraction of mercury from
cinnabar by distillation. Mercury is here referred as the essence of darada or cinnabar in
verse 37 of the Rasaratnakara.
The 11th century A.D. composition Rasarnavakalpa provides the details of mercury
extraction from cinnabar or hingula:
Hingula parinipidita drdhā
Kanyakoi / kallakoikādaśasamyutā tadā
Suksmavastragalitā sutālake
Miśrake bhabati niścalo rasah.” 147)
Cinnabar is to be pressed thoroughly and rubbed with the juice of kanya (aloe
perfoliata L. or a plant growing in Kashmir, (148) eleven times. It is then to be filtered
through fine cloth, and the filtered product is to be mixed with pure orpiment. Mercury
obtained in this manner loses its fluidity.

The more important point is the connection that these descriptions reveal between
pure metallurgical works and the alchemy of gold making.
Rasarnavakalpa gives the recipe that sulphur - gandhaka mixed with the juice of
niśacara ( same as soma plant ) (149) is to be smeared on the leaves of copper by
which copper is ‘killed’ (marana). This copper is to be mixed with silver, 1/3rd its weight
over fire for amalgamation. If with this silver (silver – copper alloy) gold, ½ the weight of
copper is mixed, gold of pure quality would be obtained. (150) So basically the verse is
illuminating upon the alloying of 1 part copper with 1/3rd part silver and then mixing this
alloy with gold which is ½ of the weight of copper to obtain what was being claimed as
pure gold, but what was actually a gold alloy good enough for working by the minters of
coin and goldsmiths.
This is a reference to an alloy of a perfect combination (75 :25 ratio in composition, .25
of which was the perfect combination with pure gold for gold coins under the Mughals)
which was prepared and used for gold coins by the mints, probably even under the Delhi
Sultans in the 13th – 14th centuries. The reference to minting of gold coins in the Ain – i
–Akbari throws light on the processes involved (151) Even before the composition of Ain,
the process of minting during the Khalji rule had been discussed in the Dravyaprakasa –
a text written by Thakkura Pheru, the Master of Mint under Alauddin Khalji. However, the
Dravyaprakasa was not explicit about alloying gold and silver to obtain almost perfect
metal for the coins. Ain therefore is more useful for reference, but the technique was
practiced for long times and hence its percolation to the curious alchemists could be a
probability. Alloying metals for obtaining hard and mintable yet almost pure metallic
tablets to be made into coins has also been referred to in the Arthasastra: For silver
coins for example, the prescription was to add one – fourth part of copper, and a small
portion of iron, tin, lead or antimony alloyed together. (152)
The vague ideas related to gold obtained by the use of mercury probably has a link
with the practices of extracting gold from the khāk or saloni - the slag left after
purification process, when simāb (Persian for mercury) was rubbed with the slag to
obtain gold. (153) Mercury is an amalgam for gold and this property of mercury gave
rise to the expectations of the later – day alchemists. Most of them might not have really
been conversant with the actual knowledge of metallurgy, yet, proved to be observant of
the processes, and more importantly, the end results, an exaggerated idea of which
percolated to the composers of the Rasatantra texts.

There is a third connection to be found to Ayurvedic drug preparation and

pharmacology with alchemy where alchemy took on the concept of lauhadi rasayana
and idea of dehadhatu and added it with the general belief in the value of gold . Gold
got linked with the desire and idea of health and longevity.
A recipe for elixir in Rasarnavakalpa runs as following: The mercury extracted from
cinnabar (process mentioned earlier) is to be mixed with the juices of leaves of
hamsagamani (154), gajadhvaji (155), lajjakā - wild cotton tree (156), arkanamita (157),
anamika ( a kind of plant not specified anywhere.) and all parts of arka (158) for a
fortnight. The mixture of these ingredients is then to be treated with the juice of vallaki.
(159)) for 28 days. The mixture is to be dried in shade. Then the dried paste is to be
pressed and dipped in the juices of plants like arka, pippala – (160) and jatādhāra
(161). This mercurial drug is to be rubbed in the liquid content of the aforementioned
juices. The paste is to be made into small balls. The balls are to be put into thin bodied
flasks and tightly closed. This flask is to be kept on fire for 3 days and nine hours. During
the whole duration of heating one should observe and concentrate upon the process and
focus on the thoughts of Siva. After heating, the paste is taken out and rubbed till it takes
the shape of a lump. Pills are to be made out of this lump, which will be red in colour.
(162)
The plants mentioned are somewhat different than those generally mentioned in the
Ayurvedic treatises. In some cases the nomenclature is different as in the case of
Hamsagamani, which perhaps actually stands for Brahmi.
In fact, by all evidence, plants are used less and less a ingredients in the Rasatantra
texts of the medieval times. Moreover, the recurrent use of mercury in the recipe for
elixirs is a completely new phenomenon. This was the core practice typical of medieval
alchemy noted all over China and the Arabic world too.
Thus we complete the full circle of theoretical rasayana beginning with magical
prescriptions in the Atharvaveda with glimpses of rational cognition and ending with a
much more advanced, yet jumbled up concept of technical practices mixed up with
esoteric religious beliefs – opium to the soul. However, in the process the concepts of
Rasa had metamorphosed into a single item: mercury. While the alchemical concepts in
the Rasatantra directed the perusal of substances, their properties and uses towards
the surrealist path, the rational ideas about dravya and dhatu, obtained through the
practical arts of metallurgy, pharmacy, cosmetology, cooking and distillation of wine etc,
had found place in a separate genre of literature in the late medieval period. There was
the appearance of innumerable texts devoted to the discussions on dravya and food,
generally given the title Dravya Prakasa, Dravya Samgraha, etc. This body of literature
emerged as a corollary to Ayurvedic knowledge.
Metallurgy and knowledge of gems and minerals often found a small niche among
Dravya literature, however, no text was composed which was exclusively devoted to the
science of either chemistry or metallurgy. Thus the Rasatantras took the stage in their
absence. The actual tradition of Ayurveda took its own separate path as did the work of
the metallurgists, but never did the disciplines meet to develop into a coordinated
science. The chance that had emerged at the juncture of the early historical and early
medieval phases (4th Century A.D. – 8th Century A.D.) had been lost and later
Rasatantra texts suffered more and more from lack of real comprehension and
knowledge of the substances, their properties and uses. Yet, they are the only literary
sources for delving into the history of chemistry as was recognized by that great stalwart,
Acharya P.C. Ray.