India
The 2nd millennium BCE text Vedas describes a connection
between eternal life and gold. The use
of Mercury for alchemy is first documented in the 3rd- or 4th-century BCE text
Arthashastra. Buddhist texts from the 2nd to 5th centuries mention the
transmutation of base metals to gold. Greek alchemy may have been introduced to
Ancient India through the invasions of Alexander the Great in 325 BC, and
kingdoms that were culturally influenced by the Greeks like Gandhāra, although
hard evidence for this is lacking.
The 11th-century Persian chemist and physician Abū Rayhān
Bīrūnī, who visited Gujarat as part of the court of Mahmud of Ghazni, reported
that they have a science similar to alchemy which is quite peculiar to them,
which in Sanskrit is called Rasayāna and in Persian Rasavātam. It means the art
of obtaining/manipulating Rasa: nectar, mercury, and juice. This art was
restricted to certain operations, metals, drugs, compounds, and medicines, many
of which have mercury as their core element. Its principles restored the health
of those who were ill beyond hope and gave back youth to fading old age.
The goals of alchemy in India included the creation of a
divine body (Sanskrit divya-deham) and immortality while still embodied
(Sanskrit jīvan-mukti). Sanskrit alchemical texts include much material on the
manipulation of mercury and sulphur, that are homologized with the semen of the
god Siva and the menstrual blood of the goddess Devī.
Some early alchemical writings seem to have their origins in
the Kaula tantric schools associated to the teachings of the personality of
Matsyendranath. Other early writings are found in the Jaina medical treatise
Kalyāṇakārakam of Ugrāditya, written in South India in the early 9th century.
Two famous early Indian alchemical authors were Nāgārjuna
Siddha and Nityanātha Siddha. Nāgārjuna Siddha was a Buddhist monk. His book,
Rasendramangalam, is an example of Indian alchemy and medicine. Nityanātha
Siddha wrote Rasaratnākara, also a highly influential work. In Sanskrit, rasa
translates to "mercury", and Nāgārjuna Siddha was said to have
developed a method of converting mercury into gold.
Scholarship on Indian alchemy is in the publication of The
Alchemical Body by David Gordon White. A
modern bibliography on Indian alchemical studies has been written by White.
The contents of 39 Sanskrit alchemical treatises have been analyzed
in detail in G. Jan Meulenbeld's History of Indian Medical Literature. The discussion of these works in HIML gives a
summary of the contents of each work, their special features, and where
possible the evidence concerning their dating. Chapter 13 of HIML, Various
works on rasaśāstra and ratnaśāstra (or Various works on alchemy and gems)
gives brief details of a further 655 (six hundred and fifty-five) treatises. In
some cases Meulenbeld gives notes on the contents and authorship of these
works; in other cases references are made only to the unpublished manuscripts
of these titles.
A great deal remains to be discovered about Indian
alchemical literature. The content of the Sanskrit alchemical corpus has not
yet (2014) been adequately integrated into the wider general history of
alchemy.
No comments:
Post a Comment