Part 5 - Chemists of the Metallic School: Adima

He appears to be the earliest of the Siddhas and to have left a treatise which was extant up to the time of Bagbhat, at least. His reputation appears to have spread beyond the boundaries of India. We find in page 399 of Mr. Stapleton’s book that there was a belief prevalent amongst the Sabians that the science of alchemy was bestowed by God upon Adimum, the ‘Shith’. We are inclined to identify the Indian Adima, the Siddha or Sidh with the Sabian Adimum, the Shith. The epithet of Siddha or Sidh has two meanings in India, viz., a prophet and a chemist. In the latter case, it is a contraction of Rasa-Siddha. The Sabian “Shith” appears to have the same significance and is only a corrnption of the Sanskrit word “Siddha”. According to the Indians, “Adima, the Sidh” was the first of the chemists, whereas, according to the Sabians “Adimum, the Shith” was the first of the chemists. Such being the case, it will not be unreasonable to infer that the doctrines of Adima, the Siddha, who was manifestly an Indian, came to be spread, in course of time amongst the Sabians also, who appear to have a cultural connection with India, even from the pre-historic times. We find in Charaka that one of the several sages who attended a medical conference, which was held by the sages in India at the time of Bharadvasa, was the great sage Kankayana of Balkh. The name Kankayana is evidently of Sanskrit origin. We also find in the Puranas and in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata that there was a close social intercourse in the pre-historic ages between India and the territories to west of India, such as Afghanistan, Balkb, etc. As for instance, Gandhari, the mother of Duryodhana was the daughter of the King of Kandahar. Soma Dutta, King of Balkh came to attend a Shradh ceremony at Muttra in India. He was devout worshipper of Siva, His son Bhurishrava (Bhurishravas) became an ally of Duryodhana and fought in the great war at Kurukshetra which took place more than 5077 years ago. In all probability, all these territories formed a part of India in those days, at least from the racial and cultural point of view.

We also find in Mr. Stapleton’s book that Adimum, the first chemist, obtained his doctrine from “Akhnukh” who may be identified with the sage “Ushanash” or Shukra who was a great scholar and physician, and is said to have attained mercurial body even during his life time. It will be seen in the Puranas that the sage Shukra although a Brahman by birth, come to be a spiritual guide and preceptor of the Javans or non-Indians and of the Asuras or people who did not belong to the race of the Aryas. It is to be pointed out, in this connection, that the letter “S” is often pronounced colloquially as K; as for example, Vrisha (meaning bull) is pronounced as “Vrikh.” No wonder, therefore, that Ushanash has been pronounced as “Akhnukh”.