Rasa Jala Nidhi, vol 2: Minerals (uparasa)

by Bhudeb Mookerjee | 1938 | 28,803 words | ISBN-10: 8170305829 | ISBN-13: 9788170305828

This second volume of the Rasa-jala-nidhi deals with the purification, incineration and medicinal uses of various minerals (uparasa), as well as preventing faults due to misuse. It is continued in the third volume which deals with the various metals. The Rasa-jala-nidhi (“the ocean of Iatrochemistry, or, chemical medicine) is a compendium of Sansk...

Part 4 - Extraction of essence of Makshika

First process.

Makshika, mixed with one thirteenth of its weight of lead, rubbed with ksharas and amlas and heated in an uncovered crucible, emits its essence. The lead is then eliminated from the essence, if it is heated and immersed in the juice of nirgundi, for seven times.

Second process.

Makshika is to be subjected to repeated bhavanas with honey, castor oil, cow’s urine, clarified butter, and juice of banana plant, and then heated in a crucible, with the result that a soft copper like essence comes out of the makshika. The essence, which resembles a gunja seed in colour, is capable of smelting very quickly and is cool and pure, can make the body as strong as iron.

Third process.

Makshika, duly purified, is to be rubbed with lime juice and heated a little with some rock-salt. It is then to be kept surrounded on all sides with tankana, in an earthen crucible, and subjected to kukkuta-puta. This will result in the emission of an essence, somewhat red in colour.

Fourth process.

Makshika is to be subjected to bhavana for one day with the milks of cow and tuttha plant and then rubbed and made into a lump which is to be put into an iron tube, dried in the sun and then heated by means of a Patala-kosthi or Patala-yantra, exactly in the same way as mica. The inner surface of the crucible, in this case, is to be coated with a paste made of jayanti, powdered triphala, turmeric, molasses, and tankana, the last mentioned being one fourth in quantity of the preceding four things combined.

Conclusion:

Rasasastra category This concludes ‘Extraction of essence of Makshika’ included in Bhudeb Mookerjee Rasa Jala Nidhi, vol 2: Initiation, Mercury and Laboratory. The text includes treatments, recipes and remedies and is categorised as Rasa Shastra: an important branch of Ayurveda that specialises in medicinal/ herbal chemistry, alchemy and mineralogy, for the purpose of prolonging and preserving life.

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