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 7 - Transformation of base metals into gold by haritala

First process.

Haritala is to be rubbed with the juice of rudanti. Copper leaf, smeared with this haritala, turns into fine gold.

Second process.

The leaf of a metal consisting of 16 parts of silver and 12 parts of copper is to be smeared with an amalgam made of haritala, makshika, hingula, manas-shila, and mercury, all rubbed together for three days with the juice of kakamachi, the weight of each of these metals being 3/2th (1½?) part of the leaf, which is to be heated after it is so smeared. The product is gold.

Third process.

Haritala with an equal quantity of manas-shila is to be rubbed with the juices of devadali and shiva-lingi for one day each. Five palas of powdered lead, tin, and mercury, each equal in quantity, are to be rubbed with the amalgam of haritala and manas-shila, described above, and with ghee and then subjected to puta. The process of rubbing with the amalgam and ghee and then of heating by puta is to be performed sixty times resulting in the preparation of a compound, which can transform 100 times its weight of tin into silver.

Conclusion:

Rasasastra category This concludes ‘Transformation of base metals into gold by haritala’ 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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