Rasa Jala Nidhi, vol 3: Metals, Gems and other substances
by Bhudeb Mookerjee | 1938 | 47,185 words | ISBN-10: 8170305829 | ISBN-13: 9788170305828
This third volume of the Rasa-jala-nidhi deals with purification techniques of the Seven Metals (sapta-dhatu) and various Gems (ratna). It also deals with substances such as Alkalis (kshara), Salts (lavana), Poisions (visha) and Semi-poisions (upavisha) as well as various alcholic liquors. The Rasa-jala-nidhi (“the ocean of Iatrochemistry, or, che...
Part 4 - Alkaline substance (4): Tankana (borax)
A kind of mud containing borax is found in the beds of dried lakes (in upper India and Tibet). This mud is called “tankal”. It is to be dissolved with water, filtered in the usual way, and dried up by heat, leaving crystals of borax deposited at the bottom of the pot.
Varieties of tankana.
Tankana is of two kinds, yiz. pinda (lump) tankana, and crystal tankana. The former is not pure white, whereas the latter is pure white.
Properties of tankana.
Lump tankana is pungent, warm, rough, increaser of digestive power, destroyer of kapha, and inereaser of vayu and pitta. It is efficacious in cough, asthma, dismenorrhoea, and inorganic poison. It is inferior to crystal tankana.
White or crystal tankana is pungent, warm, soft, acrid, white, laxative, strengthening, digestive, destroyer of kapha and vayu, and efficacious in waste, mucus, and poison.
The white borax is purer than the lump borax.
Purification of tankana.
Tankana is purified, if it is made to burst into white ashes by the application of heat.
Conclusion:
This concludes ‘Alkaline substance (4): Tankana (borax)’ included in Bhudeb Mookerjee Rasa Jala Nidhi, vol 3: 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.