Part 14 - Chemists of the Metallic School: Shambhu

He is the author of the famous book, Rasarnava, another excellent treatise which has escaped the ruthless havoc of times. It is a mine of useful in-formations to a chemist. We have been thinking of editing the book with a clear English translation. Rasarnava has much in common with Rasaratnakara of Nagarjuna. Dr. P. C. Roy thinks that Rasarnava has borrowed copiously from Rasa-ratnakara. We are prepared to prove, from a comparison of the contents of these two books, that the case is quite the reverse. Rasa-ratnakara of Nagarjuna is clearly indebted to Rasarnava, and this is what it should be, because, Shambhu, the author of Rasarnava, flourished, according to the principle adopted by us, at least 800 years before Nagarjuna.

Dr. Sir P. C. Roy did not trouble himself about the authorship of Rasarnava and he thinks that the book was composed in 1200 A. D. In the face of clear evidences of a convincing nature, we cannot support Dr. Roy in this assumption.

In proceeding to show that the medicinal use of mercury was known to the Indians even at the time of Varaha-mihira, the well-known astronomer, who died, according to native tradition and chronicles, in the first century B.C., or at the latest, in 587 A.D., as maintained by the western scholars, Dr. Roy has justly quoted a prescription of an aphrodisiac from Brihat Siddhanta of Varaha-mihira (vide page LXXXI, Vol. I of Dr. Sir P. C. Roy’s book). The doctor, however, did not enquire into the source of Varaha-mihira’s information. Had he done so, and and had he succeeded in his attempt, the whole of his book would have been written differently.

The prescription given by Varaha-mihira is a brief description of the medicine, named “Madana-Sundara-Rasa”, the use of which has been described in detail in “Rasa-ratnakara” of Nityanatha, who has been placed in the 14th century by Dr. Roy. He must have flourished before Varaha-mihira’s death, which took place in 587 A.D., if not in the first century B.C.

Nityanatha has given the source of his information in this way: “whatever has been stated by Shambhu in Rasarnava^[1]...... said by Nagarjuna.....” have been consulted by me.

It appears from the above that Nityanatha, who flourished long before 587 A.D., considered Shambhu to be an earlier authority than Nagarjuna, who flourished, according to the “Raja-tarangini”, in the 14th century B.C. Shambhu occupies the 14th, whereas, Nagarjuna the 18th position in the list. In accordance with the principle we have been acting upon, Shambhu may be placed between the 12th and the 15th centuries B.C. He is not to be confused with the God, Siva, one of whose names is Shambhu.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Dr. Roy’s translation of this line has not been happy. It runs as follows “Whatever has been revealed by Siva in Rasarnava”...... Here “Sambhu” does not mean Siva, the God, but Sambhu, the human chemist, referred to in several books.