4. Patanjali’s Successor: Nagarjuna (the alchemist)

Nagarjuna, the alchemist, is widely regarded as the inventor of distillation and calcination. According to Vinda and Cakrapani, Nagarjuna was the inventor of the use of Kajjali or Cinnabar (mercuric sulphide Hgs) to produce mercury. The later day Rasasastra texts eulogize him as the pioneer in metallurgy (dhatuvada) and the use of metallic salts in medicine. Dallana makes him the redactor of the Susruta Samhita: prati-samskrti pita nagarjuna eva (Nibandha Samgraha I) Nagarjuna compiled several medical texts related to metals and metallic salts: Lauhasastra, Kaksaputatantra, Rasaratnakara (on which we would comment later) etc. Several medical recipes, based by on haridra (turmeric), abhra (mica) etc. and formulated A Nagarjuna, used to be written on stone slabs in Pataliputra for the public (Mukhopadhyaya, 1923).

VIII-10 Rasayana has been defined by Caraka (1.2.6) as the science or medicine which promotes longevity, retentive memory, health, virility etc. Few experts in Rasayana who might have preceded Nagarjuna were vyadi or Vyalacarya and Mandavya of whom we do not know very much. We would now comment on the date of Nagarjuna and his precise identity. Alberuni mentioned the popularity of the Indian Science Rasayana, and that the Indians were 'inclined towards the the mineralogical method of alchemy'. In that connection, he wrote that 'a famous representative of this art was Nagarjuna, a native of the fort Daihak near Somnath.... His book is very rare... He lived nearly a hundred years before our time' (Sachau, 1910,1983:189 Quoting Alberuni, many authors have put Nagarjuna in the ninth eight century A.D. (Ray, 1956:116-118). However as Filliozat (1951) has pointed out, Hiuen-Tsang attested in 630 A.D. that the alchemist Nagarjuna had lived much before his time: Nagarjuna lived in Sangharama not far to the south of the city Kosala or Berar; he was well- practised in the art of compounding medicines which provided long life; Sadvaha-raja had partaken of this mysterious medicine' (Beal, 1884, 1969:212). It is quite likely that the original Indian source from which Kumarajiva wrote Nagarjuna's biography in Chinese (405 A.D.), had mixed up the famous alchemist cum the Tantric teacher, the contemporary of Yajnasri Gautamiputra Satavahana or Satakarni (166-196 or 174-203 A.D.), with the (Madhyamika) philosopher

VIII-11 Nagarjuna who was probably a contemporary of King Kaniska (78-102 A.D.) (Nalinaksha Dutt's view in Majumdar, Volume 2, 1980:388). We are concerned with the alchemist (vide Sylvain Levi). The suggestion that the alchemist and the philosopher were the same person is difficult to accept. The alchemist Nagarjuna lived in the monastery of Kosala. Chanda or Berar, modern Chanda (near Nagpur or Amravati), and was a friend. of the Satavahana King addressed to whom he wrote a book: Suhrillekha (Letters to a Friend). Hiuen Tsang wrote that when the king had fallen short of gold, Nagarjuna used a 'divine decoction and converted some stone into gold with which four statues of Buddha were made' (Beal, 1884, 1969: 216). The allusion was most probably to the yellow or gold-coloured brass, widely publicised by Nagarjuna. We quote two very relevant passages from Nagarjuna's Rasa-Ratnakara = kimatra citram rasako rasena .... kramena krtvambudharena ramjitah karoti sullam triputena kamcanama (Rasaratnakara 3) "What wonder is that calamine (rasaka or zinc ore calamine) roasted thrice with copper (sulva) convert the latter into gold' (actually gold-coloured brass). ksarasnehasca dhanyamlai rasakam bhavitam bahu urja laksa tatha prthya bhulata ghumasamyutam || mukamusagatam dhyanam tamkanena samanvitam | satvam kutilasamkasam patate natra samsayah || (Rasaratnakara 31-32)

VIII-12 Rasaka (Calamine) digested repeatedly with fermented paddy-water, natron and clarified butter, and mixed with wool, lac, Terminalia Chebula and borax and roasted in a covered crucible, yields an essence of the appearance of tin; of this there is no doub The above passages from Nagarjuna are the earliest literary references to the ancient art of making brass and zinc. The latter passage quoted (Rasaratnakara 31-32) vividly recalls the distillation of zinc, the falling of the tin-like metal'. The ore was named rasaka because it yielded a distillation product like rasa or mercury. Much later, the metal zinc was named Yasada, Yasadayaka, Yasatva (later colloqually yasta or dasta), 'that which gives fame', a reference to the gold-like colour of its alloy. Brass has been widely used in India since the pre-Christian era of Taxila. We may also mention the first century B.C. brass coins of Dhanadeva and Aryavarma of Ayodhya, 2 nd century A.D. cast brass casket at Manikyalaya, numerous 5 th/6 th century brass statues of Buddha, 7 th century A.D. unfinished brass vihara or convent at Nalanda etc. Hiuen Tsang mentioned widespread use of teou-shih or brass in India. Alchemists like Nagarjuna were interested in the therapeuti use of metallic salts of mercury (rasa), zinc (rasaka) etc. Minerals or metal salts were stated to provide hardness to metal as well as t body: vali palitanarasca tatha kalasya dhvamsanam | yatha lohe tatha dete ksamate natra samsayah | "

VIII-13 In his Rasa-Ratnakara, Nagarjuna dwelt on several other topics related to minerals and metals: (Rasa-Ratnakara 1), purification of rajavarta or lapis lazuli a extraction (capala), of metals from chalcopyrite (maksika), lead ore A purification. of crude molten copper by poling (Rasa-Ratnakara 14), extraction of metal from vaikranta (Rasaratnakara 23-25), extraction of metal from Vimala, (cinnabar) etc. darada The distillation of mercury from cinnabar was described: daradam patanayantre patitasca jalasaye | Pearl was stated to be soluble in vegetable acids: eka evam mahadravau amlakamjikai muktaphalani saptaham vetasamena bhavayet ! Rasa-Ratnakara 37 Rasa-Ratnakara 50-51 Nagarjuna described the use of navasara or sal ammoniac (Rasaratnakara 2.1), vegetable recipes in metal making, various tools and so on. and There is no doubt that the alchemist Nagarjuna belonged to the latter half of the second century A.D. (Bose, Sen ASubbarayappa, 1971:41) although it is not clear whether he was also the celebrated philosopher, and whether the present form of Rasaratnakara was edited in the eighth century (Ray, 1956:118).