Rasaratna Samuchaya Explained

Rasaratna Samuccaya (Devanagari: रसरत्न समुच्चय) is an Indian Sanskrit treatise on alchemy. The text is dated between 13th^[1] to 16th century CE.^[2]

The text contains detailed descriptions of various complex metallurgical processes,^{[3] [4]} as well as descriptions of how to set up and equip a laboratory and other topics concerning Indian alchemy. It is a work that synthesises the writings and opinions of several earlier authors and presents a coherent account of medieval Indian alchemy.

Contents

Among the diverse scientific content of this text is:^[5]

• Systematic approach to the Science. (Rasaratna Samuccaya 6/2)
• Philosophy of scientific explanation.
• Two kinds of mineral with zinc: calamine and Smithsonite. (Rasaratna Samuccaya 2-149)
• Color and nature of the mineral. ('Artha-sastra' '2 -30)
• Color of minerals with copper.
• Properties of some chemicals, such as calcium carbonate. (Rasaratna Samuccaya 3 / 130-131)
• Distillation of mercury. (Rasaratna Samucchaya 3/144)
• Explanation of the corrosion (Rasārṇava 7/97)
• The color of the flame (Rasārṇava 4/51)
• Three types of iron (Rasaratna Samuccaya 5/69)
• Two kinds of tin (Rasaratna Samuccaya 5 / 153-154)
• The lead (Rasaratna Samuccaya 5/170)
• The zinc metal (Rasataraṅgiṇi 19/95)
• The brass (Rasendra Cūḍāmaṇi14 / 154)
• The bronze (Rasaratna Samuccaya 5/205)
• Conditions of a laboratory and the people who work within it.

External links

• Indian Institute of Science and Heritage
• Introduction
• Printed edition in Sanskrit
• Electronic text based on the 1927 Calcutta printed edition, with extracts from the Bodhinī commentary, in the SARIT library.

Notes and References

1. Book: White, David Gordon. The alchemical body: Siddha traditions in medieval India. 1996-01-01. 9780226149349. English.
2. Book: Meulenbeld, Gerrit Jan. A history of Indian medical literature. 1999-01-01. E. Forsten. 9789069801247. Groningen. English.
3. http://www.philosophy.ru/library/asiatica/indica/authors/chemistry.html#_ednref6 Indian Metallurgy
4. Biswas . Arun Kumar . June 1986 . Rasa-Ratna-Samüccaya and Mineral Processing State-of-Art in the 13th Century a.d. India . Indian Journal of History of Science . 22 (1) . 29–46, 1987 . 2009-01-09 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090227061211/http://www.new.dli.ernet.in/rawdataupload/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005abf_29.pdf . 2009-02-27 .
5. http://hindulegacy.blogspot.com/2009/07/ancient-indian-chemistry.html Ancient Indian Chemistry.