Rasaratna Samuchaya

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.

References

1. White, David Gordon (1 January 1996). The alchemical body: Siddha traditions in medieval India. ISBN 9780226149349.
2. Meulenbeld, Gerrit Jan (1 January 1999). A history of Indian medical literature. Groningen: E. Forsten. ISBN 9789069801247.
3. Indian Metallurgy
4. Biswas, Arun Kumar (June 1986). "Rasa-Ratna-Samüccaya and Mineral Processing State-of-Art in the 13th Century a.d. India" (PDF). Indian Journal of History of Science. 22 (1) (29–46, 1987). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 February 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2009.
5. Ancient Indian Chemistry. Hindu culture (blog)

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.