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The earliest available alchemical text in Sanskrit is Rasaratnakara" written by Nagarjuna. He was the most prominent personality in the field of Indian alchemy. He was also the author of other texts like "Arogyamanjari, Kakasaputa Tantra, Yogasara, Yogasataka, and Rasendramangala". There exists a great controversy over the question of whether this alchemist was the same person as the Buddhist Patriarh by the same name, who was a second century figure and also was the founder of the Madhyamaka system of philosophy. P. C. Ray has discussed this problem, in some detail, in the introduction of his book, "The History of Hindu Chemistry", along with a thorough discussion of Mahayanism and its relation to Tantrism and alchemy. Taranatha wrote a biography of Nagarjuna in Tibetan in the seventeenth century AD, in which he writes that Nagarjuna was born and brought up in a Brahmin family of South India and was afterwards

33 converted to Buddhism; also that he was a celebrated alchemist. Kumarjiva, a Central Asian monk, translated "Life of Bodhisattva Nagarjuna" into Chinese as early as 401 to 409 AD, which is included in the Chinese Version of Buddhist Tripitaka. The Sui Shu (i.e., the bibliography of the Sui dynasty) and also Song Shi (581-618 AD) give names of several books written by Nagarjuna. treatises such as: 10 1. long-shu Pu-sa Yo-fang 2. They contain Pharmaceutics of Bodhisattva Nagarjuna. 11 long-shu pu-sa he-xiang-fa Methods of the Bodhisattva Nagarjuna for compounding perfumes and incense. 12 3. long-shu Pu-sa Yang-sheng fang -Macrobiotic prescriptions of the Bodhisattva Nagarjuna. 10 long shu pu sa luan fang 11 long shu pu sa he xiang fa 12 long shu pu rong yang sheng fang

34 4. 13 long-shu yan lun Discourse of Nagarjuna on eye diseases. Only the last one in the above list is extant. Also a reconstruction of the one by the name Yan-ke long-mu lun 14 (Nagarjuna's discussions on opthalmology) written in the tenth century is found. 15 This clearly indicates that Nagarjuna was regarded in post-Song China as one of the founding fathers on the treatment of eye diseases. Rasaratnakara of Nagarjuna is a smaller text than the later alchemical texts. A large part of this text is devoted to metallurgical operations such as extraction and purification of ores and metals. interesting to note that calamine, i.e., zinc carbonate, which is the chief ore of the metal zinc, was known in It is Nagarjuna's time and it was used for the extraction of 13 ho long shu yan lun 14 yan ke long mu lun 15 Needham, Joseph (1), Vol. V, Pt. 3, p. 163.

zinc and also in brass-making 鈥� This is seen in the 16 following verses of Rasaratnakara. Rasaka or calamine is digested repeatedly with fermented paddy-water, natron, 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. roasted What wonder is that calamine . thrice with copper converts the latter into gold? Brass was not, however, recognized as an alloy but was termed as "kancana" or gold. It should be noted that zinc was not known in Europe until the thirteenth to 35 p. 314. 16" 'Rasaratnakara" of Nagarjuna, see Primary Sources, ksarasnehaiya dhanyamdai rasake bhavitam bahu urja laksa tatha pathya bhulana dhumasamyutam || 31 || mukabhusagatam dhyanam tankartena samanvitam | 1 sattvam kutilasan 鈥�kasam patate natra samgayah || 32 || Also brass-making is observed in the following verse, p. 311. kimanna citram rasako rasena X X kramena krtvambudharena rajnjatah karoti gulvam triputena kancanam || 3 ||

36 fourteenth century AD. 17 Portuguese merchants who visited India reported having seen a metal resembling tin in appearance, and which was called calin and that Indians made a lot of money by selling it. 18 Zinc was exported to Europe from China in the seventeenth century and at that time the Europeans did not know what it was. Zinc was separated for the first time in England in the year AD 1680. "kutilasamkasam", i.e., Nagarjuna termed zinc as "kutilasam the metal resembling tin. This means that he knew that it was not tin but a different metal. in later centuries, 19 zinc adopted new names such as Jasada, Jasadayaka or Yasada, perhaps indicating to its application in brass- (Yasada = conferer of success probably in making. alchemical operations.) The alchemical texts, Dhatukriya or Dhatumanjari, written in fourteenth/fifteenth centuries give synonyms of zinc as Jasada, Yasadayaka, Rupyabhratru (brother of silver), Charmaka, Kharpara, raska, etc. Nagarjuna's p. 109. 17 Partington, J. R., see Secondary Sources, Vol. 2, 18 Needham, Joseph (1), Vol. 5, Pt. II, p. 212. 19 See Dhatukriya or Dhatumanjari in Primary Sources, p. 420.

name for calamine was Rasaka but he gave no separate name for its essence, i.e., zinc. This fact indicates to the antiquity of zinc in India and also supports the belief that Rasaratnakara was written before zinc was recognised as a different metal and separate names were given to it. Rasaratnakara of Nagarjuna is obviously a Buddhist text. A certain verse in it tells us how alchemical knowledge was conferred upon Nagarjuna by Prajnaparamita (Perfection of wisdom), i.e., Buddha himself. Further in one more verse, Nagarjuna confers this knowledge upon his disciples Ratnaghosa and king Salivahana. This text deals largely with metallurgical alchemy. Only one method for synthesizing an elixir from gold and mercury is given in it. It is' as follows: 20 Mercury is to be rubbed with equal weight of gold and then the amalgam is further admixed with sulphur, borax etc. The mixture is to be transferred to a crucible and its lid put on, and then submitted to gentle roasting. By partaking this elixir i.e. the sublimate, the devotee acquired an indistructible body. 20" Rasaratnakara" see Primary Sources, p. 316. rasam hemasama marca pithika| girigandha kama dvipadi rajanirambham madhyet tankananvitam || 30 || nastapistanca muskanca anyamusyam nidhapayet | Jull & que deal 211929249411317: || 31 || bhaksanatsadhakendrastu divyadeha mavapnuyat || 31 || 37

38 The above verse, in which an amalgam of mercury and gold is used for making an elixir, marks the shift of Indian alchemy from elixirs of plant origin to that of mercury. The above method is similar to the one adopted by Chinese alchemists in the second century AD. It is also similar to the method of preparing elixirs or "Senthuram" in Tamil alchemical texts. (The influence of Chinese alchemy on Tamil alchemy is described in a later chapter, on "Transmission of alchemical and chemical ideas between India and China".) In the final few verses the author of Rasaratnakara gives names of twenty-six yantra or the apparatus used in alchemical processes such as "Silayantram, pasanyantram, Bhudharayamtram", etc. He also quotes the names of earlier alchemists such as Sakanda, Mandavya, Vasista, etc., indicating the fact that alchemy was in an advanced state in Nagarjuna's time. The list of the apparatus, the author writes, is quoted from a text, "Rasendramangala", which was probably an earlier text.