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We find references to Indian sciences in numerous Chinese texts. Most of them are the happenings during the Tang dynasty (618-916 AD), when the travels by Buddhists between India and China were at their peak. One of the earliest references of transmission of scientific ideas to China, from India, is found in the bibliography of the Sui dynasty, viz. Sui Shu (636 AD). It gives a list of Indian scientific books translated into Chinese. 11 They were titled as Po-lo-men (brahmin) books. These books dealt with subjects such as 11 Needham, Joseph (1), Vol. 5, Pt. III, p. 160.

105 12 mathematics, astronomy, pharmaceutics, etc. These texts could have given some idea regarding the scientific achievements of India of the seventh century AD, had they not been lost long ago. er ya' ,13 A certain paragraph in a Chinese text "Shi-yao by Mei Biao 14 refers to the visit of an Indian Buddhist monk to China in AD 664 and about his knowledge of salt petre, its extraction and applications such as a flux in smelting and also in transmutation of metals. The above Indian Buddhist monk also knew about the flame test for examining the sample of salt petre. After 15 narrating this story Needham' comments, 12. 'Bo-lo-men yao-fang 13. zi luo men yao fang Shi-yao er-ya shi luan er ya 14 Mei Biao mei diao 15. Needham, Joseph (1), Vol. 5, Pt. III, p. 139.

106 This episode raises several important questions, notably the appearance of close Indian-Chinese chemical contacts during the Tang period and the exact time when potassium nitrate (i.e. saltpetre) was reliably discovered, identified and used. It has a great significance with respect to the problems such as the first knowledge of mineral acids, the invention of gun powder and the mutual indebtedness of China and India. Further, one more episode quoted from this text 16 11 "Yu-yang za-zu describes how knowledge regarding mineral acids was transmitted to China through a Brahmin scholar of the seventh century AD. We will discuss this case, in detail, later. We have seen in the chapter on "Alchemy in India" that the famous Buddhist patriarh of the early medieval period, Nagarjuna's works were translated into Chinese in the fifth century AD by Kumarjiva. It appears that Nagarjuna was known to the Chinese in a number of different contexts; first as a Buddhist philosopher, second as a man of medicine and third as an alchemist. There are a number of chapters in Chinese tripitaka Da Zang which are attributed to Nagarjuna and they contain references to medicine and alchemy along with philosophy. Some 16, Needham, Joseph (1), Vol. 5, Pt. IV, p. 197. Yu Yang za zu you yang za zu

107 treatises on protochemistry attributed to Nagarjuna were also known. Though all of them are no more extant, from the titles we can surmise that some knowledge in the above fields was probably transmitted to China in the early medieval period. Asvaghosa's case is a similar one. His name is also connected with Chinese and Indian alchemy. He was a Mahayanist monk. His name was translated into Chinese as Ma-ming 17 meaning "neighing of a horse" (asva-horse, ghosa-neighing). chu sha. 18 It was also transliterated as A shih Po A famous Taoist alchemist Yin Zhang-sheng is said to have acquired the art of preparing the "Grand Purity golden potion magical elixir" from the adept Ma-mingSheng and also that of making gold. Yin Zhang-sheng 17. Ma-ming F J men 18. 'A shih Po Chu Sha a jian pu po xiao 19 Ma Ming Sheng ma ming sheng It is interesting to note that the Taoist texts tell us that (Needham, Joseph (1), Vol. 5, Pt. II, p. 75) Ma-Ming-Sheng had acquired the art of immortality from or Master An qi (a legendary An-qi-sheng * # # immortal, perhaps a Taoist adept in or before Han (Needham, Joseph (1), Vol. 5, Pt. II, p. 434) who was in communication with the legendary Isle of peng-lai.

108 was believed to have imparted his knowledge to Wei Bo-yang, Lu Zi-hua, Zhu Xian-sheng. Wei Bo-yang was the famous author of the text Can-tong-ji and was a figure of the second century AD. This takes Asvaghosa's time as far back as the first century AD. This Asvaghosa's name also occurs in Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka. All this goes to 20 ascertain the Buddhists' contribution in the development of Indian and Chinese alchemy of the early medieval period. It also supports the fact that Indian and Chinese alchemy were interdependent in the origin and growth. Borrowing of alchemical ideas from one tradition 21 by the other is noticed frequently. Zhao Nai-an, a Chinese compiler of the eighth century AD, compiled a book ,22 entitled "Qian-gong-jia-geng zhi-bao ji-cheng" (complete compendium on the perfect treasure of lead, mercury, wood and metal). This book contains alchemical writings in five chapters, and in one of the chapters it preserves an alchemical "mantram" in an Indian language. 20 See Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka, No. 1420, p. 967. 21 zhao nai # 22 qian gong jia geng zhi bao ji cheng

109 In Indian literature, references to China are not direct, as are seen in the Chinese literature. However, we find that Chinese names are attached to many processes or products, etc.; e.g., "Cinatantra" is a section in the alchemical text "Martrakabhedatantram" or in a Tamil alchemical text "Bogar karpam", a name of a silvery alloy is given as "China Silver". Later in this chapter we will discuss this case.