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Essay name: Alchemy in India and China

Author: Vijaya Jayant Deshpande
Affiliation: Panjab University / Department of Chemistry

The thesis "Alchemy in India and China" explores the comparative aspects of alchemy in these two countries, focusing on chemical and protochemical formulations while addressing why modern science developed in the West rather than in India or China. It briefly touches upon internal alchemy in China and the ritualistic tantra in India.

Chapter 5 - Transmission of Alchemical and Chemical ideas

Page:

11 (of 39)


External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)


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102
Mahayanist school and the invocations are addressed to
Buddha. Research by Bendal, Sastri, and Levi discovered
a few more tantrik texts dealing with alchemy.
6 Kubjikāmātā is one such Mahāyānist text with alchemical
literature. Four Sanskrit treatises on alchemy, viz.
Rasasiddhisāstra, Dhātuvādasāstra, Sarvesvara rasāyana and
Dhātuvāda, all of the eighth to ninth century AD, were
translated into Tibetan and included in the scriptures
Kanjur and Tanjur, the Tibetan equivalents of the
Buddhist Tripitaka.
Mātrkābhedatantram is a Tantrik text probably
Several of its
written in the early medieval period.
chapters contain alchemical subjects. We come across a
reference to "Cinātaṇtra" 7 in its first chapter. It is
6 Dutt, Nalinaksha, see Secondary Sources, p. 80.
Mahāyāna Buddhism is more religious and meta-
physical being a later phase of Buddhism. The scriptures
are in Sanskrit whereas Hināyāna scriptures are in Pāli.
It is the attainment of perfection of knowledge, i.e.,
Prajnāpāramita, the highest goal in Mahāyāna, which is
observed in the above-mentioned texts.
7.
Mātrkābhedatantram, section I, Sloka 7.
चीनतन्त्रानुसारे� पूजयेत� सिद्धकालिकाम� �
[cīnatantrānusāreṇa pūjayet siddhakālikām |
]
1 अथवा पूजयेत� देवी� दक्षिणां कालिका पराम�
||
[athavā pūjayet devī� dakṣiṇāṃ kālikā parām
||
]
i.e., Worship of Siddhakālikā and Daksiṇakālikā should be
done according to Cinatantra and Kālikātaṃtra.

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