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 2 - Alchemy in India
6 (of 26)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
24
of making elixirs which have healing and rejuvenating
properties, fits well his popular humanitarian image.
Ayurveda and Rasayana
The earliest mention of Rasayana was in Ayurveda
which was probably composed by eighth to ninth century B.C.,
since it is a part of Atharvaveda, the last of the four
Vedas, which were supposed to be written between the
fifteenth to the eighth century B.C. The Ayurvedic
system is a very ancient tradition of Indian medicine.斜
Caraka, the renouned medical practitioner of the third/
fourth century B.C., tells us that original Ayurveda
consisted of eight parts and "Rasayana" was one of them.
The eight parts were:
1. K膩y膩cikits膩 - Therapeutics.
2. S膩lakya The science of special diseases of
the eyes, nose, ears, mouth, throat, etc.
3.
-
Salyapahartrka Surgery.
4. Visagara vairodhikaprasamana
-
Toxicology.
5. Bhutavidy膩 Psychiatric knowledge.
6.
Rasayana
-
7. Kumarbhrtya
Rejuvenation.
-
Pediatrics.
Knowledge for increasing virility.
8. V膩jikarana - Knowle
6 See Caraka Samhita in Primary Sources, p. 4.
