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 6 - Transmission of Alchemical and Chemical ideas (Part 2)
4 (of 48)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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134
The Case of "Mica'
"
The case of mica is an example of the category
of words which were probably translated from one language
into another, just like long or Naga for lead.
Mica has a long history in India. The pottery
found at the site of Indus Valley Civilization (second
millennium B.C.) contains mica.
Ancient texts such as
Visnudharmottarap奴r膩峁嘺 (dated to be of 1000 B.C.) mention
Rasaratn膩kara of Nagarjuna mentions it and gives a
mica.
process of purification of mica. It was supposed to be an
aphrodisiac and was also known as "Amrit" for that reason.
Alchemical preparations included mica as a prominent
ingredient in the tenth to fourteenth century
-
- Sanskrit
texts such as Rasar峁嘺va, Rasar峁嘺vakalpa, Rasaratnasamu莽莽aya,
etc. Mica is not mentioned in 脟araka Samhita, Sus峁泆ta
Samhita or Bower manuscript though; which means that its
medicinal application was probably not known at that time
(i.e., up to the third or fourth century AD). We find
references to mica in "Bogar karpam", a Tamil alchemical
text of an unknown date (probably written between the fourth
to the tenth century AD) and also in "Bao-pu-zi" text,
which was written by the famous Chinese alchemist of the
fourth century AD. Both these texts give recipes of
elixirs using mica as one of the ingredients.
