Rasaratnākara (Rasāyanakhaṇḍa)

The Gāndhārī Guṭikā The Gāndhārī Pill

In an iron vessel, heat sulfur and add a portion of mercury. (60) Remove it from the fire after a muhūrta approx. 48 minutes using a wooden stick. Śatāvarī Asparagus racemosus, kṣīrakanda, vajravallī Cissus quadrangularis, and indravāruṇī Citrullus colocynthis. (61) Grind them for three days with the juices of these plants (62) in that iron vessel, form it into a pill, and dry it in the shade. Place it inside an iron sampuṭa closed container and seal the joints firmly with clay and salt. (63) Heat it with khadira Acacia catechu charcoal until it becomes reddish; extract it. (64) From the middle, extract the mercury again. Add borax and cook it in a crucible. The Gāndhārī pill is perfected; wear it in the mouth always. (65) Use one karṣa of oil from kākatundī seeds as a nasal application. The krāmaka assimilation will serve as the vehicle, and one lives for a thousand years. (66)

The Mārtaṇḍī Guṭikā The Sun-Like Pill

Grind pure mercury and sulfur together to form a kajjali black sulfide of mercury. (67) Seal it in a copper sampuṭa, fasten it with salt and clay, and once dry, cook it in a bhasmayantra ash-vessel with a bright fire for one yāma. (68) Scrape the residue from the top of the sampuṭa and grind it. Add an equal amount of mercury and cook it in the sampuṭa as before. (69) Repeat this seven times; extract the mercury again. (70) Add an equal amount each time and grind for a day. Seal it in a diamond-crucible and heat it until the mercury becomes khoṭa a hardened, potent state. (71) This is the Mārtaṇḍī pill; whoever keeps this in their mouth is freed from gray hair and wrinkles and lives as long as the moon and stars. (72) Consume one pala of palāśa seed oil with milk; the krāmaka assimilation will cause one to swoon instantly. (73)

This page provides procedures for the Gāndhārī and Mārtaṇḍī pills, describing specific metallurgical "smelting" processes within sealed vessels to reach the hardened, potent state required for life-extending alchemy.