Rasārṇavakalpa (English critical edition)

According to the Rasārṇavakalpa, kāyasādhanā or dehasiddhi can be attained effectively by using various processed mineral and vegetable compositions described in these kalpas.

The text contains twenty-nine kalpas in total. Generally, these provide a brief description of the origin of the substances, followed sequentially by their properties and uses. The style of presentation is slightly different from other extant texts of rasaśāstra. Furthermore, many of the kalpas are associated with tantric practices, either sublime or profane.

Two of the kalpas deal with sulphur and arsenic sulphide. Of the remaining twenty-seven, twenty-one are devoted to plants, and six relate to efficacious soil and water. It is interesting to note that the text has no actual chapter divisions. Broadly, it can be divided into three parts: (i) rasāyanotpatti (verses 1-77), dealing with beneficial tantric practices based on the preparation and use of rasāyanas (elixirs); (ii) rasaprakriyā (verses 78-207), dealing with mercurial operations and transmutations; and (iii) kalpaprabhāga (verses 213 onwards), enumerating the properties and uses of various plants, minerals, and metals. In general, the contents relate to the methodical treatment of mercury, plant properties, transmutation processes, longevity compositions, apparatus, experimental details, and important auxiliary alchemical substances.

Mercury and its powers: As in other alchemical works, the general word used in the Rasārṇavakalpa for mercury is rasa¹. The text speaks of rasavidyā (the science of mercury), which has twin objectives: the perfection of metal and the perfection of man. In other words, it aims for the transmutation of base metal into gold, and of the mortal into the immortal through transubstantiation, resulting in rejuvenation and invigoration. The Rasārṇavakalpa describes mercury as dhāturūpī (having a metallic character) and calls it by many names, such as sūta, sūtaka, pārada, mahārasa, rasa, rasarāja, rasadhātu, liṅga, narajīva, and lokeśa. It regards mercury as the prime essence from which the science of alchemy (rasavidyā) came into being through divine dispensation². It emphasizes that of all known vegetable or mineral substances, only mercury has the capability of making gold, gems, silver, and similar materials fit for alchemical operations and the preparation of elixirs of immortality (rasāyana)³. Essentially, the principal functions of mercury are metallic transmutation (vedhana) and bodily perfection (dehasiddhi). Additionally, it states that mercurial preparations possess magical and miraculous powers, such as levitation and invisibility.

The text describes the process of extracting mercury from cinnabar: cinnabar must be pressed well with the juice of kanyā (Aloe indica) eleven times and sieved through a fine cloth. Although the text does not explicitly state it, it is obviously then to be heated, and the emerging vapors condensed. One important process the text describes elaborately is vedhana, the last of the eighteen saṃskāras (purificatory processes) of mercury. Vedhana aims to process mercury to make it a transmuting agent which, according to the Rasārṇava, brings about the transformation of metal (lohavedha) and the body (dehavedha)⁴. The power of transmutation is increased gradually, and the Rasārṇavakalpa speaks of mercury as being daśavedhin (transmuting ten times its weight), śatavedhin (hundred times), sahasravedhin (thousand times), lakṣavedhin (hundred thousand times), and even kotivedhin (ten million times). The modus operandi of transmutation is described as dhūmavedhin (by the "smoke" of mercury vapor when heated), sparśavedhin (by mere "touch"), and avaloka (by mere "sight").

¹ The term rasa signifies various "wet elements" like sap, juice, elixir, fluid, quintessence, water, blood, creative essence, and other liquids including molten metals and "magical" mixtures.
² Verse 13.
³ Occurs in verse 21 as a mantra or mystic syllable.
⁴ Rasārṇava 17, 165-166: "As it is done to metal, so it should always be done to the body; mercury creates the same... for both body and metal. First test it on metal, then apply it to the body."

"What exactly happens during the process of the so-called transmutation of base metals into gold is difficult to explain in the present state of our knowledge without methodical chemical experiments using the ingredients mentioned in the text. It appears, however, that the color of the interior metal changes into that of the noble metal. A change in color seems to carry the connotation of transmutation. Besides, the coloration that occurs may be uniform and too intimate to easily reveal the true color of the inferior metal under ordinary conditions. The specific gravity and other physical characteristics of the transmuted metal are likely to manifest as a result of the skillful manipulation of the ingredients..."⁵

⁵ For details, see "A Concise History of Science in India", Ed. D. M. Bose, S. N. Sen, and B. V. Subbarayappa, New Delhi, 1971, pp. 320 ff.