PREFACE

While collecting materials for my History of Hindu Chemistry I was very much struck with the wealth of information and chemical knowledge of which Rasárnava is the repository. Thus 'Nature' in its review of the "History of Hindu Chemistry" ( Vol. I ) speaking of the progress of chemistry in ancient India quotes two remarkable passages from Rasárnava :

"Copper yields a blue flame...that of tin is pigeon-coloured ; that of lead is pale-tinted,"

and as another example :—

"A pure metal is that which, when melted in a crucible, does not give off sparks, nor bubbles, nor spurts, nor emits any sound, nor shows any lines on the surface, but is tranquil as a gem" (see pp. 51-52 vs 49-52.) *

Among the alchemical Tantras esoteric treatises Rasárnava holds a unique position and I have referred to it in the following terms in the Introduction to the History of Hindu Chemistry, Vol. I., 2nd ed. Intro. lxxxiii :

"It is to be regretted that of the several works quoted by Mādhava Rasárnava alone seems to have survived to our days. This work is almost unknown in Bengal, and extremely rare even in N. India and the Deccan. We have been fortunate enough"

* "Nature", 1903, LXVIII, 51.