ancient Indian chemistry

1. Chemistry of ancient India
Edited by
Dr. A.S. Nene
Retd. Professor of Civil Engineering,
VNIT Nagpur

2. •The Sanskrit name for ‘chemistry’ is Rasayan
shastra.
•Rasa means a liquid or mercury, which is the only
metal available in liquid state.
•If powdered mica is mixed with mercury and
rolled into a ball, it is converted into solid form.
•Such material is sold in market as Paarada-maNi or
Paarada-shivaling.

3. Dhatuvad or Kimaya (Alchemy) is a secret
process of converting certain cheap metals such
as copper, tin or zinc into silver or gold. But
modern scientists do not believe in this theory
and term it as unscientific.

4. Except Kolar mine, there is no gold mine that
exists in India. The total annual production of
gold in India is less than 0.2 % of annual
worldwide gold production. But the total gold
stock in India is around 30 % of the total gold
stock in the world.

5. The gold in India is available as Streedhan (gold
possessed by women) or the gold in the treasury of
rich temples of Balaji, Sai Baba or lord Padmanabha.
For the last 100 years annual import of gold (mostly
from England) was not more than 1.5 tons.
How and when India produced the huge quantity of
gold?. The answer to the question may be the alchemy
science of India.

6. The word Kimaya is an Arabic word for alchemy.
During 16th and 17th centuries, it was believed that,
Yogis (ascetic persons) of India knew this art.
Therefore hundreds of travelers (especially from Arab
countries) visited India to acquire the secret of this art
but could succeed. The origin of ancient Indian
chemistry might be in Dhatuvad (Alchemy) or a
curiosity of transformation of metals.

7. Dr. P. C. Ray was first to trace the
origin of ancient Indian chemistry. In
1910 Dr. Ray edited Vagbhatta’s book
entitled” RasarNav”.

8. Chemistry is a science of elements and changes in
them. Articles of iron, copper and gold were made
since Vedic period. The progress of the science of
chemistry was mainly through Ayurveda during 5th
century B.C. to 5th century A.D. Ayurveda texts
such as Charaka and Sushrut Samhita also contains
information about chemistry.
Subsequently Chemistry was developed as an
independent science.

9. Major Sanskrit texts: The list of major Sanskrit
texts on Rasayan shastra is shown in a table
below.
Siddhayog Chakradutt Rasaratnakar
Rasavrudaya Kakachandeshvari
mat
Rasaprabhakarsud
hakar
RasarNav RasachintamaNi Rasaratnasamuchc
hyay
Rasakalpa Rasarajalaxmi Rasaratnamalika
Rasapradeep Dhaturatnamala Dhatukriya
Found in Tibet
Sarveshwarras
ayan
Dhatuvad Rasayanshastraodh
dati

10. The period of the above texts is 1st to 12th
century A.D. Nagarjuna was a famous
Buddhist chemistry scholar. Vagbhatta (of
12th century) was another famous
authority on Ayurveda.

11. Archeological evidences
•Artifacts of Mohenjo-Daro and Hadadappa
civilization (3000 to 4000 B.C.) found in
archeological excavations.
•Clay pottery articles were made from
chemically stabilized soils from different
places.
•Different shades of red and yellow colors
were due to copper, nickel and zinc minerals
present in the pottery clays.

12. •Art of pottery was advanced in that
period. Open or closed kilns, capable of
producing 700 degree temperature, were
in use.
•Use of iron, manganese, silica and lime
was common in Indus civilization (3000 to
4000A.D.).

13. •Artifacts of this period, such as daggers,
chisels, spears and sewing needles were
found.
•Similarly articles like swords, copper, axes
arrows etc were in various excavation
projects throughout India and are available
in various state museums.

14. Kautilya’s Arthashastra( 4th century B.C.)
• Contains lot of information on mining,
metallurgy, chemistry etc.
• Purification and extraction of metallic ores
like gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc and iron
etc is described in this text.

15. • mentions about metal alloys for minting
of coins, alkalis and acids of different
types to be prepared from organic
substances.
• Preparation of soft wines by
fermentation of rice and other flours or
from fruits and sugarcane is described in
details.

16. • Five types of common salt and 84 types of wines
- Charak Samhita
Uses of various chemicals such as copper
sulphate, cinnabar, lead oxide-mercury
combination for surma (eye powder)-.
Vagbhatta’s Astangrhudaya mentions cosmetic
items and perfumes and various types of
cementing materials and procedures of their
preparation - Bruhat Samhita
Chemistry in
Ayurveda and other texts

17. • Glass manufacture was part of chemistry.
• products were rich in qualities such as
transparency, uniform density and color and
smooth finish.
Glass manufacture

18. •18 types glass products of 5th century
were found in archeological excavations in
Uttar Pradesh ,Bihar and Bengal and
Karnataka.
•The chemical analysis of the artifacts
indicated that these contain Silica,
Alumina, ferric and titanium oxides, lime,
manganese etc, which are used in modern
glass industry.

19. RasarNav
• Description of ancient Indian chemistry would
be incomplete without information on classic text
Rasarnav (RSRN).
• The author of the text is unknown but its
period of earliest manuscript is 12th century A.D.
• The entire text is in a form of dialogue
between lord Shiva and his wife Parvati and
contains 18 chapters.

20. The main subjects covered in the text are,
metals, precious stones, soils, sands etc
used in making various chemical, colors,
medicines cements etc.
The chapter number, title and its contents of
the book are given in next slide.

21. No
.
Title Contents
1 Tantravtar Introduction, Tantric traditions.
2 Dikshavidhan Who should teach and whom
3 Mantranyas Selection of proper Mantra, selection
of place
4 Yantamooshagni
varNan
Equipments, crucibles, colors of
flames, checking of purity of metals.
5 Aushadha
NirmanN
Types of ingredients, oils,
poisons,liquids, color based
classification
6 Abhrakadi
lakshyaN
Origin and types of mica, their
properties

22. 7 Maharas& UparaS 8 types of mercury,6 types of sulphur and
6 types of metals.
8 Beejasadhan Purifiacation of metals (other than
mercury)
9 Vidakathan Purification and culturing of mercury
10 Rasashodhan Purification of ingredients by different
processes.
11 BalajaraN Curing /preservation of ingredients
12 Rasabandhan Mixing of ingredients, calcinations and
division

23. 13 Drutibandhan Mixing of liquids and suspensions
14 Vajrabandha Preparation of adamantine glues for
joining stones etc.
15 Loharasabandhan
maharas & uparas
Casting of metals,
16 Rasaranjan Mixing of colors for metals of
different colors.
17 Lohavedha Welding of iron and other metals
18 Dehaveda Effects of medicines on different parts
of body, precautions etc.

24. The text Rasarnav contains very specific Sanskrit
terms related to chemistry. The terms are shown
in a table below.
Glossary of terms
The glossary of terms
Alkali Coal of bamboo Load stone
Alkali of Mandar plant Cow dung cakes Nine precious stones
Bee wax Crucible Potassium Carbonate
Black mica Decoction (of herbs) Roofing clay tile
Black pepper Five herbs for red color Secondary metals
Cast iron Asafetida/ Hing Slag of mercury
Clay bricks Jute plant Five types of salts

25. Conclusions
• The science of Indian chemistry progressed
with use of more and more metals, herbs,
precious stones and new extraction processes.
• It had many applications in Vastushastra
(building construction) and Ayurveda
(Medicines).
• The technical terminology was rich. It had clear
well drafted specifications for various processes.

26. • New containers instruments and
machines were developed.
• Various Gurukuls (schools) with qualified
and experienced teacher were available.
• There was no caste or class barrier for
students. This science was considered as
important and practicable.