Editing Alchemy (section)

=== India ===
{{Main|Rasayana}}
{{See also|History of metallurgy in the Indian subcontinent}}
The 2nd millennium BC text [[Vedas]] describe a connection between eternal life and gold.<ref name=eb /> A considerable knowledge of metallurgy has been exhibited in a third-century AD<ref>{{cite book |last=Olivelle |first=Patrick |contribution=Introduction |date=31 January 2013|title=King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India |pages=1–60 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199891825.003.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-989182-5}}</ref> text called [[Arthashastra]] which provides ingredients of explosives (Agniyoga) and salts extracted from fertile soils and plant remains (Yavakshara) such as saltpetre/[[Niter|nitre]], perfume making (different qualities of perfumes are mentioned), granulated (refined) Sugar.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Arthasastra_English_Translation : R Shamasastry: Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming |url=https://archive.org/details/Arthasastra_English_Translation|access-date=11 July 2020 |website=Internet Archive |page=171 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Partington |first=J. R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fNZBSqd2cToC&q=sanskrit+word+for+saltpetre&pg=PA214 |title=A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder |date=1999 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-5954-0 |pages=209–211 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kauṭalya |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FFJz72h5qjUC&q=arthashastra+perfume&pg=PA43 |title=The Arthashastra |date=1992 |publisher=Penguin Books India |isbn=978-0-14-044603-6 |page=43 |language=en}}</ref> [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] texts from the 2nd to 5th centuries mention the transmutation of base metals to gold. According to some scholars Greek alchemy may have influenced Indian alchemy but there are no hard evidences to back this claim.<ref name=eb>[[Robert P. Multhauf|Multhauf, Robert P.]] & Gilbert, Robert Andrew (2008). ''Alchemy''. Encyclopædia Britannica (2008).</ref>

The 11th-century [[Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam|Persian chemist]] and [[Medicine in medieval Islam|physician]] [[Abū Rayhān Bīrūnī]], who visited Gujarat as part of the court of [[Mahmud of Ghazni]], reported that they
{{blockquote|have a science similar to alchemy which is quite peculiar to them, which in [[Sanskrit]] is called [[Rasayana|Rasāyana]] and in Persian [[Rasavātam]]. It means the art of obtaining/manipulating ''Rasa'': nectar, mercury, and juice. This art was restricted to certain operations, metals, drugs, compounds, and medicines, many of which have mercury as their core element. Its principles restored the health of those who were ill beyond hope and gave back youth to fading old age.}}
The goals of alchemy in India included the creation of a divine body (Sanskrit ''divya-deham'') and immortality while still embodied (Sanskrit ''jīvan-mukti''). Sanskrit alchemical texts include much material on the manipulation of mercury and sulphur, that are homologized with the semen of the god Śiva and the menstrual blood of the goddess Devī.

Some early alchemical writings seem to have their origins in the [[Kaula (Hinduism)|Kaula]] tantric schools associated to the teachings of the personality of [[Matsyendranath]]. Other early writings are found in the Jaina medical treatise ''Kalyāṇakārakam'' of Ugrāditya, written in South India in the early 9th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Meulenbeld |first1=G. Jan |author-link1=Gerrit Jan Meulenbeld |title=History of Indian Medical Literature |date=1999–2002 |publisher=Egbert Forsten |location=Groningen |pages=IIA, 151–155 |ref=HIML}}</ref>

Two famous early Indian alchemical authors were [[Nagarjuna (metallurgist)|Nāgārjuna Siddha]] and Nityanātha Siddha. Nāgārjuna Siddha was a Buddhist monk. His book, ''Rasendramangalam'', is an example of Indian alchemy and medicine. Nityanātha Siddha wrote ''Rasaratnākara'', also a highly influential work. In Sanskrit, ''rasa'' translates to "mercury", and Nāgārjuna Siddha was said to have developed a method of converting mercury into gold.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://univie.academia.edu/DominikWujastyk/Papers/152766/ |last=Wujastyk |first=Dominik |year=1984 |title=An Alchemical Ghost: The Rasaratnākara of Nāgarjuna |journal=Ambix |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=70–83 |doi=10.1179/amb.1984.31.2.70 |pmid=11615977 |access-date=28 December 2017 |archive-date=11 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200511080759/https://www.academia.edu/221269/An_Alchemical_Ghost_The_Rasaratn%C4%81kara_by_N%C4%81g%C4%81rjuna |url-status=live}}</ref>

Scholarship on Indian alchemy is in the publication of ''The Alchemical Body'' by David Gordon White.<ref>See bibliographical details and links at https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3266066W/The_Alchemical_Body {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230709172936/https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3266066W/The_Alchemical_Body |date=9 July 2023 }}</ref>

A modern bibliography on Indian alchemical studies has been written by White.<ref>{{Cite web |doi=10.1093/OBO/9780195399318-0046 |title=Rasāyana (Alchemy) |publisher=Oxford University Press |work=Oxford Bibliographies Online |year=2011 |last1=White |first1=David Gordon |url=http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195399318/obo-9780195399318-0046.xml?rskey=skoSqW&result=1&q=rasayana#firstMatch|access-date = 15 August 2012|archive-date = 22 April 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200422082736/http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195399318/obo-9780195399318-0046.xml?rskey=skoSqW&result=1&q=rasayana#firstMatch|url-status = live}}</ref>

The contents of 39 Sanskrit alchemical treatises have been analysed in detail in [[Gerrit Jan Meulenbeld|G. Jan Meulenbeld]]'s ''History of Indian Medical Literature''.<ref name="Egbert Forsten">{{cite book |last1=Meulenbeld |first1=G. Jan |author-link1=Gerrit Jan Meulenbeld |title=History of Indian Medical Literature |date=1999–2002 |publisher=Egbert Forsten |location=Groningen |pages=IIA, 581–738}}</ref>{{refn|group=n|To wit, the ''Ānandakanda, Āyurvedaprakāśa, Gorakṣasaṃhitā, Kākacaṇḍeśvarīmatatantra, Kākacaṇḍīśvarakalpatantra, Kūpīpakvarasanirmāṇavijñāna, Pāradasaṃhitā, Rasabhaiṣajyakalpanāvijñāna, Rasādhyāya, Rasahṛdayatantra, Rasajalanidhi, Rasakāmadhenu, Rasakaumudī, Rasamañjarī, Rasamitra, Rasāmṛta, Rasapaddhati, Rasapradīpa, Rasaprakāśasudhākara, Rasarājalakṣmī, Rasaratnadīpikā, Rasaratnākara, Rasaratnasamuccaya, Rasārṇava, Rasārṇavakalpa, Rasasaṃketakalikā, Rasasāra, Rasataraṅgiṇī, Rasāyanasāra, Rasayogasāgara, Rasayogaśataka, Rasendracintāmaṇi, Rasendracūḍāmaṇi, Rasendramaṅgala, Rasendrapurāṇa, Rasendrasambhava, Rasendrasārasaṅgraha, Rasoddhāratantra'' or ''Rasasaṃhitā'', and '' Rasopaniṣad''.<ref name="Egbert Forsten" /> }} The discussion of these works in HIML gives a summary of the contents of each work, their special features, and where possible the evidence concerning their dating. Chapter 13 of HIML, ''Various works on rasaśāstra and ratnaśāstra'' (or ''Various works on alchemy and gems'') gives brief details of a further 655 (six hundred and fifty-five) treatises. In some cases Meulenbeld gives notes on the contents and authorship of these works; in other cases references are made only to the unpublished manuscripts of these titles.

A great deal remains to be discovered about Indian alchemical literature. The content of the Sanskrit alchemical corpus has not yet (2014) been adequately integrated into the wider general history of alchemy.