Rasa-Jala-Nidhi or Ocean of Indian Chemistry & Alchemy (In 4 Volumes)

Rasavidya, or chemistry including Alchemy, began to be cultivated by the ancient Aryas as early as the beginning of the present Kalpa, i.e. more than 1950000000years back.  We have got fragments of two books, the authorship of which has all along been assigned to the great Rama Chandra (the hero of Ramanayanam, an epic composed by the sage Valmiki, who was a contemporary of the hero himself), who learnt the science of chemistry from Kalananth, a sage living in the forests, during the fourteen years of his exile from his father’s dominions.  According to the tradition in vogue amongst the siddhas (chemists), King Ram Chandra was also called, Dandaka Nath, on account of his living in the forest of Dandaka for several years.  The books said to have been compiled by this king are named, (1) Rama rajiya, and (2) Rasendra Chintamani. Now, Rama Chandra flourished, according to Indian history, at least 900,000 years back.  It appears from these fragments that chemistry of medicine reached a very high state of perfection at the time of Rama Chandra.  The authorship of another book, viz, “Arya Prakasha” has all along been attributed to Ravana, the great king of Lanka, who was killed in battle by king Rama Chandra.  This “Arya Prakasha” is an excellent booklet containing a comprehensive treatment of all sorts of diseases by means of tinctures only.  It contains at least one recipe for the preparation of a mineral acid.  That being so, we cannot accept as true the assumption of Dr. P. C. Roy that probably Indians came to learn the preparation of mineral acids from the Portugese.  The fact is that minerals acids are not to be used in medicines prepared from mercury and other metals.  That is why the Doctor did not find any reference to these acids in ancient books on Rasa Vidya.