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METALS AND ALLOYS DURING THAKKUR PHERU’S PERIOD, 1290-1318 A.D,
N. L. Jain Chemistry Deptt., Girl's College, Rewa, M.P.
Many authors have attempted about the history of chemical knowledge in India in the past. Mention has been made therein of Charaka, Sushruta, Nagarjuna, Vrinda, Bhikshu Govind, Somdev, Bagbhata and others for their contributions in this field. However, Ugradityacharya of eighth century and Thakkur Pheru of fourteenth century do not find any mention, though they have given account of existing chemical knowledge including that of chemistry of mercury in their books Kalyan Karaka and Dravya Pariksha respectively. An account of chemistry in the first has already been reported and the chemical contents of Thakkur Pheru's book are reported here. It is found that during the beginning of 14th century, purification of metals, preparation of coins and many other chemical compounds find mention in his book. Many of the processes described therein are the same as those practised today.
Thakkur Pheru and his books
According to the references given by Pheru himself in his books, he was the son of Chanda of ghanghia gotra of Shrimal family living in Kannana near Mahendragarh of today. Though his date of birth is not given, but it is said that he composed eight books during 1290-1318 AD in the days of Sultan Alauddin and Qutubuddin. He worked as minister of Treasuries in Delhi in this period and obtained chemical knowledge about the processes and materials used in coin making. He has mentioned himself to be Jain and accompanied Jin Chandra Suri in 1318 for sacred journeys details of which are not known. Assuming that he must have been about 25 when he joined services in Delhi, and that he must have lived about ten years in munisangha, his life tenure could be safely taken to be between 12651330 AD. He seem to be a highly religious and scholarly man as before joining the services, he lived with a Jain scholar Rajshekhara at Kannana. This is also clear from the fact that his first book is related with the main Acharyas of Khartargachcha after Mahavira. This is written in Apabhransha language in Chaupai form composed in 1290 AD. He has composed seven more books but they are in Prakrit. Out of them only six are available and their subject is concerned with the useful or worldly knowledge like mathematics, architecture, examination of gems and diamonds, metals and materials, astronomy and geology. Their details are given in Table 1.
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