Rasratna Samucchay

Author(s): Manikyadevsuri
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

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So it may be concluded from the above evidences that Sri Manikyadeva Suri belonged to the age of Vaţagaccha and flourished in the period ranging from the second half of the 13th century A.D. to the 1st half of the 14th Century A.D.
Author's indebtedness to earlier authors and the relative position of the work-the Rasaratna Samuccaya :
Sri Manikyadeva Sūri, the author of the Rasaratna Samuccaya, declares his gratitude to the previous author like Par vadeva Suri for the knowledge of certain processes of alchemy and medicine as found in the case of other Indian works on the same subject.
It appears clearly that the Rasaratna Samuccaya is a composition based on some standard work on alchemy and medicine like the Rasaratna Samuccaya of Vägbhat, and the contribution of the adepts. The peculiarity of the work is that it is based on the Indian Ayurvedic texts on the one hand and the Indian Tantric chemical treatises on the other. A comparative study of the contents of the work shows that it is more or less a compilation based on many other Indian alchemical and medicinal works of the Tantric and Iatro-Chemical periods on the same problem or there might have been a common Indian source from which all the Indian schools of alchemy and medicine might have drawn their respective alchemical and medicinal informations.
A Summary of the contents (chapter-wise) of the Rasaratna Samuccaya
The Rasaratna Samuccaya contains three chapters, the first chapter consisting of 49 verses deals with maharasas (superior minerals), uprasas (inferior minerals), ratnas (gems) and lohas (metals) in the beginning. Next it proceeds on to various chemical processes of these rasas on scientific basis of poison, life, herbs, oil, animal products, mercury, purification of mercury, fixation of mercury, killing of mercury, etc., processes of purification of mahārasas, uparasas, cinnabar and sulphur, orpiment, processes of killing mercury and iron, gold, silver, iron, tin, lead,