Rasratna Samucchay

Author(s): Manikyadevsuri
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 17

fever, chronic dyspepsia, loss of appetite, typhoid, piles, dropsy, etc., Kanakavajrarasa for all diseases, Candrabhairavarasa for a multitude of diseases, dropsy due to jaundice, tumour. etc. The author admits that the second Chapter was based on Rasarahasyamahodadhi.
In the third chapter consisting of fifty-seven verses Manikyadeva Sūri refers to the three guņas of Praksti of the Sāṁkhya Philosophy and invokes lord Pārsvanātha. Then he deals with Tāmra-Bhairavarasa as the remedy for tuberculosis, cough and dyspnoea and cholera with different anupāna (other medicines triturated with the main medicines for their effective actions), other medicines for typhoid, fever, etc., e.g. Jvararirasa for fever, Kapardikarasa for T.B., medicine prepared with iron for the cure of anaemia accompanied by oedema, T.B., Jaundice-yellow halimakani accompanied by gonorrhoea, Hiranyagarbharasa for energy, Nāgendrarasa for serious type of cholera, Viśveśvararasa and Agnikumārarasa for the remedy of many kinds of disease, Eko rasoryarasa for thirst, fainting, pernicious type of fever, worms, abdominal disease, gonorrhoea, heart disease, throat trouble, jaundice, chronic dyspepsia, colic pain and headache, trouble some psoriasis, fistula, T.B., gastralgia, tumour, typhoid and poison cases.
He refers to other medicines prepared differently for cough, dyspnoea, samgrahaņi (lientery ?) --a kind of chronic dyspepsia, anaemia, dysentery, jaundice, stiffness, colic pain, slow fever, mucus, appetite, paralysis etc.
Next he deals with Mahābhairavarasa for the removal of three faults--vāyu-pitta-kaph (air, fire and phlegm), typhoid, etc.
History and Geography arising out of the study of the
Text of the Rasaratna Samuccaya.
The Rasaratna Samuccaya is of great value in the history of science in India, for it throws light upon the history of alchemy and medicine of the Jatro-chemical period and a sidelight on some aspects of Indian culture, such as, religion, alchemical sects and the system of alchemical thoughts and practices, etc.