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A Study of the Rasaratnasamuccaya of Manikyadeva Suri (16th Cen. A. D.)
PREFACE
A study of the Rasaratna Samuccaya of Māņikyadeva Sūri (16th Cen. A. D.)1 – a Jaina Ms., on alchemy and medicine, written in Sanskrit and now preserved in the library of L. D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad-9 throws light upon some aspects of India alchemy and medical science. This Ms. has not yet been studied and edited by any scholar in India.
The alchemical thoughts and practices of the Jainas, fostered from the time of the Jainacāryas Nagarjuna and Pädalipta Sūri upto the Middle Ages, as embodied in different Jaina MSS., reveal an aspect of their material culture with scientific ideas combined with their interpretation in the light of other Indian literary evidences on Rasayaņavidya (chemistry) and Dhatuvidya (metallurgy) and Ayurveda (medical science) of Iatro-Chemical period.
Alchemy dealt with by Jainacāryas has not yet been evaluated in relation to the Indian history of Alchemy. It seems that Western India (Gujarat), by virtue of its geographical position as a strong centre of Jainism from the beginning, was a receptacle for many alchemical ideas, specially from other culture-areas of India and outside.
A study of the extant Jaina Ms. "The Rasaratna Samuccaya" reveals scientific ideas and practices of the Jainas with two distinct trends in Alchemy, viz.
(i) Chemistry and metallurgy, and (ii) Medical Science.
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(1) It is to be noted that Manikyadeva Suri flourished in the period ranging from the second half of the twelfth century A.D. to the 1st half of the fourteen century A.D. But the script of the Ms. of the Rasaratna Samuccaya used by the copy-writing belongs to the 16th Century A.D.
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