TEXT OF RASARATNAKARA

[ucgadkw at ucl.ac.uk]

On Sep 1,  8:57pm, Allen Thrasher wrote:

>           Does  the  work  you  are editing have  a  last  chapter entitled 
>           "Kaksaputa" which describes a square diagram of 16 cells (4 by 4) 
>           to  be  laid  out  on  the ground  and various ingredients to  be 
>           combined in various proportions to  be  laid  in  the cells?  The 
>           work  Siddhanagarjunakaksaputa sometimes  has  this  for  a  last 
>           chapter and I seem to recall the same work is sometimes titled or 
>           mistitled Rasaratnakara. 

My 1984 Ambix article briefly compares the contents of the fifth or
"siddha" khanda of the Rasaratnakara with the Kaksaputa.  I don't
remember the business of cell diagrams, but there are overlapping
sections on raising the dead, fasting, overeating, magic shoes, and
invisibility (not in that order).  My conclusion at that time was that
the Siddhakhanda is a precis of the Kakshaputa.

If I may quote myself (blush):
  A comparison of these chapters with those of section E of the
  Rasaratnakara the Siddhakhanda, immediately shows their common
  subject matter, and even their common arrangement.  In fact, the
  likeness goes further than this.  A reading of the texts reveals that
  the compiler of the Siddha section has simply gone through the
  Kaksaputa and copied out certain verses and spells, in most cases
  without even changing their order.  The Siddhakhanda of Nityanatha's
  Rasaratnakara is an epitome of the Kaksaputa of Nagarjuna, amounting
  to about one third of its length. [Note: this estimate is based on
  the relative length of two manuscripts in the Wellcome collection,
  delta 7(i) and delta 8, which are by the same scribe.]

But the Rasendramangala of Nagarjuna is a third and quite separate
work, unconnected with the above works.


Dominik