[INDOLOGY] Alchemy metaphor

[Dominik Wujastyk]

Dear Christopher, no, sorry, I haven't got any proper documentation for
vedha as "transmute, multiply."  I'm just reporting my sense as a reader of
some of these texts over a period of time.  Almost every translation I've
ever seen (Skt - English) says "pierce".  But it just doesn't make sense to
me.  I'm had a look around to see whether there was another dhātu vidh, but
there isn't.

Incidentally, on saṅkramaṇa, it's the word that's used in Ayurveda for
contagion.  The concept of contagion is almost completely unknown in
Ayurveda, but in those rare cases that it is mentioned, it's sam+kram.
There are good essays by Zysk and Das on this in a book *Contagion* that I
edited with Larry Conrad some years back.

Best,
Dominik



On 7 July 2014 19:41, Christopher Wallis <bhairava11 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks so much for your reply, Dominik. It is very helpful, since I have
> been confused about the meaning of vedha/vedhana in these texts. I have
> been translating it as piercing, since the context often is a transmission (
> *sankramana*) of spiritual energy from guru to disciple, but it has not
> been entirely satisfactory. Do you have a reference to its use in
> rasa-śāstra?
> ​[...]​
>


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