[INDOLOGY] Alchemy metaphor

Wed Jul 9 22:23:27 UTC 2014

Having looked at White's book The Alchemical Body, I can report that he
frequently takes *vedha *in the sense of "transmute" and
"transubstantiate". Of course, he is not a Sanskritist but an historian of
religion.  Dominik, is it true that vedha is often listed as the
seventeenth samskāra after the 16 rasa-saṃskāras, and is seen as their
fruit?  For such he claims in that book.

best, CW

On 9 July 2014 12:09, Christopher Wallis <bhairava11 at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> This is a rather wonderful discussion!  Thanks to all for adding evidence.
> The video Dominik posted seems very important insofar as our authors were
> in touch with reality, which I like to think they were. Taking account as
> best I can of what everyone has said, and the physical evidence, here is my
> new translation of the passage. Comments most welcome.
>
> *yadā tu parāmṛṣṭa-nityatva-vyāpitvādi-dharmakaiśvarya-ghanātmanā
> ahambhāva-siddharasena śūnyādi-deha-dhātv-antaṃ vidhyate yena prameyatvāt
> tat cyavata iva, tadā turyadaśā*;
> But when [all the layers of limited selfhood] from the Void to the tissues
> of the body are penetrated by the “alchemical elixir” that is the [true]
> I-sense—replete with the sovereignty in which the qualities of eternality,
> all-pervasiveness, etc. are cognized [as aspects of that “I”]—through which
> [penetration-cum-transmutation] their objectivity falls away as it were,
> then that is [called] the Fourth State.
> *yadāpi viddho 'sau prāṇadehādi-dhātuḥ saṃvid-rasena abhiniviṣṭo ’tyantaṃ
> kanaka-dhātur iva jīrṇaḥ kriyate yena sa druta-rasa iva ābhāti kevalaṃ
> tat-saṃskāraḥ, tadāpi turyātīta-daśā sā bhavati*
> When, further, these elements of *prā**ṇa*, body, etc., penetrated by the
> elixir of Consciousness, are thoroughly permeated [by it], they are [then]
> “digested” like the element of gold [is by mercury], by which the
> “liquified essence” [of consciousness], their purifier, alone appears –
> then too it becomes the state Beyond the Fourth.
>
>
>
> On 9 July 2014 05:36, Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Trying to firm up the idea that vedh- means convert, transmute, or (for
>> the philosophers among us, perhaps) transubstantiate.
>>
>> The *Rasaratnasamuccaya* is a kind of late-ish nibandha text that brings
>> together, organizes and medicalizes the earlier, more tantric alchemical
>> literature.  Meulenbeld argues that it is datable to the sixteenth century
>> (HIML IIA 670).  Earliest dated MS: 1699 CE.  This text is not bad as a
>> representative of the developed ("classical"?) rasaśāstra tradition; one
>> would expect less standardization of vocab. in earlier texts.
>>
>> At *Rasaratnasamuccaya* 8.94-95
>> <http://sarit.indology.info/newphilo/getobject.pl?c.7:8:165.indologica>
>> there is a definition of śabdavedha.
>> from blowing of iron, with mercury in the mouth, there is the creation of
>> goldenness and silverness. That is known as Word-vedha.
>> and the commentator makes it even more explicity that this is
>> transmutation, using pari-ṇam.  *Rasaratnasamuccayabodhinī* on 8.95
>> <http://sarit.indology.info/newphilo/getobject.pl?c.7:8:166.indologica>:
>> ... *tat lauhakhaṇḍaṃ svarṇādirūpeṇa pariṇatam//*
>> that bit of iron is converted into the form of gold etc.
>>
>> ... yatra vedhe svarṇādirūpeṇa pariṇamet sa śabdavedha ityarthaḥ//
>> Word-vedha is where it converts with the form of gold etc. ...
>>
>> The operation being described here is not unclear.  The alchemist puts a
>> piece of mercury in his mouth and blows on a piece of iron.  It becomes
>> golden or silvery.  This "becoming" is "vedha."
>>
>> The *Bodhinī* authors were Āśubodha and Nityabodha (hence the witty
>> title), the sons of Jīvānanda Vidyāsāgara Bhaṭṭacārya, and the *Bodhinī*
>> was published in Calcutta in 1927.  So it's arguable that their
>> interpretation was influenced by 19th-20th century thought.  However, their
>> commentary is very śāstric and elaborate (note the Pāṇinian grammatical
>> parsing, "dhama dhāvane ityasmāt lyuḥ" (>P.1.3.134 and pacādi ākṛtigaṇa).
>> And as Meulenbeld points out, they cite an exceptionally wide range of
>> earlier rasaśāstra texts (HIML IIA 671-2).  Their interpretations are based
>> on a close reading of classical rasaśāstra literature.  At the very least,
>> one can say that their view represents the understanding of learned
>> panditas in turn of the century Calcutta, that vedha meant pariṇāma, or
>> transmutation.
>>
>> Best,
>> Dominik
>>
>>
>> Dominik
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 9 July 2014 12:27, Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 9 July 2014 11:26, Matthew Kapstein <mkapstei at uchicago.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> I have a vague recollection, by the way, of discussing this with David
>>>> Pingree back in the 80s, and he pointed me to an old, but interesting
>>>> monograph on Indian chemistry (not alchemy) that had some interesting
>>>> things to say about vedh-. I’ll try to locate the reference, but no doubt
>>>> others on this list will be more familiar with the literature in this area.
>>>>
>>>
>>> I imagine David was thinking of P. C. Ray's *History of Hindu
>>> Chemistry * (link
>>> <https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3iamb3e84kp2o2k/AADzPHJXs8rxHNgRsINzLVH9a>)
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Dominik
>>>
>>>
>>
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