[INDOLOGY] Alchemy and South Asia

Tue Oct 13 01:27:18 UTC 2020

Original research is required, but I think it not unlikely that the
Pramukhas of Balkh (= Barmakids of Baghdad) may have brought Indian some
alchemical or longevity ideas to Baghdad in the late eighth century.  There
is existing research showing that they brought Ayurvedic ideas.

   - Shefer-Mossensohn, M. and Hershkovitz, K. A. 2013. Early Muslim
   Medicine and the Indian Context: A Reinterpretation. Medieval Encounters
   19(3), pp. 274–99. Available at: https://academia.edu/4049722.
   - Wujastyk, D. 2016. From Balkh to Baghdad. Indian Science and the Birth
   of the Islamic Golden Age in the Eighth Century. Indian Journal of the
   History of Science 51(4), pp. 679–90. Available at:
   https://www.academia.edu/30576715.

--
Professor Dominik Wujastyk
<https://apps.ualberta.ca/directory/person/wujastyk>
,

Singhmar Chair in Classical Indian Society and Polity
,

Department of History and Classics <http://historyandclassics.ualberta.ca/>
,
University of Alberta, Canada
.

South Asia at the U of A:

sas.ualberta.ca

On Fri, 9 Oct 2020 at 06:05, Paolo Eugenio Rosati via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Dear Fabrizio,
>
> thank you very much for pointing me out Mir Mahmud. I am far more
> interested in biographies than in alchemy. It should be relevant for my
> purposes also to know if we have any document (hopefully in Latin)
> regarding Indian alchemists in European royal courts or in the Middle-East
> and North Africa.
>
> Sincerely,
> Paolo
>
> Il giorno gio 8 ott 2020 alle ore 13:21 Fabrizio Speziale <
> spezialef at yahoo.com> ha scritto:
>
>> Dear Paolo,
>>
>> there is the case of Mir Mahmud (d. 1689), a Sufi master of the
>> Ni'matullahi order who migrated from Iraq to the Hyderabad in the Deccan
>> and to which alchemical knowledge is attributed in hagiographical sources.
>> On Mir Mahmud you can check my articles which however do not focus on
>> alchemy:
>>
>> “À propos du renouveau ni‘matullāhī. Le centre de Hyderabad au cours de
>> la première modernité”, *Studia Iranica*, 42, 2013, p. 91-118.
>>
>> « The *mujaddid* and the *majdhūb*. Shāh ‘Alī Riḍā (d. 1215/1801) and
>> the Different Narratives of the Ni‘mat Allāhī Renewal », in Denis Hermann –
>> Mathieu Terrier, eds., *Shi‘i Sufism in Modern Times*, London, I. B.
>> Tauris – Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2020, pp. 157-174.
>>
>> I also mention several Sufis expert in alchemy who however were Indian
>> Muslims, in my work *Soufisme, religion et médecine en Islam indien*.
>> Paris, Karthala, 2010.
>>
>> All the best,
>>
>> Fabrizio
>>
>>
>>
>> Fabrizio Speziale
>> Directeur d’études - Professor
>> École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
>> Center for South Asian Studies
>> 54 Boulevard Raspail
>> 75006, Paris
>>
>> http://www.perso-indica.net/
>> https://ehess.academia.edu/FabrizioSpeziale
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Il giovedì 8 ottobre 2020, 12:19:11 CEST, Paolo Eugenio Rosati via
>> INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> ha scritto:
>>
>>
>> Dear Dagmar,
>>
>> Yes, I did. But I would like to understand if any European or Arabic
>> alchemist went to South Asia or had any contact with South Asian alchemists
>> or royal courts in pre-Modern time.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> Paolo
>>
>> Il giorno gio 8 ott 2020 alle ore 06:22 Dagmar Wujastyk <
>> d.wujastyk at gmail.com> ha scritto:
>>
>> Dear Paolo,
>> You may have heard of Marco Polo's description of alchemists in India and
>> also of Al Biruni describing rasāyana.
>> Both accounts are featured in David White's The Alchemical Body. There is
>> also the story of Siddha Iramatevar/ Yakoppu visiting Mecca.
>> I don't know of any journeys by European or Arabic alchemists to the
>> Indian subcontinent. However, Fabrizio Speziale may know something about
>> that: He has been working on Persian sources on alchemy and iatrochemistry
>> and these may feature accounts of visiting or at least corresponding
>> alchemists.
>> Very best wishes,
>> Dagmar
>>
>>
>> --
>> *Paolo E. Rosati*
>> PhD in Asian and African Studies
>> *https://uniroma1.academia.edu/Paolo
>> <https://uniroma1.academia.edu/PaoloRosati/>**ER
>> <https://uniroma1.academia.edu/PaoloRosati/>**osati/
>> <https://uniroma1.academia.edu/PaoloRosati/>*
>> paoloe.rosati at gmail.com
>> Mobile/Whatsapp: (+39) 338 73 83 472
>> Skype: paoloe.rosati
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>
>
> --
> *Paolo E. Rosati*
>
> *PhD in Asian and African Studies*
> *https://uniroma1.academia.edu/Paolo
> <https://uniroma1.academia.edu/PaoloRosati/>**ER
> <https://uniroma1.academia.edu/PaoloRosati/>**osati/
> <https://uniroma1.academia.edu/PaoloRosati/>*
> paoloe.rosati at gmail.com
> Mobile/Whatsapp: (+39) 338 73 83 472
> Skype: paoloe.rosati
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