Dear colleagues,

I am delighted to invite you to an online lecture on Wednesday, 27 May 2026 by Dr Ilona Kędzia-Warych (Jagiellonian University), from 13:30 to 15:00. 

Dr Ilona Kędzia-Warych’s lecture is titled “Alchemy in the Tamil Siddha Literature: Its Transdisciplinary and Esoteric Aspects”. 

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS A NEW DATE (initially scheduled on May 21)

The lecture will be accessible on Zoom via the following link: 

HTTPS://EU02WEB.ZOOM-X.DE/J/67795520099

It will be the fourth event in this spring’s ASTRA Colloquium series “Occult Sciences in South Asia: A Non-Western History”. The full program is available here.

Abstract: 

Alchemy constitutes an essential and integral component of the Tamil Siddha system of traditional sciences. In my presentation, I will offer an overview of the principal alchemical practices described in classical Tamil Siddha texts. I will outline the major alchemical procedures, focusing primarily on mercury processing and the production of a special catalytic salt used both in gold-making and in practices aimed at bodily preservation, rejuvenation, and the attainment of immortality. Furthermore, I will discuss the transdisciplinary character of Siddha alchemy, emphasizing its close connections with medical and yogic traditions. I will also address the esoteric aspects of the alchemical branch of the Tamil Siddha system of knowledge. I will consider both the functions and forms of the obscure, deliberately cryptic language found in selected passages, as well as the possibility of its dual interpretations, whether as allusions to spiritual yogic practices or as descriptions of material alchemical procedures.

My research is based on the philological analysis of the Tamil Siddha literature. The medico-alchemical corpus of the broader Tamil Siddha tradition is dated mainly to the period beginning in the seventeenth century. As the primary source material for this presentation, I selected texts attributed to the Siddhar Yākōpu, also called Ramadēvar, tentatively dated to the seventeenth century as well. Yākōpu is an influential and highly respected figure whose works continue to be used by contemporary Siddha medical practitioners. His works stand out within the Tamil Siddha canon also because of the autobiographical passages that recount Rāmatēvar’s travels in search of alchemical knowledge.

Biography: 

Dr Ilona Kędzia-Warych is an Indologist, specializing in Tamil Siddha medico-alchemical literature, affiliated with the Department of Oriental Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. She is currently conducting a research project funded by the Polish National Science Centre, entitled “Alchemical Texts of Siddha Yākōpu in the Perspective of Material Ecocriticism: Mercury and Lifeless Matter in the Literature of the Tamil Siddha Tradition.” Her research on Tamil Siddha medico-alchemical literature represents one of the pioneering contributions to this field.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Best wishes,
Jean Arzoumanov

Postdoctoral Scholar
FG ASTRA

Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG)
Boltzmannstr. 22
14195 Berlin