Uploaded May 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Indian alchemy -- Rasashastra -- is the craft of making elixirs from mercury. From the tenth century, Indian alchemists started composing treatises about their work. The earliest of these treatises was the 'Heart of Mercury' (Rasahṛdayatantra). It describes eighteen procedures for making mercurial elixirs.
We reconstructed these procedures.
Some of the procedures require preliminary preparations to prepare substances. The text of the Rasahrdayatantra is very concise, and tells us little about preparing raw substances for their use in the procedures. However, since Rasashastra in its iatrochemical form is a living tradition, we could consult with Rasashastra practitioners in India on some of the preliminary procedures.
The film shows how to produce burnt wool, which is one of the ingredients in the second procedure in the treatment of mercury: trituration (mardana)
A collaboration of AyurYog (ayuryog.org) and neterapublishing (neterapublishing.com).
This project was made possible through funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research
and innovation program under grant agreement No.639363.
Indian alchemy -- Rasashastra -- is the craft of making elixirs from mercury. From the tenth century, Indian alchemists started composing treatises about their work. The earliest of these treatises was the 'Heart of Mercury' (Rasahṛdayatantra). It describes eighteen procedures for making mercurial elixirs.
We reconstructed these procedures.
Some of the procedures require preliminary preparations to prepare substances. The text of the Rasahrdayatantra is very concise, and tells us little about preparing raw substances for their use in the procedures. However, since Rasashastra in its iatrochemical form is a living tradition, we could consult with Rasashastra practitioners in India on some of the preliminary procedures.
The film shows how to produce burnt wool, which is one of the ingredients in the second procedure in the treatment of mercury: trituration (mardana)
A collaboration of AyurYog (ayuryog.org) and neterapublishing (neterapublishing.com).
This project was made possible through funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research
and innovation program under grant agreement No.639363.
