Uploaded June 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks 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. This film shows the third procedure, the thickening (Sanskrit: mūrchā) of mercury. The purpose of this procedure is to remove the toxic elements of mercury. The text states:
"The three inherent faults of mercury are called ‘dirt’, ‘fire’, and ‘poison’.
Through dirt, it produces fainting, through fire, a burning sensation, through poison, death. Aloe removes dirt, the three myrobalans remove fire, and leadwort removes poison. Therefore, one should thicken it seven times with a mixture of these."
(Rasahṛdayatantra, chapter 2, verses 5-6)
The following procedures were executed by a trained professional and should not be attempted without expert supervision.
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. This film shows the third procedure, the thickening (Sanskrit: mūrchā) of mercury. The purpose of this procedure is to remove the toxic elements of mercury. The text states:
"The three inherent faults of mercury are called ‘dirt’, ‘fire’, and ‘poison’.
Through dirt, it produces fainting, through fire, a burning sensation, through poison, death. Aloe removes dirt, the three myrobalans remove fire, and leadwort removes poison. Therefore, one should thicken it seven times with a mixture of these."
(Rasahṛdayatantra, chapter 2, verses 5-6)
The following procedures were executed by a trained professional and should not be attempted without expert supervision.
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.
