Uploaded August 2020 | Updated September 2026, 3 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 eighth procedure, the 'stimulating' or 'kindling' (Sanskrit: dīpana) of mercury. The purpose of this procedure is to awaken a kind of appetite in the mercury, i.e. to stimulate its ability to absorb other materials. The text states:
"Mercury that has been stimulated with a steaming for three days with alum, iron sulphate, borax, black pepper, salt, mustard, moringa, and sour gruel becomes ‘one who desires a morsel’."
(Rasahṛdayatantra Chapter two, verse 11)
With this procedure, the mercury is ready to be used for medicinal purposes, according to the alchemical works.
The Rasahṛdayatantra describes further procedures for processing mercury. The mercury is then considered ready for use in lohavedha - the transmutation of metals, and for its final use in dehavedha - the transmutation of the body, using elixir regimen (rasāyana).
Our series of experiments, however, ends here, as this concludes chapter 2 of the Rasahṛdayatantra
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 eighth procedure, the 'stimulating' or 'kindling' (Sanskrit: dīpana) of mercury. The purpose of this procedure is to awaken a kind of appetite in the mercury, i.e. to stimulate its ability to absorb other materials. The text states:
"Mercury that has been stimulated with a steaming for three days with alum, iron sulphate, borax, black pepper, salt, mustard, moringa, and sour gruel becomes ‘one who desires a morsel’."
(Rasahṛdayatantra Chapter two, verse 11)
With this procedure, the mercury is ready to be used for medicinal purposes, according to the alchemical works.
The Rasahṛdayatantra describes further procedures for processing mercury. The mercury is then considered ready for use in lohavedha - the transmutation of metals, and for its final use in dehavedha - the transmutation of the body, using elixir regimen (rasāyana).
Our series of experiments, however, ends here, as this concludes chapter 2 of the Rasahṛdayatantra
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.
