Is Alchemy Science or Magic: How Alchemy is Performed - History of Ayurvedic Alchemy in India

How Alchemy is performed:For doing alchemy, one requires mercury. Mercury to be processed to withstand the melting point of copper or even iron and it is the basic step called as binding. As you know, if will add mercury in a molten lead, it will immediately get mixed with the entire metal. It will not evaporate as the melting point of lead is something around 300 degrees, but if you add same mercury in molten copper, it will evaporate and will not be there, but a binded mercury will not evaporate and that technique is a secret. If you add some gold into mercury, it will dissolve in mercury. If you will add binded mercury with gold with a molten copper, then all copper molecules are coated with mercury and gold, so entire copper looks gold even you cut it and melt it. Actually for getting a perfect color match, you need 7 gm of silver, 3 gm of copper, and 1 gm binded mercury with gold. This is a second quality counterfeit note like process which in ancient time Indian saints used for their living.

Now how genuine alchemy was performed? Read this. Mercury’s molecule weight is near that of gold and if atoms of mercury are split, it will transform into gold. Similarly, you can change the atomic number of lead and can transform into gold. Everything is science. Man tried to make gold so he found bronze a mixture metal. Swarna Vanga Bhasma widely used by Ayurvedic physicians for treatment of fever and mental disorders is another attempt to find gold. Swarna means gold and all this is scientific and not magic. Alkalis like calcium, potassium, aluminum, etc. are mainly used for processing, so it is Alchemy, a science rather performing magic what many people think.

History of Alchemy in India applied to world’s oldest medical science of Ayurveda dates back to 3000 B.C., i.e., in Mahabharata times. It has been said that there were Magha Bheshaja and Purohit (Magha Spagyric Ayurvedic practitioners and Priests) who are said to have cured the leprosy of Prince Samba, the son of Lord Sri Krishna. Magha physicians used to travel from one country to another to spread their knowledge. They are said to be originally from Sakyadwipa (probably Scythia). In those times, Iran was called as Madra (King Shalya and the Iranian Madri, the wife of Pandu was from Madra) and Greece was called as Ayoana which later became Yavan in classic Sanskrit and Ion in Persia. These Maghas were astronomers and physicians in Pre-Zoroastrian times in Persia and were called Maga or Mada in Persia. Maghas traveled to Greece and settled there. These Maghas used to cure the disease promptly with help of herbs and metals probably using the method of Spagyrism. The word Magha became Magus in Greek and Magis in Latin, and turned into the word MAGIC in old brythonic English. This is the etymological history of word MAGIC which is related to alchemy. That is how the lost history of Ayurveda the alchemical medicines used to be prepared on the herbal basis. Soma Rasa known all around the world was an exhilarating divine elixir and is one of the best examples.

Some Western scholars say that Alchemy began in Greece and some say its root word comes from Egyptian root word Keme (Black), other says in Persian language the gold is called Khimiya but Indian Vedas throw a light on the history of Alchemy according to rasayan shastra, as India is the only nation that seems to be using the metals and herbal preparations down the centuries in different types of methods. Even soma rasa was prepared in prevedic times in India and “kim” the root word in Vedic Sanskrit means to transform. That’s how it is related to Cheme of Chemistry or Alchemy. As Al is an Arabic prefix added to Chemiya, means that which transforms or transmutes.

Moreover in simple words, Alchemy means turning anything especially a material into a metal called gold and according to Ayurveda’s Rasa Shastra which was the oldest Art Of Vedic Alchemy, some ancient sages knew about its beneficial healing powers and were able to work on it successfully for medicinal purposes. Also, gold has many uses in Ayurvedic medical preparation. Ras Sindoor is one product of Ayurveda where the Prabhav (special efficacy as a medicine on the living body) of gold is transferred to a combination of mercury and sulfur where in the process gold that is used is measured at the end of process and in successful chemical processes it should by weighing as much as it was before the start of process.

So if you ask who first discovered alchemy, then it has not remained a very difficult question to answer. Indian word “Veda” means alchemy and word “Rasaveda” means transforming a metal adding mercury oxide and transforming it into gold. In Tamil language “Veda” means chemistry, so it may be from Vedic days. The present day Rasa Shastras of tamil siddha vaidyam works are only 1300 years old and they clearly explain the methods of alchemy in a very scientific way. Least but not last, alchemy is protoscience or you can say it is one of the oldest chapter of modern organic chemistry and not in anyway related to magic or world of warcraft.