Chapter – 2

ALCHEMY AND CHEMICAL THEORIES

(A) ALCHEMY IN CHAINA, ARABIA (ISLAMIC) AND INDIA

(B) THEORIES ON MATTER

(C) CLASSIFICATION OF MINERALS

Chapter – 2

ALCHEMY AND CHEMICAL THEORIES

Alchemy flourished chiefly in the medieval period, although how old it

might be difficult to say. It paved the way for modern chemistry just as

astronomy began with astrology. Though the word chemistry was used for the

first time by Suidas a lexicographer of the 10th century and that time meant an

alloy of gold and silver.1 A considerable number of men who carried out this

chemical operations with the ostensible purpose of changing base metals into

gold these men we call the alchemists, rasavadins2 in Sanskrit and ahle san’a3

in Persian.

The word ‘alchemy’ as the article Al indicate, is Arabic (Al-Kimiya) is

generally believed to have been derived from the Egyptian kemi (the black) or

the Greek word chyma (black molten metal).4

(A) ALCHEMY IN CHINA, ARABIA AND INDIA

The origin of alchemy is indeed obscure. However, Alchemy we have

said flourished in the chief centres of civilization and it followed the main

stream of learning. It existed in China, Egypt, Greece, Arabia, India and

Western Europe. P.C. Ray accepted the period of its maximum activity might

lie between A.D. 800 and the middle of the seventeenth century.5

1 . Thompson, C.J., Alchemy, Source of Chemistry and Medicine, p. 47. 2 . Subbarayappa, B.V., “Chemical Practices and Alchemy”, in Bose et al. A Concise History of

Science in India, INSA, New Delhi, 1971, p. 313. 3 . Ain-i Akbari, Naval Kishore, I, p. 39. 4 . Encycopedia of the History of Arabic Science, Vol. 3 (ed.) Roshdi Rasheed, Routledge, London

and New York, 1996, p. 854. 5 . Priyadarrajan, Ray; “Origin and Tradition of Alchemy”, IJHS, Vol. 2, No. 1, p. 2.

27

Very diverse views have been expressed by some scientists, historian of

science and some historians of culture on the basis of what they understood

about alchemy.

Al-Biruni who stayed in India for thirteen years and wrote on almost

every aspect of Indian culture stated: Rasayana consisting of alchemistic tricks

with various drugs, intended to realize things which by nature are impossible.6

One of the species of witch craft is alchemy, though it is generally called by

this name.7

He further remarks about alchemical practices: ‘I only heard them

speaking of the processes of sublimation, if calcinations, of analysis, and of

waxing of talc so guess they incline towards the mineralogical method of

alchemy’.

They (Hindu) have a science similar to alchemy which is quite peculiar

to them. They call it Rasayana, a word composed with rasa, i.e. gold. It means

an art which is restricted to certain operations, drugs, and compound medicines,

most of which are taken from plants. Its principles restore the health of those

who were ill beyond hope, and give back youth to fading old age, so that

people become again what they were in the age near puberty; white hair

becomes black again, the keenness of the senses is restored as well as the

capacity for juvenile agility, and even for cohabitation, and the life of people in

this world is even extended to a long period’.8

6 . Al-Beruni’s India; (tr.) Sachau, E.C., S. Chand & Co. 1964, p. 80. 7 . Ibid., p. 187. 8 . Ibid., p. 188.

28

According to Needham, alchemy had a wrong hypothesis but it

accumulated valuable knowledge through experimentation, laboratory

techniques and products.9 According to Hossein Nasr10, the study of alchemy is

a science of the cosmos and of the soul, related at once to cosmology, the

process of spiritual realization and hence traditional psychology, medicine,

metallurgy, chemistry and also art. That means the alchemical perspective have

been directly concerned on the one hand with minerals, metals and aurification,

with all that the element gold symbolizes in the natural domain. On the other

hand it has also been closely associated with the question “immortality”

longevity and ultimately with the acquiring of the “body of gold” or “diamond”

which is also the goal of initiative techniques.

Dr. S. Mahdihassan beautifully sums the knowledge of Alchemy as “By

its claims alchemy tried to make everything, everlasting man immortal, a base

metal to gold. By its practical achieve it made colloidal metals as drugs of

longevity.11

Chinese Alchemy

Alchemy in China is associated with Taoism. Its basic foundation is the

belief in physical immortality and the possibility of attaining it through the

elixir. Historical and literary sources provide many important details, but the

majority of Chinese alchemical sources is found in the Daozang (Taoist canon),

9 . Needham, Joseph, Science and Civilization in China, CUP, (1974), Vol. V, p. 14. 10 . Syed Hossein Nasar, Forward to Indian Alchemy by S. Mahdi Hassan, Motilal Banarsidas, Delhi,

1991 edition. 11 . Mahdihassan, S.A., “Critical appreciation of the Exposition of Alchemy by Ibn Khaldun”, Bull.

Ind. Inst. His. Med. XV.

29

the largest collection of Taoist texts. One fifth of its about 1,500 texts are

closely related to the various alchemical traditions that developed until the

fifteenth century, when the extant canon was compiled and printed.

Modern study of the Chinese alchemical literature began in the twentieth

century, after the canon was reprinted and made widely available in several

reprints. Among the most important contributions in western languages are

those of Joseph Needham12, Nathan Sivin13, Ho Peng Yoke14 and Isbell

Robinet15

Chinese alchemy went through a complex and not yet entirely

understood development along its twenty centuries of documented history. The

two main traditions are conventionally known as waitan16 or “external

alchemy” and neitan17 or “inner alchemy”. The former, which arose earlier, is

based on the compounding of elixirs through the manipulation of natural

substances. Its texts consist of recipes, along with descriptions of ingredients,

ritual rules, and passages concerned with the cosmological associations of

minerals and metals, instruments, and operations. Inner alchemy – which is

often referred to as the “Way of the Golden Elixit” (jindan zhi dao) –

12 , Needham, Joseph, et al., Science and Civilization in China, vol. V, Parts 2-5, Cambridge

University Press, 1964. 13 . Sivin, Nathan, Chinese Alchemy : Preliminary Studies, Cambridge (Mass.) Harvard University

Press, 1968. 14 . Ho Peng Yoke, Li, Qi and Shu : An Introduction to Science and Civilization in China, Hong Kong:

Hong Kong university Press, 1985, Sec the Chapter entitled “Chinese Alchemy”, 15 . Robinet, Isabelle, “Original contributions of Neidan to Taoist Meditation and Longevity

Techniques. Ed. Livia Kohn in Cooperation with Yoshinoku Sakade Ann Arbor: Centre for Chinese Studies, The University Michigan, 1989, pp. 297-330.

16 . Needham, J., op.cit., pp. 6-7. 17 . Ibid., pp. 4,7, 83-84.

30

developed as an independent discipline around the end of the Six Dynasties

(third-sixth centuries). It borrows part of its vocabulary from its earlier

counterpart, but aims to produce an elixir – equated with transcendental

knowledge – within the alchemist’s person.

Chinese alchemy has always been closely related to the teachings that

find their main expression in the early doctrinal texts of Taoism, especially the

Laozi and the Zhuangzi. The cosmos as we know it is conceived of as the final

stage in a series of spontaneous transmutations stemming from original Non-

being. This process entails the apparent separation of primeval unity into the

two complementary principles, Yin and Yang. Their reunion gives birth to the

cosmos. When the process is completed, the cosmos is subject to the laws of

cosmology. The adept’s task is to retrace this process backwards. Alchemy,

whether “external” or “inner”, provides a support to do this, leading one to the

point when, as some texts put it, “heaven spontaneously reveals its secrets”. Its

practice must be performed under the close supervision of a master, who

provides the “oral instructions” (koujue) necessary to an understanding of the

processes that the adept performs with minerals and metals undergoes within

himself.

In order to transcend space and time – the two main features of the

cosmos – the alchemist must take extreme care of their correspondences to the

work he performs. Space is delimited and protected by talismans (fu), and the

laboratory (danwu, lit. “chamber of the elixirs”) and instruments are properly

31

oriented. According to some texts, the heating of the elixir must conform to

minutely defined time cycles. This system, known as “fire times” (huohou),

allows an adept to perform in a relatively short time the same work that Nature

would achieve in thousands of years – in other words, to accelerate the rhythms

of Nature, Bringing time to its end, or tracing it back to its beginning, is

equivalent. In either case time is transcended, and the alchemist gains access to

timeless. The same is with space: its centre, where the alchemist places himself

and his work, is a point devoid of dimension. From this spaceless and timeless

point he is able to move along the axis that connects the higher and lower

levels of being.

Among a variety of procedures that the sources describe in an often

allusive way, and in a language rich in metaphors and secret names, two stand

out for their recurrence and importance. The first is based on lead (Yin) and

mercury (Yang).18 In external alchemy, these two substances are refined and

joined in a compound whose properties are compared to the condition of

regional Oneness. In inner alchemy, lead is a cover name for the knowledge of

the Dao (Pure Yang, chunyang) with which each being is fundamentally

endowed, but is obscured (i.e., transmuted into Yin) in the conditioned state.

Mercury, on the other hand, represents the individual mind.

The second most important method, which is proper to external

alchemy, is centered on cinnabar (Yang). The mercury contained within

cinnabar (representing the Yin principle contained within Yang) is extracted 18 . Mahdihassan, S., The Base of Alchemy, S.H.M.I. (No.1), March 1977, p. 58.

32

and newly added to sulphur (Yang). This process, typically performed nine

times, finally yields an elixir embodying the luminous qualities of Pure Yang.

This Yang is not the complementary opposite of Yin, but, again, represents the

One before its separation into the two complementary principles.

The final object of external and inner alchemy is represented as the

preparation of an elixir usually defined as huandan (lit., “Reverted Elixir”).

This expression, recurring in the whole literature, originally denotes an elixir

obtained by bringing the ingredients back to their original condition through

repeated cyclical operations – an operation comparable to the process that the

adept performs within himself with the support of the alchemical practice. The

word dan (“elixir”) also denotes cinnabar, suggesting that the process beings

and ends on two corresponding points along an ascensional spiral. This

synonymy also shows the role of cinnabar as a central symbol in external

alchemy.

In inner alchemy, the central role of cinnabar is taken up by lead, which

represents original Oneness and is a synonym of “gold” ( jin).

Islamic Alchemy (Arabia)

After Mohammad (S.A.W) had established his religion, Arabs rapidly

over the near East, North Africa and Spain. They became interested in Greek

Science and the translated the Syriac manuscripts including those on alchemy

into Arabic. According to Ibn al Nadim, Islamic alchemy began with the

33

Umayyad Prince Khalid ibn Yazid.19 Khalid learned alchemy in Alexandria

under the supervision of a certain Marianos or Morienos, who had been a

student of Stephen.20 But the greatest alchemist before the rise of modern

chemistry was Jabir ibn-Hayyan (also known as Geber in the west) an eight

century Baghdad alchemist who was the pupil of sixth shites Imam, Jafar al-

Sadiq.21 Jabir’s central concerns were said to be the principle of the “balance”22

(Mizan) system of numerical relationships between elements in substances, as

well as the four elemental natures of things; heat and cold dryness and

humidity.23 He stressed the importance of experiment and made notable

advances in the theory and practice of chemistry. Jabir adopted the sulphur and

mercury in the formation of metals.24 He was well acquainted with the usual

chemical operations. He established his own laboratory and described a great

number of experiments which resulted in the discovery of spirit of wines,

mercuric chloride, nitric acid and other mineral acids. It is narrated that Jabir

served the life of a slave girl of Yahya bin Khalid Barmaki by means of an

elixir.25 Jabir books are full of technological innovations, such as the 19 . Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (ed.) James Hastings, Edinburgh, T & T. Clark, Charles

Scribner’s Sons, Vol. I, 1908; Latest impression 1974, p. 289. 20 . Encyclopaedia of the History of Arabic Science, Vol. 3 (ed.) Roshdi Rashed, Routledge, London &

New York, 1996. 21 . Jafar al Sadiq is the son of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, who was born around 80/700 and died

around 148/765. He lived in Medina and was recognized as an authority on the hadith. According to Arabic sources, he was the teacher of Jabir. An abundant pseudo-epigraphic literature has been attributed to him, including Wasaya (Parenetic advices) and books on the Quran verses used as amulets and in geomancy. Jaladaki points out an alchemic attributed to him. Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, op.cit., p. 864.

22 . Howard R. Turner, Science in Medieval Islam, OUP, 1999, p. 191. 23 . See infra, p. 24 . Syed Hossein Nasr, Science and Civilization in Islam, Suhail Academy Lahore, Pakistan, 1968, pp.

266-267. 25 . A substance that is supposed to have the power to change base metals into gold or to bring about

this agent was named aliksir (Elixir) by the Arabian alchemists and tincture or philosopher’s stone by the European alchemists. Cf. Aftab Saeed, Study of Muslim Alchemy in the Medieval Ages and some valuable chemicals transmitted to modern chemistry” IJHS, 27(3), 1992, p. 263.

34

production of cast iron, steel, dyeing, leather and fabrics. The works attributed

to Jabir are very large in number but most important are Kitab al-Mulk, Kitab

al-Mawazin, Kitab al-Riyadhat, Kitab al-Zibaq al-Sherqi and Kitab al-

Rahmat.26 These works exhibit a fairly advanced stages of chemical sciences.

The next most important figure in Islamic alchemy was Abu Bakr

Mohammad ibn Zakariyya al-Razi (Rhazes). The great ninth century physician

al-Razi involved himself deeply in alchemy, with Jabir, he was responsible for

initiating the transmutation of alchemy into chemistry. His most important

worse are The Book of Secrets (Kitab al Asrar), The Book of the Secret of

Secrets and Liber de Aluminibus et Salibus which is available only in Lain.27

The interest of al-Razi lies particularly in his practical chemistry. His Sir al-

asrar gives for the first time a clear division of chemical substances used

different tools which serve for melting substances (li-tadhwid): hearth (kur),

bellows (minfakh awziqq), crucible (bawtaqa), etc. and also tools for the

preparation of drugs (li-tadbir al-aqaqir). The cucurbite and the still with an

evaculation tube (qar aw-anbiq dhu-khatm), goblets (qadah) flasks (qarura),

rose water flasks (ma wardiyya) cauldron (marjal aw tanjir), earthen ware pots

varnished on the inside with their lids (qudur wa makabbat), waterbath or sand-

bath (qadr), oven (al tannur) etc.28 His detailed description of chemical

laboratory equipment flasks, funnels, and furnaces began to resemble those of

26 . Ibid. 27 . Al-Bakhit, M.A. et al., History of Humanity from 7th to 16th century, UNESCO, 2000, p. 107. 28 . Kitab al Asrar, partially translated by Stapleton et al. in “Chemistry in Iran and Persia in the Tenth

century A.D.” Memoirs A.S.B., VIII, No. 6, p. 370. See also in Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, op.cit., p. 868.

35

modern time. Al-Razi’s chemical knowledge was applied by him to medicine,

and thus he might be considered the ancestor of iatrochemistry.29 Ibn Sina,

commonly called Avicenna (A.D. 980-1037) was not a chemist this most

extraordinary and versatile scholar of acute mind did not believe in alchemical

transmutations.30

In the fourteenth century, the historian, sociologist and philosopher Ibn

Khaldum took a long look at alchemy and delivered a firmly negative verdict,

demonstrating that alchemy is harmful to people and that its efficacy has never

been proved.31

The science of chemistry as practiced in the west after medieval times

owes more to Muslim alchemy.

Indian Alchemy

Alchemy made its appearance in the fifth or sixth century A.D. under

twin aspects. Pursuit of the elixir of life and attempts to transmute base metals

into gold.32 In the next seven or eight centuries, Indian alchemy attracted a

large following due to its association with Tantrism.33 According to the

Tantras, the body can be made undecaying and immortal by the use of mercury

(rasa) and its preparation by yogic breathing and exercises, as well as by use of

gold prepared by the transmutation of base metals. Tantric treatises, therefore, 29 . History of Humanity, op.cit., p. 107. 30 . Elspeth Whitney, Medieval Science and Technology, Greenwood Press, 2004, pp. 152-53, 160-61,

also See in History of Humanity, op.cit., p. 107. and Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, vol. 3, pp. 875-79.

31 . Turner, op.cit., p. 191. 32 . Al-Bakhit, M.A. et al., History of Humanity from 7th to 10th century, UNESCO, 2000, p. 106. 33 . Ray, P., “Origin and Tradition of Alchemy”, IJHS, 1967, Vol. 2, No. 1, p.

36

abound in alchemical recipes and medicaments for longevity. The Tantric cult

is thus characterized by a curious admixture of alchemy, spells incantations,

magic, superstitious beliefs, grotesque and revolting rites on the one hand and

by speculative, metaphysical and esoteric phases of spiritual aspirations on the

other. The philosophy of the Tantric cult may be compared to that of Chinese

Taoism.34 It seems likely that the male-female concept in Indian alchemy came

from China, where alchemy was based on the Yin and Yang and where cinnabar

was considered the main ingredient of the elixir of immortality.

P.C. Ray in his History of Hindu Chemistry has given a list of some 32

Tantric alchemical treatises with the names of their author.35 We merely notice

that Alberuni speaks of Nagarjuna who lived about 800 A.D. and occupies a

position in Indian mercurial alchemy36 comparable to that of Jabir ib Hayyan in

that of Islam. His book Rasaratnakara gives a number of receipes for

transmutation of base metals into silver and gold.37 It describes many chemical

processes like extraction of zinc, mercury and copper, preparation of crystalline

red sulphide of mercury. Rasahridaya (11th century A.D.) Rasendrachudamani

by Somadeva (12th/13th century A.D.), Rasaprakasasudhakara by Yasodhara

(13th century A.D.) and Rasakalpa (13th century A.D.) are other important

tantric treatises of the period, which deal largely with chemistry and alchemy.

But after the end of Tantra period which is also called the period of “mercury”

34 . Needham, Joseph, op.cit., pp. 9-11. 35 . Ray, P., op.cit., p. 16 36 . Al-Beruni’s India, op.cit., p. 189. 37 . Ibid.

37

immediately succeeding the Iatrochemical period of India (1300 A.D. to circa

1550 A.D.).38 This period is something more practical and tangible. During the

iatrochemical period a number of Rasayans were made using metals, non-

metals and plant products. The aim of this period was not to get elixirs for

longevity and immortality rather devoted their chemical pursuits to the

alleviation of disease.39 The transmutation of metals are totally absent in this

period.40 The word purification, fixation and incineration of mercury and other

metals were started from this period. The important sources of this period are

Rasa Ratna Samuccaya (14th century A.D.), Rasamanjari of Satinatha,

Rasapradipa etc. Different Persian sources of Medieval time of India also gives

information regarding Alchemy.

Haft Ahabab41 is a treatise on Alchemy. The narrative in the preface

shows that the work was written by seven friends: Hamiduddin Nagauri, Kiyan

Nath Jogi (title Saadatmand), Shaikh Sulaiman Mandari, Mir Sayyid Hashim

Bukhari, Miran Syed Talib Awadhi, Shaikh Nasiruddin Tastuni, Maulana Sadiq

Muhammad Multani. These were perhaps the great alchemist of his time, and

wrote much on mercury different metals.

Tarikh-i Firozshahi state about a sufi politician of the 13th century,

named Sidi Maulana, developed lot of political clout in the time of Sultan

38 . Ray, P., History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Calcutta, 1956, p. 158. 39 . Deshpande, V.J., “History of Chemistry and Alchemy in India from Pre-historic to Pre-modern

Times”, in History of Indian Science, Technology and Culture, AD 1000-1800 (ed.) A. Rahman, OUP, 1999, p. 160.

40 . Ibid. 41 . Haft Ahabab, MSS 77, CAS, Department of History, A.M.U. Aligarh, folio 3-4.

38

Jalauddin Khalji. He built a large khanqah where hundreds of people were fed

by him everyday. The tankas found in his house looked so bright as if they had

been brought from the mint that very moment.42 He did not accepted anything

from the people but spent so lavishly that they suspected him of possessing the

knowledge of kimiya va simiya (alchemy and natural magic).43

Shaikh Abdul Haqq Mahaddith Dehlavi in his Akhbar ul Akhyar writes

during the description of Shaikh Bahauddin Jaunpuri (ob. 947 A.H./1540 A.D.)

that there came a sufi to Jaunpur in those days whose name was Shaikh

Hussain. He had the knowledge of kimiya and used to prepare gold.44

Abul Fazl’s acceptance of alchemical principles is evident from the tone

of his opening remark in his description of “curing” the base metals into gold

and silver. He writes “some practical craftsman (or alchemists) are of the

opinion that the metal called tin (risas) is silver in the state of leprosy, and

mercury is a paralytic (form of silver, that lead is burnt and paralytic gold,

while bronze is crude gold (They say that alchemist), like the doctor can by the

use of elixirs, restore the diseased metals (to gold and silver) in accordance

with the principles of similarity and opposition”.45 Similar doubt is evident in

Abdul Qadir Badauni’s Muntakhab-ut Tawarikh where in the author enquire

into and their rendered dubious the popular belief that one Shaikh Nasiruddin

of Hindaun46 had the power to turn copper into gold.47

42 . Barni, p. 207. Also Badauni, (tr.) Ranking, I, p. 233. 43 . Siyar-ul Auliya, Amir Khurd (trs.) Quddusi, pp. 246-47. 44 . Akhbar-ul Akhyar (Urdu tr.) by Subhan Mahmood and Muhammad Fazil, Part IV, Deoband,

Makhtab-i Danish, n.d., p. 2-7. 45 . Ain-i Akbari, Naval Kishore, Lucknow, 1883, p. 39. 46 . Then a pargana town in the Sarkar, and Suba of Agra (Ain-i Akbari, ii, 183).

39

Ain-i Akbari also relates a story telling of the alchemical beliefs of the

Hindus. It states48: learned Hindus assert that a stone is met with in this country

which when touched by any malleable metal turns into gold and they call it

paras. They relate that before the time of Bikramajit there reigned a just prince

named Raja Jai Singh Deva who passed his life in deeds of beneficence. Such a

stone was discovered in that age, and became the source of vast wealth. The

sickle of a straw-cutter by its action was changed into gold. The man not

understanding the cause thought some damage had occurred to it. He took it to

a black-smith to have it remedied, who divining its properties, took possession

of it, and amassing immense wealth, garnered a store of delights. But his

natural beneficience suggested to him that such a priceless treasure was more

fitted for the reigning prince, and going to court he presented it. The Raja made

it the occasion of man good deeds, and by means if the riches he acquired,

completed a fort in 12 years. One day he had a festival on the banks of the

river, Narbdah and Promised to bestow a considerable fortune on his Brahman

priest. As he had somewhat withdrawn his heart from worldly goods, he

presented him with this stone. The Brahman from ignorance and meanness of

soul, became indignant and threw the precious treasure into the rive, to his

subsequent eternal regret. Its depth there prevented his recovering it, and to this

day that party if the river has never been fathomed”.

In conclusion we find that the objectives of Indian alchemy being, as in

China, the search for “immortality drugs” the materials used were consequently

47 . Muntakhab-ut Tawarikh (tr.) George S.A. Rankingh, vol. III, reprint 1990, pp. 161-62. 48 . Ain-i Akbari, (tr.) Jarret, vol. III, p. 208.

40

different from those of Arab alchemy. In effect, the Hindu alchemists were pre-

occupied with mercury, the precious metals and vegetable matter. In

connection with their interest in vegetable matter, Al Biruni makes a rather

significant observation in his Kitab-ul Hind. He observes that Indian alchemy

was similar to Arab alchemy but its objective was the restoration of health and

the rejuvenation of the aged. It (rasayan) means an art which is restricted to

certain operations drugs and compounds most of which are taken from plants”.

(B) Theories on Matter

The history of the doctrine on matter spreads over several centuries in

Antiquity. The first monistic principle expressed in Rigveda Samhita (cir.

1500-1000 B.C.), the oldest literary record of vedic Age, wherein water is

mentioned as the primary elements.49 The empirical thought process which

developed in the subsequent period of about five centuries led to the

formulation of the five elements (Pancabhutas) theory. Earth, air, fire, water

and a fifth element, space were the logical components of this theory which

also led to the inevitable conclusion that a primordial element was an essential

principle. Water, earlier believed to be primordial in the Rigveda Samhita was

described in the Upanishads as a material element that partook, with other

material forms in the creative process of the manifest world. In the Taittiriya,

Aitararya and Maitri Upanishads, atman (soul) appears as the primordial

49 . Rigveda Samhita quoted by SubbarayappõC B.V., “The physical world: views and concepts”,

vide Bose, Sen, Subbarayappa (eds.): A Concise History of Science in India, New Delhi (1971), pp. 455-456. See also Anuradha Khanna “The Notion of five Elements and its impetus to the traditional sciences in Ancient India” in A. Rahman, ed, Science and Technology in Indian Culture – a Historical Perspective, NISTADS, New Delhi, 1984, p. 107-109.

41

element from which space (akasa), air (vayu), fire (agni), water (ap) earth

(prithvi) from the earth herbs; from herbs, food; from food, semen, from

semen, the person (purush) came forth in evolutionary progression.50

The development of the theory of elements in Greek philosophy bears a

striking similarity with that taking place in India.51

The early Greek thinkers attempted to give a rational interpretation of

the natural occurrences. By about the fifth century B.C.; the Greek thinkers had

developed a theory of four elements: earth, fire, water and air. This concept

may have been transmitted from the much older Indian philosophy.

Thales of Miletus (c. 624-565 B.C.) thought that water was the

‘substance’ or primal matter which its behaviour in changeable forms of

vapour, ice and moisture in living being proved its generative quality.52

Following on, another Milesian philosopher, Anaximander (cir. 612-575

B.C.) rejected the idea of water being the primordial element, introducing, at

the same time, a primary element which by virtue of its infinite subtleness

alone, had the capacity to bring into being the limitless variety of matter. To

this he gave the name, apeiron. Aperion was infinite. In it, all elements were

supposed to pre-exist in a state of primitive chaos and were activated through a

process of separation.53

50 . Cf. Taittiriya Upanishad II, 21. Ibid. p. 456. See also S.N. Sen, “Transmission of Indian

Sciences to the Greeks and other Neighbouring Countries” BNISI, No. 21 (1962), pp. 19-20. 51 . It is probable that Sumer and Akkad (Babylon), where a system of cosmic elements existed as

early as the 3rd mill BC, was the common source of the five element theory for India, Greece and China S. Mahdihassan’ Interpreting China Cosmic elements, S.H.M. (New Delhi) II, No. 4, pp. 289-90.

52 . Sambursky, S., The Physical world of the Greeks, London, pp. 14-15. Also Taton, R. (ed.) A General History of Science, Medieval and Ancient Science, London (1963), p. 184.

53 . Taton, R., op.cit., p. 185.

42

Another philosopher, Ananimenes, regarded “air” (Pneuma) as the

primordial matter. He thought that the process of condensation or rarefaction

caused transformations of the primary substance into various others. In his

elaboration of the functional properties of air, he conceived of air as

symbolizing both space and dimension.54

Heraclitos of Epheseus (c. 540-575 B.C.)55 regarded ‘fire’ as the

Primordial element. This was because fire was thought to be the most active

agent of change. He held that the whole world was in a flux of change and

change alone was real. He also stressed that every substance was born out of

the forces of destruction and regeneration. Matter existed or underwent

transformation under a constant pressure of the two opposing forces. “the

upward path to fire” and “the downward path to earth”. Empedocles (c. 50-430

B.C.) synthesized the preceding Greek hypotheses on matter by adding earth

and enunciated a clear-cut ‘theory of four elements’. He said all earthly

phenomena could be explained in terms of combinations of the four elements

earth, water, air and fire. He called them the ‘roots of the world’. The four

elements combine and separate, and it is these combinations and separations

that constitute the processes of the physical world. This two opposing forces

(combinations and separations) which he called love (Philotes) and conflict

(neicos). The alternating ascendancy of these two forces governed the cyclic

phases of evolution and dissolution of the world.56

54 . Subbarayappa, B.V., In Concise History of Science in India, pp. 458-460. 55 . Sarton, George; A History of Science, Harvard (1950), pp. 238-240. 56 . Ibid., pp. 246-248.

43

Aristotle (cir. 384-322 B.C.) made the final synthesis of the Greek ideas

on theory of elements. Adopting the Empedocles theory of four elements, he

threw fresh light on the mode in which the elements became manifest in the

world of perception. To him, all the four elements were different aspects of a

primary matter which he called protyle with each aspect displaying different

qualities. The potential forms contained in the protyle became manifest under

the effects of the four fundamental qualities (hotness, coldness, wetness and

dryness). These qualities were never met with by themselves but in pairs. The

presence of each one of these pairs characterized a particular element.57

Aristotle’s theory of the four elements in most aptly explained by the

following diagram. See Fig. (A)58

Fire

Hot Dry

Air Earth

Wet Cold

Water

57 . Sarton, G., op.cit., pp. 515-516, Taton, ., op.cit., p. 231. 58 . Pedersen, O. and Pihl, M., Early Physics and Astronomy: A Historical Introduction, London

(1974), p. 146.

44

Aristotle’s explanation for the cyclical rhythm in natural phenomena

(which were believed to imitate the cyclic cosmic phenomena) in contrast to

earlier reasons given by Ananimenes, Heraclitos and Empedocles was based on

his theory of ‘wet’ and dry ‘exhalation’. According to this theory, heat causes

water to evaporate, mix with air and then to rise upwards in the form of “wet

exhalation”. This wet “exhalation” rises into the atmosphere of air and on

cooling condense into water or freezes into hail stones and came down as rain,

hail, snow or dew. Similarly earthy parts get heated and, mixed with air,

constitute a ‘dry exhalation’. The dry exhalations could combine with wet

exhalations within the earth’s wombs and give birth to minerals and metals. It

could also become heated and force its way through the earth’s crust and cause

earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.59

It was in this aphoristic form that the Greek philosophy on matter had

reached the Arabs in the 8th-9th centuries A.D. This was the period when

Muslim scholars were engaged in acquiring the knowledge of their

predecessors and had undertaken massive translation work of the existing

Greek, Indian and Mesopotamian works.60

The Arabs and the Persians did more than merely reproduce Greek

philosophy in their works. They scrutinized, commented upon, reformulated

and elaborated it to its most intricate, logical, ramifications. Through the hand 59 . For some excellent queries raised by 13th and 14th century scholars on Aristotle’s doctrines, see

Grant, Edward (ed), A Source book on medieval Science, Harvard (1974), pp. 199-210. 60 . Although Syriac and Hebrew translations of Greek works were available in the 8th cent. A.D., it

was only in 835 AD that the Abbasid Caliph established a Baitul Hikmat at Baghdad to improve as well as organize the translation of Greek, Syriac, Hebrew and Indian works into Arabic. Max Meyerhoff, on the transmission of Greek and Indian Science to the Arabs, I.C.X(i) pp. 17-29.

45

of al-Kindi, Jabir, al-Razi, ibn Sina, Abul Qasim Iraqi, the Ikhwan us-Safa,

Nasiruddin Tusi and others, the element theory attained to a perfection never

before.

Al-Kindi (cir. 830 A.D.) pointed out contradictions in the Aristotelian

theory. If air, he said, was hot and dry, then how could a ‘wet exhalation’, on

rising into the atmosphere (the sphere of air) be expected to condense into rain,

snow or hail. In his commentary, al-Kindi examined the Greek view of the

primary qualities. He explained these as principles distinct from cognizable

phenomena coldness and hotness were comprehended as relative attributes of

elements. Air was hot in relation to water but cold in relation to fire and so

on.61

Most of the Arabic alchemical works have been attributed to one by

name Geber or Jabir-ibn Hayyan. His contribution was the elaboration of the

‘sulphur mercury theory’ and its application to the explanation of the birth of

the seven metals.

Jabir admits the Aristotelian theory about the composition of matter,

earth, water, air, fire but he develops its along a different path. First, there are

four elementary qualities, or natures: heat, cold, dryness, humidity. When they

get together with a substance they form compounds of the first degree, i.e. hot,

cold, dry, wet. The union of two of these qualities gives:

Hot + dry + substance = fire

61 . Cf. Rasa’il al-Kindi al alsafiyya, II, p. 91 vide, Taton, R.; op.cit., p. 394. Abul Fazl also uses

these relative terms, Ain-i-Akbari, Naval Kishore, vol. I, pp. 37-38.

46

Hot + wet + substance = air

Cold + wet + substance = water

Cold + dry + substance = earth

With the metals two of the natures are external and two internal. For instance

lead is cold and dry externally, gold is hot and wet externally, cold and dry

internally. The sources of these natures are sulphur and mercury, not ordinary

sulphur and mercury but hypothetical substances of which the two last the

closet form. But Jabir’s teacher Jafar al Sadiq, reputed Aristotle’s theory of the

four classical elements and discovered that each one is made up of different

chemical elements: ‘I wonder how a man like Aristotle could say that in the

world there are only four elements - earth, water, fire and air. It contains many

elements. Each metal which is in the earth is an element”.62

Jabir writes, about the sulphur mercury theory that “the metals are all, in

essence, composed of mercury and coagulated with sulfur. They differ from

one another only because of the difference of their accidental qualities, and this

difference is due to the difference of their varieties of sulphur, which in turn is

caused by variation in the earths, and in their exposition with respect to the heat

of the sun in its circulation.63

62 . Research Committee of Strasburg University, Imam Jafar Ibn Muhammad Al-Sadiq, A.S. The

Great Muslim Scientist and Philosopher, translated by Kaukal Al Mirza, 2000. htt://en.wikipedia.org/Alchemy and chemistry in Islam

63 . Holmyard, E.J. (ed.) The Arabic Works of Jabir Ibn Hayyan, vol. I, part one (Paris, Preutner), p. 54.

47

When mercury and sulphur combine to form one single substance, it is

thought that they have changed essentially, and that an entirely new substance

has been formed. The facts are otherwise, however both the mercury and the

sulphur retain their own natures, all that has happened is that their parts have

become attenuated and placed in close approximation to one another, so that to

the eye the product appears uniform.

If one could devise an apparatus to separate the parts of one sort from

those of the other, it would be apparent in its own permanent natural form, and

has not been transmuted or changed. We say, indeed, that such transmutation is

not possible for natural philosopher”.64

There are so many Sanskrit sources of medieval time but unfortunately

they are not mention related to the origin of metals. These sources gives only

mythological origin of different metals.65

Two distinct scientific tradition was existing in the sixteenth century

when Abul Fazl compiled the Ain-i-Akbari. The Indian tradition written and

studied in the Sanskrit language and the Islamic tradition in Persian and Arabic.

Abul Fazl was undoubtedly well versed in both. He must have acquired the

knowledge of Indian scientific thought from the numerous Brahmin, Jaina and

64 . From one hundred and twelve books, translated by E.J. Holmyard in “Chemistry in medieval

Islam”, Journal Society of Chemical Industry 1923, vol. 42, p. 388, and in “The Identity of Geser”, Nature, vol. III (Feb. 10, 1923), p. 192. Syed Hossein Nasr; Science and Civilization in Islam, Suhail Academy Lahore, Pakistan, 1968, pp. 266-67.

65 . According to ancient texts gold is said to be the semen of god Agni (fire). It is said in Rasendra Cudamani that one god Agni saw the young and beautiful wives of the Saptarisi (the seven sages) and got excited. He discharged his semen which on falling on the earth got converted into gold. Cf. Damodar Joshi translated Rasa Ratna Samuccaya and he has given description of each metal, IJHS, vol. 23, No. 2 (1989). p. 236.

48

Buddhist scholars who adorned the Mughal court as well as from the books of

al-Biruni. He dwells extensively on the various Indian theories on the cosmic

element in the third volume of the Ain-i Akbari.66 However his description of

the Indian system is rather in the nature of a report than an enunciation of his

own convictions.67

He thus begins his description of “Genesis of Metals” (Ain-i-Paidaish-i-

Filizzat) contains the Aristotelian theory of four elements of all matter and

natural phenomena. Abul Fazl’s also reflect the acceptance of minor variations

such as those found in al-Kindi. Abul Fazl writes “the creator has manifested”

the four basic elements. Fire is absolutely warm dry light. Air is relatively

warm, moist, light. Water is relatively cold, moist, heavy. Heat causes

lightness, moisture imparts heaviness to bodies. Wetness senders the body

easily separable while dryness prevents divisibility. These four elements are

manifested in four ways heavenly phenomena (such a rain, snow, hail etc.),

minerals, vegetables, and animal life.68

The Aristotelian theory of wet and dry exhalation is also find in the Ain

and Abul Fazl states, “from the heat of sun and its effect, the watery particles

become light and mix with the airy particles69 and rise up. This mixture is

66 . Ain-i-Akbari, Naval Kishore, Lucknow III, p. 83 onwards. 67 . For two excellent observations of the 11th and 17th cents. See Sachau, E. (ed.) Al-Biruni’s India,

S. Chand and Co. 1964 reprint, pp. 40-49 and Constabl, A. (ed.) Travels in the Mogul Empire (1656-1668) by F. Bernier, S. Chand & Co. 1968, pp. 337-338.

68 . Ain-i Akbari (ed.) Sir Syed, Sir Syed Academy, A.M.U. (2005), pp. 26-27, (tr.) Blochmann, H, Calcutta (1923), p. 40.

69 . Abul Fazl repeatedly uses the term ajza which can also be interpreted as ‘atom’. Here it only signifies ‘small particle’. Steingass, A Comprehensive Persian, English Dictionary (1st edition) 1973, p.18.

49

called bukhar (vapour or steam). The earthy particles mix with the airy

particles and rise upward. This mixture is called dukhan (a gas or smoke)70

Several philosopher call both of the above mixtures bukhar, but if it contains

watery particles, they call it ‘wet vapour’ (bukhar-i-abi) and if the mixture

contains earthy particles, it is called ‘gaseous’ or dry vapour (bukhar-i-dukhani

or bukhar-i-khushk).

The two mixtures produce above the surface of our earth, to give clouds,

wind, rain, snow and the like while below the surface they produce

earthquakes, streams and minerals.71

Abul Fazl ends this theory with the Islamic modification of Aristotle’s

belief that the dry and wet exhalation of moist and dry parts of all living

beings72. While explaining the birth of the seven metals Abul Fazl also

incorporates Chinese doctrine of Yin-Yang duality (similar to the Aristotelian

theory of wet and dry exhalation) and Jabir’s theory of the union of the male

and female principles of sulphur and mercury. The evident show that the major

portion of Kitabul Shifa of Ibn Sina is copied by Abul Fazl on the birth of

metals.73

When in a mixture of bukhar (vapour) with dukhan (smoke), the former

is greater in quantity, then on complete combination and ripening due to the

70 . Blochmann wrongly translated bukhar as ‘gas’ and dukhan as ‘vapour’, Ain-i Akbari (tr.)

Calcutta 1923, p. 40. See in Steingass, op.cit. p. 158 and p. 504. 71 . Ain-i-Akbari, (ed.) Sir Syed, p. 27. 72 . Nasr, S.H., Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines, Conceptions of Nature and Methods

used for its study by the Ikhwan al Safa, Harvard Univ. Press, 1964, p. 246. 73 . See Ibn Sina’s enunciation of this theory in Nasr, S.H., op.cit. p. 246. Also see tr. of Kitab al

Shifa by Holmyard and Mandeville, vide Grant, Edward, op.cit., pp. 570-571.

50

heat of the sun, mercury (quick silver) comes into being. And since no part of it

is free of the dry exhalation (dukhan), dryness is felt in it and it does not stick

to the hand but flees from it. If the mixture is of equal parts, a tenacious greasy

moisture is produced. At the time of fermentation (synthesis), air particles enter

and the coldness causes the whole (mass) to contract.74 This mass is

inflammable. If the dukhan and the greasiness are a little in excess, sulphur will

be produced, in colour either red or yellow or blue white. If the proportion of

the dukhan is large and that of greaseless, arsenic will be produced which is red

and yellow (arsenic disulphide and trisulphide). And if the quantity of the

bukhar is greater pure, black and white bitumen75 will arises after the mixture

gets solid. Since in all, cold was the causes of the contraction, they can be

melted, and on account of the prevalence of greasiness and tenacious

moistness, they are also inflammable, though, on account of the moistness, not

malleable.

“Although mercury (quick silver) and sulphur are the only component

parts of the seven bodies (metals). There arise various forms from a difference

in purity, or from peculiar circumstances of the mixture or from a variety of the

action of the component parts of each other. Thus silver will result when

neither of the two components is mixed with earthy particles, when they are

pure and perfectly united, and when the sulphur is white, and less than the

74 . Aristotle’s and later Ibn Sina’s theory had clearly stated this point. See Sarton, G., op.cit. pp.

515-516. 75 . Blochmann wrongly translates ‘naft’ as naphta. It was actually bitumen which was called Naft.

The colours in the original version are black and white (siyah wa Safaid) and not black and yellow. See Ain-i-Akbari (ed.) Sir Syed, p. 27.

51

mercury (principle) or when both are in equal proportions; the sulphur is red,

and capable of imparting colour, gold will originate. Again under similar

circumstances, if both contract after the mixture but before a complete union

has been effected. Kharchini76 will be produced. This metal is also called

ahanchini and seems really to be raw gold; some say it is a kind of copper.

Again, if sulphur also be impure, and mercury the larger component, with an

additional power of burning, copper will result. And if the mixture is not

thorough and the mercury in greater amounts, tin will be produced, some say

that the purity of the components is essential. If both components be of an

inferior type closely mixed, and if the earthy particles of the mercury have a

tendency of separating, and the sulphur has the inherent powers of burnings,

iron will result. And if under similar conditions the mixture is not perfect, and

the mercury quantitatively greater, lead will come into existence. These seven

metals are called the “seven bodies (ajsad al saba), mercury is called the

mother of the bodies, and sulphur, the father of the bodies. Mercury is also

called the spirit (ruh) while arsenic and sulphur are the soul (nafs)77 (of the

bodies).78

(ii) Classification of Minerals

The classification of minerals was a major matter of interest among

Greeks, Arab and Persian chemists such as Theophrastos, Jabir Ibn Hayyan, 76 . Kashani’s Arais ul Jawahir… (14th century) p. 240 and Ashraf bin Asad’s Jawaharnamah (16th

cent.) pp. 246-247. The Ajaibul Mukhluqat…. Zakariyya al-Kazvini (cir 1275 AD) rielies heavily upon the Jabirian mercury sulphur theory to show that Kharsini was a mineral. Only its uses (i.e. from making mirrors, arrow heads and fish hooks) are correctly described. See also Stapleton et al. ‘Chemistry in Iraq and Persia in the 10th century AD”, MASB, vol. VIII (No. 4, p. 410.

77 . Blochmann, Wrongly translated nafs as “pivot of life”, op.cit., p. 41. 78 . Ain-i-Akbari (ed.) Sir Syed, pp. 27-28, Naval Kishore, p. 39, Blochmann, H. (tr.), op.cit., pp. 40-

41.

52

Zakariya al-Razi and Ibn Sina and their efforts helped greatly in the

development of scientific method and of Chemistry. Also in Indian history of

Science both Hindus and Muslims classified minerals on the basis of what they

understood to be the nature of minerals.

This system of classification had been evolved by Theophrastos (cir. 372-

288 B.C.) who was assigned the study of minerals by his teacher, Aristotle.

Theophrastos wrote the first comprehensive treatise on the origin and

classification of minerals entitled De Lapidus.79 According to Theophrastos

‘Stones’ were minerals which had an earthy origin since they could be crushed

to an earthy powder. Metals on the other hand, were minerals of a ‘watery’

origin since they could be melted on heating.

In effect, this use of characteristic reactions to fire for purposes of

classification was the first formal application of a chemical criterion in

mineralogy. Physical criteria such as hardness and malleability were also

codified by Theophrastos. Gems were classified by him on the basis of colour,

transparency, luster, fracture and hardness. These criteria are valid to this day.80

Theophrastos’ ideas were also influenced by the pseudo-scientific sources

such as Babylonian religious beliefs and primitive Greek folklore and his

lapidus also refers to the planetary affiliations of minerals.81

79 . Sarton, G., A History of Science, Harvard (1952), p. 560. 80 . Ibid. 81 . Ibid.

53

Rational science co-existed with irrational doctrines even after the period

of transmission of Greek learning to the Islamic world. Rational philosophers

such as Ibn Sina chose to underplay or ignore irrational beliefs while others

such as Kazvini, who had probably copied from ancient cosmological texts

gave them undue importance.82

The Arabs begun to take interest in learning of alchemical practice from

the 7th century onward arose the need for more specific classification of both

organic and inorganic substances.

Thus Jabir ibn Hayyan classified the minerals with which alchemy deals

into three classes83, each having certain specific qualities, based on the

predominance of one of the natures:

(i) Spirits (arwak) i.e. substances which evaporate completely on heating.

The ‘spirits’ are five in number, sulphur, arsenic, mercury, ammonia and

camphor.

(ii) Metals (ajsad), i.e. substances which may be hammered, possess a

luster, produce a sound, and are not “mute”, like the ‘spirits’ and

‘bodies’. The metals include lead, tin, gold, silver, copper, iron and

kharini (Chinese iron).

82 . Nasr, S.H., Science and Civilization in Islam, Suhail Academy, Lahore, Pakistan, 1968, p. 256;

also see in Sherwood Taylor, Alchemists, Paladin (1976), pp. 70-73. 83 . The Ajaibul Makhluqat Wamharaib ul Maujudat (cir. 1275 A.D.) contains a verbatim copy of

the section on cosmology of an earlier, synonymous text, which classified minerals on the basis of the ‘sex’ and other attributes of their related planets. See Kazvini, Zakaria ibn Mahmud. Encyclopedia of Islam (New Edition).

54

(iii) The ‘bodies’ i.e. the inorganic minerals (ajsam) which are neither

fusible or non-fusible, not malleable and could be pulverized.

Metals (ajsad) were further defined as those fusible substances in

which the proportion of soul (the nafs i.e. oily property of the mineral) and

spirit (i.e. ruh, the gaseous, volatile principle) is perfect and does not increase

nor decrease in proportion to the amount of inert matter.84

Al-Razi85 was the first great encyclopedists of Islam. He wrote on all

manner, of medical and surgical subjects, on philosophy, alchemy

mathematics, logic, ethics, metaphysics etc. Zakariya al-Razi wrote many

works on medicine and alchemy but the best known is Kitab al-Asrar. A

classification in the Kitab al-Asrar of al Razi (d. 914) in which terrestial

elements are divided into the following six classes86 :

(i) The spirit (al-arwah) Mercury, Salammoniac, arsenic sulphate (orpiment

and realgar), sulphur

(ii) The Bodies (al-ajsad) – Gold, Silver, copper, iron, lead, tin, Kharsini

(iii) The stones (al-ahjar) – Pyrites (marqashita), iron oxide (daws), zinc

oxide (tutiya), azurite, malachite, turquoise, haematite, arsenic oxide,

lead sulphate (kohl), mica and asbestos, gypsum, glass

84 . Jabir, Ustugus al-Uss (tr.) Husain, Stapleton et al., A.S.B (VIII, No. 6), p. 395 and Sherwood

Taylor, Alchemist, p. 71. 85 . Not to be confused with great theologian of the same name Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 606/1209).

For Razi the chemist, Cf. Encyclopaedia of Islam (New Edition), vol. VIII, pp. 474-478. 86 . Kitab al Asrar, Partially translated and incorporated by Hidayat Husain et al., in chemistry in

Iraq and Persia in the 10th century AD, Memoirs A.S.B., VIII, p. 370

55

(iv) The vitriols (al-zajat) – Black, alums (al-Shubub), white (qalqadis),

green (qalqand), yellow (qulqutar), red

(v) Borax (bawariq)

(vi) Salts (al-amlah)

There were four spirits, two volatile and incombustible (mercury and sal-

ammoniac) and two volatile and combustible (sulphur and arsenic).

The Bodies (ajsad) were the usual seven viz. gold, silver, copper, iron,

tin, led and kharsini (possibly a poisonous metal said to have come from

China).87

Stones (ahjar) were thirteen in number. Some of which are identified as

magnesite (maghnisiya), iron oxide (daws), zinc oxide (tutiya) and malachite

(dhana) etc.

Al Razi also identified six Vitriols, notable among which were irons

sulphate (qalqadis). Among the “boraces” he identified sodium tetraborate

(natrum), tangar (cruder form of natrum), goldsmith’s borex, etc.

Eleven salts (Amlah) were also identified among which he named

common salt, nafti (bitumen salt), hindi (rock salt) and bidi while the Sanskrit

sources identified five or six types of salts. Five kinds of salts are described in

charaka.88 These are Sauvarchala (nitre), Saindhava (rock salt), vit (black salt),

audbhida (vegetable salt) and Samudram (sea salt) whereas Rasa Ratna

87 . Needham; V (ii) p. 233. 88 . Ray, P., op.cit., p. 62.

56

Samuccaya89 mentioned six types of salts, viz. Samudram (lit. derived from the

evaporation of sea water), saindhava (rock, salt), vidam Sauvarchala, Romaka

and Chulika lavana (Salammoniac).

Al Razi classifies alum as a stone and salt ammoniac as a spirit. Salt-

ammoniac is practically universally classed as a spirit by the Arabs, Ibn Sina

being the only exception so far as we are aware.90 While al Razi’s system of

classification was based on the first formal inclusion of taste and solubility

among the criteria. His system also indicates an attempt to provide a

pharmacological basis to mineral classification.

Ibn Sina (980-1037 A.D.) classified minerals into four broad categories,

namely:

(i) Stones (ahjar)

(ii) Fusible substances (Dhaibat)

(iii) Sulphurs (the inflammable kabarit)

(iv) Salts (Amlah)

The difference in properties, he attributed to the difference in the

strength of the substance from which they were made, e.g. the material of

metals was believed to be an aqueous substance united so firmly with an

earthy substance that the two could not be mutually separated.91

89 . Rasa Ratna Sammuccaya (tr.) Dr. Joshi, Chapter X, verse 73, p. 466, IJHS, INSA (1989). 90 . Gant, Edward (ed.) A Source book in medieval Science, Harvard, 1974, p. 570. 91 . Nasr, S.H., Introduction to Islamic Cosmological doctrines, Harvard, 1964, p. 246. Also

Holmyard and Mandeville (ed. and tr.) Kitab ul Shifa (section on physics), vide Edward Grant (ed.), A Source Book in Medieval Science (ed.) op.cit., p. 569.

57

Another important source for the system of classification adopted by

Abul Fazl was al-Biruni’s Kitab ul Jamahir (cir. 1030 A.D.).92 This book is

considered to be one of the best works on medieval mineralogy. It contains

descriptions of minerals and metals from all over Asia, Europe and Africa. In

this treatise the author treats as criteria not only the colours, odours, hardness,

but also exact quantitative criteria such as weight per unit volume and loss in

weight in water of the various substances.93

The Ain-i Akbari, we notice that Abul Fazl was familiar with the original

Aristotelian concepts and Ibn Sina modified it and consequently Abul Fazl

writes “Minerals are of five kinds:

(i) those which do not melt on heating on account of their dryness such as

rubies.

(ii) Those which do not melt on heating due to their “wetness” such as

mercury (quick silver).

(iii) Those which melt but are not inflammable or malleable such as copper,

alum.

(iv) Those which be melted are inflammable, but not malleable e.g. sulphur.

(v) Those which melt are malleable, but not combustible e.g. gold.94

92 . Pub. Dairat ul Maarif ul Osmania, Hyderabad (1355 A.H.), also Al-Biruni’s Kitab al Jamahir

(tr.) Shaheed Hakim Mohammad Said et al., J.P.H.S., vol. XLIX, No. 2. 93 . Razaullah Ansari, S.M., “The Physical Researches of Al-Biruni”, I.J.H.S., X(2) 1975, pp. 198-

209. 94 . Ain-i-Akbari (ed.), Naval Kishore, I, pp. 38-39, also see (tr.) Blochmann, H., p. 40.

58

Abul Fazl’s classification of minerals on the basis of melting and malleability

also reflect clearly Graeco-Arab influence. He writes “A body is said to melt

wherefrom the union of the inherent principles of dryness and moisture its

particles are movable. A body is said to be malleable when it possesses the

ability to extend in such a manner as to yield a longer and wider surface

without, however either separating a part from it or adding part of it”. The latter

definition particularly specific and more scientific.

Abul Fazl perhaps due to his knowledge of the ‘Hindu’ Rasashastra has

introduced a fifth category consisting of a single mineral, namely mercury. The

characteristic ascribed is that it does not melt on account of “wetness” being its

predominant quality. This is an interesting synthesis of an Arab doctrine (on

the aquosity of metals)95 with the Hindu chemical doctrines where in mercury

enjoyed great prestige.96

Mineral chemistry in India probably gained importance only after its

relevance in Rasashastra (mercury chemistry) had been established. Following

the exchange of ideas with Persia and China and developed through the

experiments of Nagarjuna, the 9th-10th century alchemist and his protégés,

abrupt growth of information on minerals is evident in the Rasa Ratna

Samuchhaya, a 13th-14th century text which broadly divides the minerals in the

following manner :

95 . Cf. Kitab ul Shifa, vide, Grant E. (ed.), op.cit., pp. 569-71. 96 . The Muslim philosophers classified mercury amongst the metals (ajsad) mainly because it could

be amalgamated with other metals without changing their ‘metallic’ character. Another reason was the fact that mercury represented a part of mercury-sulphur theory on the birth of metals. For information on Hindu mercury chemistry, see Ray, P., History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, pp. 158-200.

59

(i) Rasas e.g. mica, copper, pyrites (makshika), calamine (rasaka), bitumen

(adrija) and others like vimala, Sasyaka and Vaikranta.

(ii) Uprasas (inferior chemicals), such as alum, orpiment (arsenic trislphide,

haritala), realgar (arsenic disulphide), Salammoniac (ammonium

chloride) and cinnabar Lingular, mercuric sulphide).

(iii) Gems, such as rubies, diamonds etc.

(iv) Metals such as gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead etc.97

Apparently the Hindu alchemists classified minerals in order of their utility in

alchemy and itrochemistry.

In conclusion it may be said that Abul Fazl was fully aware of the

advances in scientific philosophy of his day. As such, he represented in the

truest fashion, the intelligentsia of the medieval times. In the exposition of the

theory of elements done with extreme accuracy and brevity, he remained truly

an Avicennian, Jabirian and Aristotelian thought. On the other side Hindu

sciences were not upto the mark, Sanskrit sources are silent on the origin of

metals. Some sources give only mythological origin of metal which is not

scientific at all.

97 . Ray, P., op.cit., p. 166.