The Jewel Mine of Mercury

...combined, cook in an iron vessel on a soft fire. With the liquid, [this] calcination is to be used in all formulations. Without an anupāna adjuvant/vehicle, the mica conquers old age and death; by using anupānas, it protects against diseases. The killed mica destroys aging and death itself. Consumed, it gives bodily strength, beauty, and potency. 6. Shri. 6. Thus, in the Rasaratnākara composed by Shri Nityanatha Siddha, son of Parvati, in the Rasa-khaṇḍa, the sixth instruction titled "The Calcination of Mica" is finished. 6. Shri. 6. Now, the purification of orpiment (tālaka) is described. 6. Unpurified orpiment destroys life, increases phlegm and wind, and causes internal heat, blisters, and contraction of the body; therefore, it must be purified. Making the orpiment into pieces, [add] one-tenth part of borax. Wash it with the liquids of citron, and wash again with kāñjika. Tying it in a four-fold cloth, cook it in a dolāyantra for a day. With pulverized alkali, [cook for] a day with the juices of kūṣmāṇḍa wax gourd. Consume with the water of vāramallī, [and] the orpiment will reach purification. When [it is] thickened like honey with the decoctions of the roots of brahma likely a specific medicinal plant... three times... grind with buffalo urine. With utpala water lily and... in a puṭa grind it. In this way, cook twelve times, and use in formulations. Orpiment in a poṭṭalī bundle with powder, place in kāñjika. In a dolāyantra for one quarter [of a day], then with the juices of kūṣmāṇḍa. Cook with sesame oil for a quarter [of a day], and a quarter [of a day] with triphalā water. In this way, cook four times, and the orpiment becomes purified. Orpiment destroys diseases, leprosy, and is a killer of old age. [When] purified...

Shri
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