Publication

Abstract : Rasaśāstra is one of the important branches of Ayurveda. It is a part of Ayurvedic Pharmaceutics and deals with substances of mineral origin, wherein pārada is the prime element. Literally 'Rasa' means mercury and it has numerous synonyms such as rasendra (king of Rasas), sūta (Yellow in color) and so on. Rasa and other substances of mineral origin are called dravya in Ayurveda. In Ayurveda, dravya is mainly classified into three types as 1. Audbhid (Plant origin), 2. Jāṅgama (Animal origin), 3. Pārthiva (mineral origin). The Pārthiva category consists all earthly things like metals, minerals and precious stones. One can notice a detailed account of dravyas of pārthiva category in Ānandakanda and it is one of the available 300 Rasaśāstra texts. It is a commendable work in Rasaśāstra. The text has been divided into two Viśrāntis namely Amṛtīkaraṇa Viśrānti and Kriyākarana Viśrānti. In the first Viśrānti, pārada has been defined as 'Rasa'. In the second Viśrānti, pārthiva category has been described in detail. Rasaśāstra texts, describe various Pārthiva categories such as 'śaktirasa', 'rasa', 'mahārasa', 'uparasa', 'sādhāraṇarasa', 'loha', 'ratna', 'uparatna' etc. the pārthiva category broadly consists of five substances as 'rasa', 'mahārasa', 'uparasa', 'loha', 'ratna', and 'uparatna'. These sub categories have significant role in Ayurvedic Pharmaceutics. This paper discusses these categories from Ānandakanda and an attempt has been made to compare this information with five other important Rasaśāstra texts.