ALCHEMY AND CHEMICAL INFORMATION IN PERSIAN AND SANSKRIT LITERATURE OF MEDIEVAL INDIA THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Doctor of Philosophy IN HISTORY BY AKHTAR HASSAN UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF DR. IQBAL SABIR CENTRE OF ADVANCED STUDY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH (INDIA) 2008 Dr. Iqbal SSaaaabirbirbirbir Sr. Lecturer CENTRE OF ADVANCED STUDY Department of History Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh-202002, U.P., India Phone: 0571-2703146 (O) Mobile: 09411488564 Dated : 25.11.2008 Certificate This is to certify that Mr. Akhtar Hassan has completed his research work under my supervision. The thesis prepared by him on “Alchemy and Chemical Information in Persian and Sanskrit Literature of Medieval India” is his original research work and I consider it suitable for submission for the award of the Degree of Ph.D. in History. (Dr. Iqbal Sabir) Supervisor ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of my research work and its subsequent submission in the present form would not have been possible without Almighty Allah’s grace. He created favorable situations out of nowhere and provided me with love and support of many wonderful people. Words are not enough to convey my gratitude for them. Nevertheless, it’s my duty to thank them. Words cannot express the indebtedness I feel towards my supervisor Dr. Iqbal Sabir who selfless guidance has been most inspiring. The Chairman of my department Prof. B.L. Bhadani helped me in ways more than one, I am thankful to him. At this moment I cannot forget Dr. I.G. Khan who trained me in History of Science. I owe a lot of the understanding of the subject to him. His wife Dr. Zulfiya Khan was forthcoming enough to share his valuable collection of research material and books. But for her kindness it would have been difficult to put together my ideas on certain topics. Dr.Jilani, Mr. Syed Raza Imam and Mr. Alamgir rendered valuable help in explaining and translating Persian texts wherever deemed necessary. I thank all my teachers for my understanding of the discipline. Professional assistance is a different matter and I would like to acknowledge the excellent services provided by the staff (Arshad, Bansidhar, Salman and Zubair) of Library, Department of History, A.M.U., the Maulana Azad Library, A.M.U. and INSA Library, Delhi. God has bestowed me with a number of good friends. The help and encouragement extended by Dr. Abu Shariq and Shariq Raza have been ii immense and is beyond expression. All of my friends and seniors helped me at various stages of my research. Being continuously motivated by Dr. Mohd. Khurshid Alam, Mr. Nasruddin Khan, Mr. Mohd. Arshad, Mr. Danish Mahan, Mr. Sharib Ali, Ms. Umama, Ms. Rasihda, Mr. Tauqeer, Miss Priya and Mr. Manav. I was impelled to accelerate the pace of my research. I cannot thank all of them enough. Special thanks are also due to Mr. Ankit Jain for providing the mode of transport. It would have been impossible to complete my research without the support of my family particularly my parents (Mr. Syed Mubarak Nawab & Mrs. Umme Rabab) have always been sources of inspiration. My brother Johnny stood besides me as a pillar of strength both morally and financially. Last but not least I am thankful to my typist, Mr. H.K. Sharma for typing. AKHTAR HASSAN iii ABBREVIATION BORI Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona CUP Cambridge University Press I.C Islamic Culture IESHR The Indian Economic and Social History Review IHQ Indian Historical Quarterly IJHS Indian Journal of History of Science INSA Indian national Science Academy IOL Indian Office Library JASB Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal n.d. Not dated NISTADS National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies OUP Oxford University Press PHISPC Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy and Culture PIHC Proceeding of the Indian History Congress PLG A Catalogue of Sanskrit manuscript contained in the Private libraries of Gujarat, Kathiawad, Kacch, Sindh and Khandesh, completed under the superintendence of G. Buhler, Bombay, Fascicule-4, Government of Bombay, 1871-1873. VVRI A Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Vishvesvarananda Vedic Research Institute, compiled by Visvabandhu, Hoshiapur, 1959 CONTENTS Page No. Acknowledgement i-ii Abbreviation iii Introduction 1-11 Chapter 1 A Brief Survey of Literature 12-25 Chapter 2 Alchemy and Chemical Theories 26-59 Chapter 3 Chemical Processes and Apparatus 60-80 Chapter 4 Chemical Industries 81-131 Chapter 5 Metallurgy in Medieval India 132-166 Conclusion 167-180 Glossary 177-180 Appendices Appendix-I 181-196 Appendix-II 197 Bibliography 198-210 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION History of science is the history of man’s efforts to understand the world around him. This he did by employing his powers of observation and logical deduction which gave rise to a whole system of empirical scholastic methodology. This remained the basic instrument of scientific investigation until society developed within itself economic, political, cultural and etiological forces conducive to the growth of a truly scientific approach. India unlike many other great civilizations has had a long and fairly continuous tradition of science. Recorded history of its though is traceable as far back as 1500 BC, the date ascribed to the writing of the Vedas. 1 The empirical thought that the great Indian sages had developed over the centuries, reached a point of stagnation roughly by the end of the 12 th century A.D. 2 The rise and expansion of Islamic civilization form one of the greatest milestones in world history. In the course of the last fourteen centuries, Muslim philosophers and poets artists and scientists, rules and labours together created a unique culture that has directly and indirectly influenced societies on every continent. Perhaps the most striking features of medieval cultures has been the fundamental unity of their thought systems despite a vast diversity in their literature, religious and political traditions. As a matter of fact, all scientific traditions have originated and grown as a result of the natural human urge to 1 . Bose, Sen, Subbarayappa (eds.): A Concise History of Science in India , New Delhi (1972), pp,. 1-50. 2 . See the remarkably accurate observations of Al-Biruni, on Hindu Science in his Kitab-ul Hind tr. Sachau, E.C., S. Chand & Co. 1964, pp. 17-26. 2 fight biological limitations and to implicit through the use of intellect, the vast resources of nature. Arabic science was the most advanced in the world from 8 th to the 14 th centuries. The Arab had access to the Greek Scientific heritage which was lost to the west after the fall of the Roman empire. The great works of Greece and other cultures were translated into Arabic. Along with this the Arabs borrowed the Hindu numeral system. Islamic sciences are related to the Quran, the traditions of the Prophets (Hadith), legal knowledge (fiqh), theology (kalma), poetry, and the Arabic language. The Quran introduced a new and vigorous language, Arabic, which was destined to become the international language of knowledge and culture and of sciences, in particular, for several centuries. The Quran is a book of ilm , Allah has repeatedly commented in Quran to use Aql or intelligence and be sensible, reasonable and rational. So we find that ‘all Muslims intellectual activity in its widest sense had its starting point in the Quran, which gave birth to various sciences. The early Muslims extended their knowledge to profane sciences’ Islam of itself, did not offer any kind of opposition to scientific research except feeble efforts by some narrow minded theologians to check it. On the contrary, the Quran provided stimulus for scientific research since God was glorified by wonder of His creations. The Muslim conquest of the North India plains set afoot the process of a massive inflow of scientific theories which had been developed in the Hellenistic and later, in the Islamic civilizations. India began to attract leading 3 scholars of the Islamic world at a time when the latter was at the hight of its glory and could boast of illustrious scientists like Jabir ibn Hayyan, Ibn Sina, Ibn Yunus, Ibn Rushad, Al-Battani, Al-Damiri, Al-Idrisi, Al-Masudi, Nassiruddin Tusi and of course Al-Biruni whose original contribution in astronomy, trigonometry, mineralogy, meansuration etc. as well as his role as transmitted and synthesizer of Indo-Muslim scientific learning cannot be over- emphasized. 3 The exodus of leading scholars and a “persianization process was continued until the hey day of the great Mughal whose patronage promised fame and fortune. Further during the course of the four centuries preceding the establishment of the Mughal Epire in 1526 AD there had come into being an entire class of intellectuals who could claim to be of Indian origin through centuries of domicile and interbreeding. They continued to master mainly the ‘Graeco-Muslim sciences. 4 While the native Indian genius nurtured in the vedic and classical tradition, retained its distinct identity. Both these traditions continued to flourish in co-existence with their respective linguistic parameters. The complete synthesis never took place between these two (Hindu and Muslim) thought systems due to a radical difference in the demands placed on such basic sciences as astronomy, alchemy and medicine or was it primarily 3 . S. Maqbul Ahmad, “Al Biruni as Transmitter and Synthesizer of Scientific Knowledge”, IJHS , X(2), pp. 244-8. 4 . It would prefer to use this term as opposed to “Graeco-Arab” because the latter does not take into account the contribution of the Persian and the central Asians, The Ottomans etc. For a list of such scholars see Abdul Qadir Badauni Muntakhab-ut Tawarikh (ed.) III Also see Ain , (ed.) vol. II Blochmann ( Ain 30) 4 due to the diversity in cultural and religious institutions 5 or even to any other factor, are questions which await extensive investigation.