History of Science in South Asia (Journal)
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Vedic Astral Lore and Planetary Science in the Gārgīyajyotiṣa
No full textAmong the sixty-four aṅgas of the large recension of the Gārgīyajyotiṣa (also known as the Gargasaṃhitā), celestial omens and planetary science (including astrology and narrative) occupy the greatest portion of the text. Some of these materials are widely cited later on in works such as Varāhamihira\u27s Bṛhatsaṃhitā as well as Buddhist works such as the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna and Amoghavajra\u27s Xiuyao jing, and are considered some of the oldest sources of early, pre-siddhāntic Indian astral science. In this paper, I shall highlight some of the unique characteristics of the unedited chapters of the work where such materials are found, with focus on the planetary science and the methods of time-reckoning
Rasāyana and Rasaśāstra in the Persian Medical Culture of South Asia
No full textIn this article, I suggest that looking at the entangled issues of the creation of a new field of knowledge and the interaction with Others’ learning allows for a more accurate understanding of how Persian medical studies have developed and adapted to different natural and cultural settings during late medieval and early modern periods. This article studies the translation and reception of materials drawn from alchemy (rasaśāstra) and rejuvenating therapy (rasāyana) in the Persianate medical culture of South Asia. Chapters dealing with processed mercury and metals become a standard subject of Persian medical works written by Muslim and Hindu physicians in South Asia. Many of these works are in fact composite writings which combine Ayurvedic and Greco-Arabic materials. However, rasāyana is a branch of knowledge for which there is not a precise equivalent domain in the target culture. How does translation deal and negotiate with this asymmetry? In this study, I assume that cross-cultural translation implies a cognitive shift in the way different groups of readers may understand and classify a certain form of knowledge. I look at the Persian translation of materials drawn from rasāyana chiefly from the reader perspective which focuses on the hermeneutical and accommodation process through which translated materials are integrated into the target culture
The Kriyākramakarī’s Integrative Approach to Mathematical Knowledge
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to review the general organization of knowledge in the Kriyākramakarī, a sixteenth-century treatise of Kerala mathematics. Specifically, I will argue that the authors\u27 interest in justification or proof is integrative, rather than hierarchical or cumulative. In other words, the purpose of proofs in the Kriyākramakarī is to connect various different aspects of mathematics, rather than just establish results by means of previously known results.  
A Critical Edition of the Candrārkī of Dinakara: A Text Concerning Solar and Lunar Tables
No full textA set of tables devoted to solar and lunar phenomena entitled the Candrārkī was prepared in Sanskrit by the sixteenth-century Indian astronomer Dinakara. Along with the tables, Dinakara composed a short accompanying text which instructed the user how to extract and manipulate the tabular data to construct their own calendar for any desired year and geographical circumstances. The work proved to be popular. Based on a small fraction of the extant manuscripts, we present a critical edition of the text together with a discussion of the challenges raised while preparing the edition
Premodern Yoga Traditions and Ayurveda: Preliminary Remarks on Shared Terminology, Theory and Praxis
No full textThe research for this article was prompted by the question: were Yoga and Āyurveda as intimately connected in premodern times as they to seem today? It attempts to give a preliminary answer by assessing the influence of Āyurveda on a corpus of mediaeval Yoga texts, in terms of shared terminology, theory and praxis. The date of this corpus ranges from the eleventh to the nineteenth century CE, and all of its texts teach physical techniques and an ascetic state of dormant meditative absorption (samādhi), either as auxiliaries within a system of Yoga or as autonomous systems in themselves. The physical techniques became known as Haṭhayoga and the ascetic state of samādhi as Rājayoga, and the texts in which they appear posit the practice (abhyāsa) of Yoga as the chief means to liberation (mokṣa). The article begins with a discussion of the terminology in these texts that is also found in the Bṛhattrayī, that is, the Carakasaṃhitā, the Suśrutasaṃhitā and Vāgbhaṭa’s Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā. It proceeds to discuss the relevant theory (digestive fire, humoral theory, vital points, herbs) and praxis (āsana, ṣaṭkarma and therapy or cikitsā) of the yoga texts in question in order to assess the possible influence of Āyurveda
Origins of the Tājika System of Astrological Aspects and Dignities
No full textThe astrological doctrines of aspects and planetary dignities found in the authoritative texts of the Tājika (Sanskritized Perso-Arabic) school are examined with respect to their origins and historical development, with particular emphasis on Balabhadra’s encyclopaedic Hāyanaratna (1649) and its quotations from the perhaps earliest work of the school, Samarasiṃha’s Tājikaśāstra (thirteenth century). It is argued that a major source of these doctrines is Sahl ibn Bishr’s Arabic-language introduction to astrology (ninth century), possibly in abbreviated or paraphrased form. Several of the constituent ideas have been imperfectly understood by their Indian epitomists, resulting in reinterpretations and innovations
Mastering Deathlessness: Some Remarks on Kaṟpam Preparations in the Medico-Alchemical Literature of the Tamil Siddhas
No full textThe article presents some remarks concerning practices aimed at achieving rejuvenation, longevity and immortality described in the literature of the Tamil Siddhas, with special reference to the medico-alchemical stream of the tradition. The study is based on the philological analysis of selected representative works of Tamil Siddha literature, starting from the Tirumantiram of Tirumūlar (6-12th century). The Tirumantiram is generally acknowledged to be a root text of the Tami Siddha tradition and it contains passages that elaborately discuss the theory and practices of yoga, presenting them as a means of attaining longevity and immortality. It also contains references to medical practices. Further, relevant ideas about rejuvenating, life-prolonging and immortalizing methods found in selected texts of the medico-alchemical stream of the tradition are discussed. The literature of the medical and alchemical lore of the Tamil Siddhas, roughly dated to the period between the 16th and 19th centuries, abounds in practical recipes for the drugs (kaṟpam) for prolonging life. Certain items credited with extraordinary powers connected with rejuvenation and immortalization, such as triple salt (muppu), mercurial jewel (racamaṇi), human urine, special varieties of medicinal plants, etc. are particularly referenced to in the paper. Finally, the concepts relating to “the art of non-dying” (cākākkalai) taught in the works of Vaḷḷalār, the poet-saint born in 19th century and closely linked with the Tamil Siddha tradition, are outlined in the article
The Flame and the Breeze: Life and Longevity Practices in Three Bengali Sufi Texts from the Long Seventeenth Century
No full textThis is a preliminary report on the longevity practices discussed in a Bengali Islamic Yogic text by Haji Muhammad called Nurjamal ba Suratnama written in the last decade of the sixteenth century. This and other similar texts were authored by Bengali literati in the kingdom of Roshang that encompassed at the time both the Arakan and eastern Bengal. I first present the unique cultural and political context in which these texts were produced. Next I discuss the particular text and its author. In doing this I also review the scant scholarship that exists on the material as well as advancing a different and parallel analytic strategy by which the texts might, in my view, be opened up to a broader range of inquiries. In the two subsequent sections I use the proposed strategy of \u27figural history\u27 to interrogate two different figures of \u27life\u27 that are found in the text under investigation. The entire discussion of longevity practices is organized around these figures of life and I suggest that they need to be explored more fully in their individuality. The conclusion pulls the strings together and reiterates the case for studying the longevity practices in this and other similar texts using figural history as an analytic strategy
Tibetan Precious Pills as Therapeutics and Rejuvenating Longevity Tonics
No full textTibetan precious pills are frequently attributed with a variety of efficacies, from “magical” powers, prevention of poisoning and infectious diseases, protection from harmful spirits and exposure to diseases while travelling, to rejuvenating and prolonging life through clearing the senses and promoting strength and vigor. They are prescribed as strong medicines for severe diseases, but are also advertised as rejuvenating tonics for the healthy. This paper explores the rejuvenating qualities attributed to precious pills in terms of how they are currently advertised, how rejuvenation is and has been explained in Tibetan works on precious pills, and how Tibetan physicians understand these attributes. How do these domains interact and refer to each other?
I compare aspects of rejuvenation in precious pill formulas with contemporary presentations of precious pills online and on published leaflets given out to patients in India and elsewhere. In Tibetan medical texts certain precious pills that contain the complex and processed mercury-sulfide ash called tsotel in addition to a large variety of other medicinal substances are presented as “precious pills” or rinchen rilbu, and only some of those are said to have rejuvenating effects on the body; most are primarily prescribed for specific diseases. The practice of giving precious pills to the healthy emerges more prominently in eighteenth to nineteenth century manuals on administering precious pills (Czaja 2015), which parallels the establishment of influential medical and monastic networks that promoted the making of tsotel and precious pills. I argue that precious pills have more recently widened their specific therapeutic target beyond that of medicine into becoming popular pills for rejuvenation, even if they do not contain tsotel, as part of pharmaceutical commodification. I also show how presentations of precious pills as “rejuvenating” are deeply linked to their availability
Transmutations: Rejuvenation, Longevity, and Immortality Practices in South and Inner Asia: Introduction
No full textWild and diverse outcomes are associated with transmutational practices: the prolongation of life, the recovery of youth, the cure of diseases, invincibility, immortality, enlightenment, liberation from the cycle of rebirths, and unending bliss. This range of outcomes is linked to specific practices taught in separate traditions and lineages in medical, alchemical, yogic and tantric milieus across South and Inner Asia. These practices can be individual or collective, esoteric or secular, and occur in different places from hospital to village to monastery; they involve transmutations of substances as well as transmutations of the body. Every expression by a particular lineage has a distinguishing articulation. Yet there are also very clear commonalities and interconnections between the traditions’ aims, methods and expected results. In this special issue of HSSA, we examine transmutational practices and their underlying concepts in this wider context of South and Inner Asian culture. How do these practices and ideas connect and cross-fertilise? And conversely, how are they delineated and distinct