DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.53502#0050
42
Kautilya Artha^astra
on India (II, cent.)1 Thus Alberuni’s statement that
the Indians pay one sixth of their income to their king
in recognition of the protection he affords to his sub-
jects, their property and their families, agrees with the
passage in the A. (I, 13) about kings, fed by the pay-
ment of one sixth of the grains grown in their country,
maintaining the safety of their subjects. Alberuni
mentions the Indian book Laukayata, composed by
Brhaspati and treating of the subject that in all inve-
stigations we must exclusively rely on the appercep-
tion of the senses. K. includes Lokayata in his defi-
nition of philosophy and quotes the heretical opinions
of the school of Brhaspati concerning the Vedas (I, 2).
Alberuni has a great deal to say about alchemy and
gold-making in India, exactly as the A. refers to the
production of gold from other metals. Thus in the
chapter on the SuvarnSdhyaksa (II, 13) K. refers to
gold obtained by amalgamation with mercury (t^T-
In the chapter on Mining Operations (II,
12) K. speaks of liquids containing gold
T5T5KT0 which transform copper and silver into gold
more than a hundred times its weight, also of gold
ores which are made use of in converting copper or
silver into gold. Mercury is referred to as The
use of the term “cinnabar” also speaks for an
acquaintance with Mercury, which was obtained from
cinnabar. Indian works on Alchemy show that divers
infusions and amalgamations were in vogue by which
not only the conversion of base metals into gold was
supposed to be effected, but at the same time an
enormous increase of their weight, extending to mil-
lions of times their original weight. “Silver, copper,
1 See Sachau’s Alberuni, Engl. Ed., I, 187-195.
Kautilya Artha^astra
on India (II, cent.)1 Thus Alberuni’s statement that
the Indians pay one sixth of their income to their king
in recognition of the protection he affords to his sub-
jects, their property and their families, agrees with the
passage in the A. (I, 13) about kings, fed by the pay-
ment of one sixth of the grains grown in their country,
maintaining the safety of their subjects. Alberuni
mentions the Indian book Laukayata, composed by
Brhaspati and treating of the subject that in all inve-
stigations we must exclusively rely on the appercep-
tion of the senses. K. includes Lokayata in his defi-
nition of philosophy and quotes the heretical opinions
of the school of Brhaspati concerning the Vedas (I, 2).
Alberuni has a great deal to say about alchemy and
gold-making in India, exactly as the A. refers to the
production of gold from other metals. Thus in the
chapter on the SuvarnSdhyaksa (II, 13) K. refers to
gold obtained by amalgamation with mercury (t^T-
In the chapter on Mining Operations (II,
12) K. speaks of liquids containing gold
T5T5KT0 which transform copper and silver into gold
more than a hundred times its weight, also of gold
ores which are made use of in converting copper or
silver into gold. Mercury is referred to as The
use of the term “cinnabar” also speaks for an
acquaintance with Mercury, which was obtained from
cinnabar. Indian works on Alchemy show that divers
infusions and amalgamations were in vogue by which
not only the conversion of base metals into gold was
supposed to be effected, but at the same time an
enormous increase of their weight, extending to mil-
lions of times their original weight. “Silver, copper,
1 See Sachau’s Alberuni, Engl. Ed., I, 187-195.