Talk:Rasayana

Untitled
I tried to clean this up a bit, but i also got rid of some stuff which doesn't seem to fit into this article. Please look at it, and see if it should be put back in, or added somewhere else Illuvatar 17:29, 7 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Thanks, the new material was good. I changed the words a bit so people wouldn't assume that the more modern formulas were mercury based and identified it as "specially processed" mercury. A colleague has spent time with people who have worked in Nepal doing this processing for 30 years who are none the worse for wear- so it appears that the processing is successful. See the samskaras article for some research on how processing medicinals can remove toxicity in rat studies. KSVaughan 01:20, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Is "ras" elixir/juice or mercury? Karen S Vaughan 20:56, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Interesting Case Report from the NYC Dept of Health:

A 46-year-old Caucasian male presented to an emergency department in Manhattan with abdominal pain. His BLL was 91μg/dL. The patient reported using Mahayogaraj Guggulu (enriched with silver), prescribed by and obtained from a New York State (NYS) licensed acupuncturist for relief of joint pain. The product, manufactured in India by Baidyanath, was found to contain 47,000 ppm lead, 4,800 ppm mercury, and 4,300 ppm arsenic. A similar product manufactured by the same company, Mahayograj Guggulu with silver and Makardhwaj, was reported to contain 37,000 ppm lead, 22,800 ppm mercury, and 8,100 ppm arsenic.3 After discontinuing use of the product and receiving chelation with dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), his symptoms improved and his BLL was 39 μg/dL four months later.

(Guess this one wasn't specially processed! Provided he didn't have another source of lead since content and bioavailability may not be identical) Karen S Vaughan 13:40, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Rasavātam
The page Rasavātam redirects to this page, but the term 'Rasavātam' doesn't appear here. How is it related. Can it be added in the text? Wiki-uk (talk) 07:53, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

Confusion
So, is Rasāyana the Sanskrit equivalent to western Alchemy or not? This page seems conflicted on the subject, and the page on Rasashastra doesn't seem to talk about it's association with western Alchemy at all. The "disambiguation" section complicates this page and comes off as unprofessional as a reader. The fact that the claim is missing a citation is also not helping this issue. 208.105.172.162 (talk) 01:17, 23 December 2021 (UTC)


 * I do not think it is particularly helpful, and is adding to the confusion, to try to analogize either Rasayana or Rasashastra as an "equivalent" to European alchemy. This page needs more sources, and probably needs to be separated into sections that focus on information and theory of the discipline from written sources and modern/folk practices that are categorized as rasashastra.
 * I have removed the Disambiguation section because I agree that is is unencyclopedic, unsourced, editorial, and confusing while adding no content since "Rasaśāstra" is defined in the History section anyway. MythoHistorian (talk) 19:12, 23 April 2022 (UTC)

Rasayana/Rasashastra vs Kayakalpa
Is there a difference?

Ed 2607:FEA8:4A2:4100:F007:4418:10B8:F668 (talk) 08:34, 31 January 2023 (UTC)


 * Yes, there is a huge difference. Rasāyana is rejuvenation therapies that can be traced to early Ayurveda while Rasaśāstra is the practice of alchemy. Kayakalpa is more similar to rasāyana than rasashastra, though it is mentioned only in passing in ayurvedic texts, belonging to the Tamil siddha system of medicine instead. This article need a LOT of work and is completely unreliable. 123.203.19.204 (talk) 07:29, 29 January 2024 (UTC)