Mecury based Siddha Medicines.

The branch or science of Mercury based medicines are called as Rasa sasthra ரச சாத்திரம், Rasa Oushadam – ரச ஔஷடம், Rasa vignanam – ரச விஞ்ஞானம், Rasa vaithiyam – ரச வைத்தியம், Rasavaatham – ரசவாதம் etc…

mercury is used to prepare siddha medicines of powerful and high potency — Mercury as Medicine

In Siddha Medicine, Mercury is extensively used in the preparation of medicines after purification. Mercury is also used in the Alchemical and rejuvenation medicine preparations.

Rasa means elixir of life and the word is attributed to the most important factor responsible for life in various fields of life of knowledge. In physiology it is the first and foremost Dhatoo (tissue) without which no further process can take place. In the herbal domain it is the essence of a substance. The same meaning is implied to mercury by denoting it as rasa ‘ராசா‘ of the mineral kingdom or in other words the metal of utmost importance having distinct properties and unique nature is given the term Rasa.

Rasa denotes state of liquidness hence the siddha science which develops with the central theme of ‘rasa-mercury’ , is rasa shastra or rasaoushadhies. The mercury based siddha medicines are widely used by siddha physicians.

Why mercury based medicines?

Siddhar Agathiyar has given a thub rule for selecting medicines for treatment as follows,

[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] வேர் பார் தழை பார் மிஞ்சினால் மெல்ல மெல்ல பற்ப செந்தூரம் பாரே! [/pullquote]

Eventhough pure herbal based medicines are effective, Mercury based siddha medicines like parpam, mezhu and chendooram are preferred for following reasons,

Highly potent.
Fast action.
Vast utility.
Cures certain chronic diseases.
Longer shelf life.
Easy to consume.
Only smaller dose is enough.
Acts as rejuvenation medicines.

Importance of Mercury.

ஆச்சப்பா சூதமங்கே இல்லாவிட்டால்

அப்பனே கெவுனமென்ற குளிகைபோச்சு

போச்சப்பா வாதமென்ற சொல்லும்போச்சு

பேரான காயசித்தி பேரும்போச்சு

மூச்சப்பா அற்றவிடம் நோக்கிறதும்போச்சு

மூதண்ட சித்தரென்ற பேரும்போச்சு

ஓச்சப்பா மந்திரமாஞ் சித்திபோச்சு

ஓகோகோ சித்தெல்லாம் ஓடிப்போச்சே.

-கொங்கணர் நடுக்காண்டம் -500 (355)

Explanation:

Without mercury, one cannot prepare animated pills which will help in space travel,

Without mercury, alchemy is not possible,

Without mercury, rejuvenation or attaining siddhi is not possible,

Without mercury, mantra (மணி மந்திரம் ஔஷதம்) is not possible,

Without mercury, even the name of siddha is lost,

Without this one cannot attain siddhi.

-Konganar nadukandam -500 (355)

Purification of mercury in Siddha Medicine – Rasa suddhi.

Toxicity of mercury and its implications on health is one of the much discussed topic. The naturally occurring mercury and industrial mercury are totally dangerous to human health. The ancient great scientists THE SIDDHARS have discovered it long before any one can fathom about it. So, much importance is given to the process of purification of mercury to obtain pure VAALAI RASAM (வாலை ரசம் Mercury for medical preparations) in Tamil Siddha Medicine. Medical literatures like bogar 7000 and agathiyar poorna soothiram 216 etc, has also emphasized this fact and the siddhars took care of this point by evolving specific methods for the detoxification of mercury.

There are many processes in rasasathiram, which play a very important role in making the siddha metallic and mineral preparations free of toxicity and in making them highly absorbable into the human system as compared to the metallic and mineral compounds prepared by modern chemical methods.

Mercury – the foremost drug of rasa sasthra, which preserves its mystical links with tantra and alchemy, is considered as a living substance or a living being. In the process of converting it into a rejuvenating medicine it goes through all of the same processes as the siddha who seeks salvation. First the mercury id ‘awakened’, made ‘hungry’, it is fed, made to ‘swoon’ and lastly ‘killed’. Here the word ‘killing’ refers to incineration.

Various process involved in purification of mercury in Siddha System are

Extraction பிரித்தெடுத்தல்
Calcination புடமிடுத்தல்
Sublimation பதங்கம்
Distillation வாலையில் இடுதல்
Dissolution கரைத்தல்
Fusion உருக்குகை
Separation பிரிவினை படுத்துகை
Combination or conjugation உறவாக் குகை
Congelation உறையச் செய்கை
Cibation ஊட்டங்க் கொடுத்தல்
Fixation நெருப்பிற் கோடாதபடி கட்டுத்தல்
Incineration நீற்றல்
Animation or vivification சாரணை கொடுத்தல்
Fabrication வைப்பு அல்லது உண்டாக்கல்
Cuppellation மூசையிலிடுத்தல்
Levigation அரைத்தல்
Liquification நீராக்கல்

In Tamil siddha medical literature, siddhars have employed above methods to remove 15 layers of toxicity (தோஷங்கள் & சட்டைகள் ) in mercury while preparing medicines.

Medicinal Properties of Mercury Based Siddha Medicines:

Mercury is used in therapeutics in a compound form. These mercurial compounds possess aphrodisiac, anti ageing, immunomodulator properties. Also they increases potentiality, intellect, memory, attentiveness, complexion and tissue elements (Dhatu).

These medicines also eradicate diseases caused by all the three vitiated doshas (vata-pita-kapha), even restricting death.

Mercurial Siddha Medicines are used in pandu (anemia-பாண்டு), shawasa (dyspnoea-சுவாசஹாசம்), kasa (cough, TB-காச நோய்கள் ), kamalai (Jaundice-காமாலை), suram (சுரம்-All kinds of fever from cold to brain fever), soolai (சூலை-spasmodic pain), kirimi dosha (கிருமி தோசம்– worm infestations, infections), atisaaram (அதிசாரம்-diarrhea), kushta (குஷ்டம்-skin diseases), puttru noi (புற்று நோய்கள் cancer), Kidney failuer (சிறுநீரக செயலிழப்பு), Liver diseases (கல்லீரல் கரணை நோய்) etc.