Ayurveda

The terms used for the alchemical procedures sometimes evoke the language of ayurvedic therapy. Svedana, the "steaming" of the first alchemical procedure, has a correlate in ayurvedic treatment. There, svedana is the application of heat to the patient's body, which results in the patient sweating (the translation for svedana here).

Perhaps you noticed at the end of the first AyurYog film on reconstructing alchemical procedures that the filmmaker thanks Dr Jinal Thakkar and Dr Parth Kale. These are the rasashastra experts with formal university training in India that Andrew Mason has consulted with.

The first procedure: Steaming mercury

On March 25, UK news broadcaster Sky News reported that at least three billion people — nearly half of the world’s population — are under restriction due to the COVID19 coronavirus outbreak.

An important theme of Ayuryog research has been the complexity of entanglements. In the past few years we have been able to shine a spotlight on a few areas of intersection between yoga, ayurveda and rasaśāstra (Indian alchemy).

To mark a new Open University BA (Hons) qualification in Religion, Philosophy and Ethics (R45), Suzanne Newcombe and Carolyn Price have made an audio recording in which they discuss how researchers in Religious Studies and Philosophy investigate immortality and some of the ethical implications of the subject.

For many, Ayurveda is associated with natural remedies based on herbs, massages and cleansing treatments, and above all, with a healthy lifestyle of balanced nutrition and self-care. Ayurveda is indeed all that, but also much more. One of Ayurveda’s less well-known aspects is its historical connection with Indian alchemy, or Rasashastra (= rasaśāstra).

This blogpost was co-written by Dagmar Wujastyk, Jason Birch, and Jacqueline Hargreaves. A parallel version can be found at The Luminescent. A pdf version can be found here.

ERCcOMICS is a project that uses the power of visual storytelling to communicate the contents of ERC projects. This year, AyurYog was chosen by by ERCcOMICS as one of the projects that would be represented as a cartoon. The artist, Alice Milani, talked with P.I.