Bull. Ind. lnst, Hist. Med. Vol. XIII. pp.38-44

RASASIDDHAS OF ALAMPUR

I. SANJEEV A RAO*

ABSTRACT

The Nav abr ahma temple complex at Alampur in AndhraPradesh has been a riddle. The history of Alarnpur is lost ingreat antiquity entwined in mythology and legend. Historicalevidences date from 8th century A. D. The background ofrasavidya is essential to unravel the riddle. Rasavidya has itsorigin in saiva cult treating mercury as the semen of Shiva andsulphur as the menstrual blood of Parvathi, The Raw (mercury)undergoes eighteen samskaras (purifications) with continuouschanting of aghoramantra, The Rasalinga formed thus from theprocessed mercury is placed in the eastern part of rasasliala andworshipped. Other metallurgical operations are to be undertakena t the other parts within rasashala, The r asashala is to be loca-ted in a proper place with abundant water source. River Thunga-bhadra flows by the side of temple complex and the Balabrah-meswara temple is on the eastern part where the rasalinga wasestablished. The word Bola might be the synonym of Parav ti,The other eight temples might be the sites for the eightmetallurgical operations, Nagnakabendha was perhaps used foryonip uja, which is the tantr ic practice linked with rasavi d ya,

Siddhanagarjuna and others mentioned this place with itsrelation to Vada Vidya Sid dhi. Kalanatha and other teachers ofKal amukha sect have taught Rasavi dya at this centre. This placedeserves better attention and deeper probing by medicalhistorians.

Alampur , renowned as Dakshina Kasi (Varanasi of South) is situated onthe west bank of the river Thungabhadra, in the Mahaboobnagar District ofAndhra Pradesh. Here Thungabhadra takes a northward direction from itsusual west t o east direction. This Uttaravaliini aspect is consideredsacred 1.

There are nine temples, called Navabrahma temples which are enclosedin a fortification surrounded by a moat on three sides and the river flowingon the eastern side. The Government of Andhra Pradesh constructed aprotection wall on this side also in order to protect this ancient monumentfrom inundation on the completion of the Hydroelectric Project at Srisailam .•Retd. Additional Director. Research & Development Projects Ayurveda, Govt, of A. I.5-8-293, Chi rag Ali Lane, Hyderabad-500 001.

Alampur rasasiddhas=T, S. Rao 39

The Navabrahma temples at Alampur have been a riddle and the placeitself has a mystique antiquity not clearly expounded so far. These Nava-brahmas are named as Bala Brahma, Kumara Bralzma, Arka Brahma, VeeraBrahma, Visva Brahma, Taraka Brahma, Garuda Brahma, Swarga Brahma andPadma Brahma. These aspects of the deity have no parallel anywhere inIndia and bear no relation to the Navabrahmas-Marichi. Bharadwaja, Angi-rasa, Pulastya, Pulaha , Kratu, Daksha, Vasistha and Varnadeva". Nam-es of Navabrahmas at Alampur are not found in any Pur anas 3. TheRasalinga at Balabrahmeshwara temple; the saktip eeth a of Jogulamb a-tuepresiding deity of the place; the Nagnakabandha statue; and the pecul-iar topography of the Navabrahma complex continue to be riddles. Thehistory of Alampur is lost in great antiquity which is entwined in mythologyand legend. The recorded historical evidences date only from 8th centuryA. D. The earlier part of the history could be gathered from Sthalapuranaas contained in Skandapurana and the references made to the place in theliterary work-Panditlzaradlzya Charitam of Palkurik.i Somanatlia and in Rasa-tantra works such as Rasa Ratnak aram and Ananda Kandam Books writtenon archaeological aspects of the Alampur temples have, understandably.their reservations to speak on legendary and mythological aspects. Perhapsthis hesitation of historians and archaeologists to speculate on mythologicalaspects is one of the reasons for not solving the riddle. A bold attempt ismade here to reconstruct a historic theory on this temple complex based oncertain suggestive clues from ancient Rasatantra texts in order to solve theriddles.

For a clear understanding of this temple a general background knowle-dge of Rasavidya becomes essential. Rasavidya is an ancient school oflearning dealing with metaIJurgical chemistry, medicine and metaphysics.This has origin in the earliest of saiva cult. Mercury is considered to be thevery semen of Shiva. This thought is reiterated not only in Rasa Shastraliterature but also in literary works such as Kumara Sambhava, The sulp-hur is considered to be the menstrual blood of Parvathi. These are esotericinterpretations and therefore the modern mind may not be able to compre-hend it unless initiated into Tantric philosophy. The worship of phallus-linga and yoni are tantrik in character. Some of the sculptures such asLingodbhavn Murty and Nagnakabandlta are meant for such purpose. Toerasa undergoes eighteen samskaras and during this period, continuouschanting of aghoramantra is considered to bestow the requisite power tomercury. From such mercury Rasalinga is made and placed on a pedastalin a Rasa mandapa facing east in the eastern part of Rasashala 4. RasaSadhakas conceive this Rasalingam as Shiva having eighteen arms, whitecomplexioned.five faced, three eyed, mounted on ghost and blue-throated.

40 Bulletin Ind. Inst, Hlst. M~d. Vol. XIII

On his lap is seated the great Goddess having one face ~and four arms witha garland of lotus seeds and trident in the right hand and an emblem ofassurance of protection in her left hand. of a complexion resembling gold inthe furnace and dressed in yellow 5. These are the concepts about theparents of the Universe, who are to be meditated by the student initiate.The devotee has to recite Rasankusi Mantra in worshipping the Goddess andthe students are instructed about the details of worship by the teacher. The:Rasankushi Mantra states as follows. "The Goddess of beauty is in theform of speech or word. is the root cause of the energy of the greatest obje-ct of desire (i, e. God himself) and is sovereign force behind rasa (mercury).Sbe is equal to mercury" 6. The sacrificial fire is to be made in a triangularhole, called yonikunda, characterised by good features and offerings aremade chanting rasankusi mantras and aghoramantras . After the Purnahutione or more virgins' are to be worshipped 7. After the rasalinga sthapanaon the east other metallurgical operations are undertaken as follows withrelevance to the topographical disposition of rasa shala, Metallurgicaloperations requiring the use of fire (vahnikarmasy are to be taken up onSouth East quarter, grinding operations (Peshana karma) on the southernquarter, surgical procedures (sastra karma) in the south-west quarter, wash-in~ operations (kshalanadikarmay on the western side, drying up operations(soshana karma) on north-west side, alchemical (Vedhakarma) on the northside and the storing of finished products(Siddha Vasthu Sthapanam) on northeast side. The storage of raw material is done in the centre. The Rasalingais prayed every day.

It is seen from this that there are nine gross operations in a rasa shalaand rasa shala is suitably divided accordingly. The location of rasa shalashould be at a proper place where a wide and beautiful garden is laid, withall sorts of medicinal plants being cultivated. This must be in a beautifultown where the deities Hara and Gaur; are worshipped and where there isnothing to be feared from cheats, ignorant people and thieves etc. Thelaboratories should have sufficient number of doors and windows andshould be within the reach of sufficient supply of pure water (nirmala nirasannidhau]. It is in such a place that the intelligent should carryon theirmetallurgical operations in seclusion 8. Against this background theAlampur temple complex is to be visualized. The land around Alampurmust have been a verdant forest. The soil is rich for vegetation as it is in ariver basin. The river Thungabhadra provides pure water. The river andthe fortification provide protection. The Rasalinga was established on theeastern part facing east and is called Bola brahmeshwara. Here the wordBala must have been used as a synonym for Kumari, a name of Parvathi.The other eight temples might be the sites for the other eight operations in

Alampur rasasiddhas-I. S. Rao 41

a Rasa shala, Nagnakabandha perhaps was used for yonipuja. Jogulamba.was the Yogeshwari mentioned in scriptures and was subsequently calledJogeshwari and Jogulamha.

Siddhanagarjuna, Nityanatba Siddha and Bhairava mention about thisBrahmeshwara Kshetra and its relation to Vada Vidya Siddhi in their treati-

ses viz, Rasaratnakara and Ananda Kanda. thus establishing the connectionbetween Rasa siddhas and the Brahmeshwara Kshetra.

Rasa Vidya has its origin in the earliest of the Saiva cults. In thesoutb it is believed the Rasa satas existed in Sri Lanka even during Paula-stya Brahma's time. Kubera, the Paulastya might have made Lanka a richplace by his knowledge and skill of alchemical practices. Ravana, theother Paulasthya and the step brother of Kubera , expelled Kubera andusurped Lanka. Kubera went northward and sought the friendsbip of Shiva.Shiva provided him a place near his abode 9. Sthalapurana of Srisailamstates that Lord Shiv a decided to stay with his entire retinue on Sriparvatha.tvTherefore it is quite reasonable to postulate that Kubera also had his settle-ment in a near about place. The Sthala Purana of Brahmeslzwara Kshetrastates that the Raja Rajeshwara Tirtha near it was the place where Kuberaused to bathe and do penance!', A large retinue of loyal servants must haveaccompanied Kubera in his exile and his skilled metallurgists must havecome to Brahmapuri. <Alam' means enough and so Alampuram means sourceof enough wealth. The other name for this is Hemalapuram; Hemalameans touch-stone'>. Rasa Ratnakara mentions about the occura nce ofsparshavedhi in Srisailam area. The sites of Srisailam, A/ampuram andother areas in between Krishna and Thungabhadra as well as Nallm ilai forestsof Kurnool and Cuddapah region must have been the dense Dandakaranyaproviding a good habitat for gandharvas, yakshas, kiratas and vanaras andotber early inhabitants of the area. Kubera was lord of Yakshas andSugreeva was lord of Vanaras in this area.

Kubera's metullurgists having come from Sri Lanka must have carriednames which were typically Dravidian in character. Rasa Ratna Samuchchayamentions names of (27) Rasasidhas who were considered to be preceptors ofRasasastra, They are (1) Adima (2) Chandra Sena (3) Lankesh a (4) Visha-rada (5) Kapali (6) Matta (7) Mandavya (8) Bhaskara (9) Shu ra Senaka(10) Ratna Kosha (11) Shambhu (12) Satwika (13) Nala Vahana (14) Indra-da (15) Gomukha (16)Kambali (17) Vyadi (18) Nagarjuna (19) Surananda(20) Nagabodhi (21) Yasodhana (22) Khanda (23) Kapal ika (24) Brahma(25) Govinda (26) Lumpaka (27) Hari. ]3

Since Kubera being a Paulastya and descendant of Brahma lineage, itwas but natural for him to have prefixed name of "Brabma" to "Jswara "

42 Bulletin Ind. Inst, Hist, Med.Vol. XIII

the deity of Lankadhipatis. Kubera must have found this area Dear Alampurvery convenient for his metallurgical operations. Srisailam is said to con-tain Rasa Kundas i. e. mercurial wells. The mineral and herbal resources ofSrisailam and its peripheral area must have provided Kubera adequate sourcematerial for alchemical processes. Recent archaeological finds give out thename Hiranya Rashtra to the area corresponded by the present day Cudda-pab-Kurnool territory and its environs 14. The Ravalakota in Kurnooldistrict is close to Alampur.

Another interesting mythological fact in the story is that of Rama hav-ing learnt siddha vidya during his exile is Dandakarany a, He was calledDandakanatha by rishis. In Bhava Prakash a it is said that "the true processof incinerating iron as experienced by the great yogis, is now described byRaina Raja, who learnt it out of curiosity from those Yogis". BhudebMookerjee in his introduction to the Volume V of his "Rasa Jalanidhi" isidentifies this Rama Raja, as Sri Rama Chandra. He further mentionsabout a book named Rama Rajiya and in this book it is mentioned thatRarnacha ndra learnt rasa vidya from two sages named Kalanatha and Laks-mishwara This Kalanatha might bave been a preceptor of later KalamukliaSiddhas of Alatnpur. While Rama stayed at Kishkindha, planning his offen-sive on Lanka, the vanaras might have advised him to acquaint himself withsiddh atantras so that he will be better equipped to attack Ravan a who wasan adept in Siddliatantra. They must have directed him to the nearby Bralt-mesltwara Kslietra of Yaksha Kubera (Kishkindha was also on the banks ofThungabhadra near Pamp asarovar, the modern Hampi in Karnataka). Kuberawas a natural choice as he had his own grouse against Ravana. He musthave provided the necessary hospitality to Rarna and entrusted the respon-sibility of teaching Sri Rama this Sivokta Rasavidya to Kalanatlia, As SriRama was initiated into rasalingapuja, he got used to lingarchana and atRameshwaram he performed saikatalingarchana before be crossed the sethu,

Kalanatha and other teachers continued to teach Rasa vidya at thiscent reo An undated inscription from the village of Itikala in the ~vicinityof Alampur registers a gift of land by Iruguna Chola for the feeding ofKalamukha Siddhas in the monastery of Someshwara.v The word '<Iti" inItikala may be the corrupt form of "ishti" meaning ritual or 'rishta" mean-ing desire and which is achieved by worshipping through sacrifices. TheSiddhas observed many tantrik rituals.!? So this place Itikala might be aplace of Kalamukha Siddhas for their ishtis or sacrificial rituals. ThusAlampur continued to be a seat of learning and the seat of the famedUniversity of Brahmapuri(the city of Brahmas).18 Subsequently the scholarlyKalamukha siddhacharyas had took the suffix rasi to their names and Bra-hmeshwara was administered by distinguished Dbarmendra Rasi, Vaitaranen-<Ira Rasi, Brahma Rasi, Someshwara Rasi, Kesava Rasi, Soma Rasi, Isana

Alampur rasasiddhas -.e, I. S. Rao

Rasi and Vidya Rasi.!? This word Rasi as such has no relevance here. Itmeans only a heap. But as observed earlier all of them are rasa vidya gurusand are adepts in mastery over mercurial preparations through Agltora andRasamkusi mantras. So this Rasi may be a shortened for Rasankusi andtherefore it will be apt, if they were called as Rasa Bhattarak as instead ofRasi Bhattarakas,

Thus in entire country we have here a unique temple complex structured:on the tenets of Rasa sastra and continued to impart Rasa Vidya to manyeminent disciples, till the time Vilasaraja damaged the temples. zo We havenot only excellent treatises written by these Rasacliaryas but a number ofmedicinal preparations prepared exactly according to these formulas andused by vaidvas even today througbout the country. This famous centre oflearning has left a ricb legacy to the posterity. This place deserves abetter attention and a deeper research probing.

I am <extremely grateful to Dr. K. Kr ishna Murthy, Ph. D., F. R. A. S., Superinten-ding Archaeologist, Archeological Sur very of India, for the encouragement and co-operation he extended to me in this work.

REFERENCES1, Veerabhadra Rao, Adiraju, Mahoboob Nog ar Zilla=Viinana Sarv asvamu Vol. IV.

(iT! Telugu) ed. by Mallampalli Somashekhara Sarma ct al, Telugu Bhashasarnui, 1961.Madras p. 1362.

2. Sastri T. V. G., Sun Sculptures from Alampur-·Journal of the Andhra HistoricalResearch Society, 1972.

3. Veerabhadra Rao, Adiraju-Ibid.4. Mukherjee, Bhudev-Rasa Jal a Nidhi-Vol. I, the author, 41-A Grey Street.

Calcutta, 19::!6,p. 12.5. Ibid-p. 106. Ibid-p. 107. Ibid-pp. 18 to 218. Ibid-p. 89. Srinivasa Rao, Vemuri, Poorvogetlia Lahari-Yenkatarama & Co. ; Vijayawada,.

1976, p. J02.

10. Rama Rao, The temples of Srisai lam, A. P. Govt , Arch. Series No.3, AndhraPradesh Govt , Hyderabad, 1976. p. 6.

11. Ramesan N, Tcmp les and legends of Andhr a pradesh-Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1962·p.35.

12. Apte V. S., Students'<Sanskrit=Eng Il sh Dicliollary-Motilal Banarasidas, Delhi,J959.

13. Vagbhala-Rusa Ratnalamllchayo-excerpted by P. C. Ray in History of Chcmis t ry-

ill Ancient and Medieval India-Indian Chemical Society. Calcutta, 1956, p. 371

Bulletin Inti. Inst, Hist. Med. Vol. XIlI

14. Ramachandra Rao, P. R" Alampur-Akshara. Hyderabad, 1977. p. 7IS. Mukherjee, Bhudev,RasaJala Nidhi-Vol. 5, the author, 41-A, Grey Street, Calcutta

),,26, p XXII

16. Sreenivasachary D. &. Desai, P. B.-KanlladJ Inscrip tiom of Andhra Pradesh, I, p.32, II. pp. 104 & 105

17. Sornanatha, Palkuriki, P an di taradhy sch a -itra =Andhragra nthamala Series 30,Andhra Patrika Karyalaya, Madras, 1939, p. 535.

18. Ramachandra Rao, P. R., Alampur-Akshara, Hyderabad 1977, p. 2219. Ibid-p.2320. Ramakrishna Sarma, Gadiyaram +Srl Brahm ishw sra Kshetra M ahatm Jyam, Unda-

va lli, Andhra Pradesh. 1958, p. 9.

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