Cracow Indological Studies (Oct 2020)
The Transforming Science
Abstract
The Transforming Science: Some Remarks on the Medico-Alchemical Teachings in Selected Works of Siddha Yākōpu, with Special Reference to the Kuru Nūl Aimpattaintu The paper explores the concept of variously conceived transformations associated with figurative transcendence of manifold limitations, referred to in medico-alchemical Tamil Siddha literature. The research has been based on the study of selected texts of Yākōpu alias Irāmatēvar, one of prominent Tamil Siddha authors dated to 17th–18th centuries. Special reference has been made to the Kuru Nūl Aimpattaintu (“Fifty-five [Verses] of the Book on the Excellence”), considered by its author as a book containing some essential teachings of his science. The transformations referred to in the text concern both the domains of the human body, and the non-biological matter, being the object of alchemical operations of the Siddha adept. Such transforming science taught by Yākōpu is based on the action of certain substances credited with extraordinary potency.
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