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Elixir of life
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Main page The elixir of life, also known as elixir of immortality and sometimes equated with the name philosopher's stone, is a potion that supposedly grants the
Contents drinker eternal life and/or eternal youth. This elixir was also said to cure all diseases. Alchemists in various ages and cultures sought the means of formulating
Current events the elixir. The concept originated in ancient India or China where the concept preceded that in Europe by millennia.
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Contact us 1 History
Donate 1.1 China
1.2 India
Contribute
1.3 Europe
Help
1.4 Japan
Community portal
Recent changes 2 Names
Upload file 3 In popular culture
The mythological White Hare
4 See also making the elixir of life on the Moon,
Tools 5 References from Chinese mythology.
What links here 6 Bibliography
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Special pages
Permanent link History [edit]
Page information
Cite this page China [edit]
Wikidata item
In ancient China, many emperors sought the fabled elixir with varying results[citation needed]. In the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang sent Taoist
Print/export alchemist Xu Fu with 500 young men and 500 young women to the eastern seas to find the elixir, but he never came back (legend has it that he
Download as PDF found Japan instead). When Qin Shi Huang visited, he brought 3000 young girls and boys, but none of them ever returned.
Printable version
The ancient Chinese believed that ingesting long-lasting precious substances such as jade, cinnabar or hematite would confer some of that
Languages longevity on the person who consumed them. Gold was considered particularly potent, as it was a non-tarnishing precious metal; the idea of
Esperanto potable or drinkable gold is found in China by the end of the third century BC. The most famous Chinese alchemical book, the Danjing yaojue
Polski (Essential Formulas of Alchemical Classics) attributed to Sun Simiao (c. 581 – c. 682 CE),[1][2] a famous medical specialist respectfully called
Français Xu Fu's first expedition to the Mount of the
"King of Medicine" by later generations, discusses in detail the creation of elixirs for immortality (mercury, sulphur, and the salts of mercury and immortals. By Utagawa Kuniyoshi.
Español arsenic are prominent, and most are poisonous) as well as those for curing certain diseases and the fabrication of precious stones.
Català
日本語 Many of these substances, far from contributing to longevity, were actively toxic and resulted in Chinese alchemical elixir poisoning. The Jiajing
ెల గ Emperor in the Ming Dynasty died from ingesting a lethal dosage of mercury in the supposed "Elixir of Life" conjured by alchemists.
‫اردو‬
Lietuvių India [edit]
Svenska
Nederlands Amrita, the elixir of life has been described in the Hindu scriptures (not to be confused with Amrit related to Sikh religion (see Amrit Sanskar)). Anybody who consumes even a tiniest portion of Amrit
‫اﻟﻌرﺑﯾﺔ‬ has been described to gain immortality. Legend has it that at early times when the inception of the world had just taken place, evil demons (Ashur) had gained strength. This was seen as a threat to
ไทย the gods (Devas) who feared them. So these gods (including Indra, the god of sky, Vayu, the god of wind, and Agni, the god of fire) went to seek advice and help from the three primary gods
Русский according to the Hindus: Vishnu (the preserver), Brahma (the creator), and Shiva (the destroyer). They suggested that Amrit could only be gained from the samudra manthan (or churning of the
Português ocean) for the ocean in its depths hid mysterious and secret objects. Vishnu agreed to take the form of a turtle on whose shell a huge mountain was placed. This mountain was used as a churning
Italiano
pole.
Norsk bokmål
한국어 With the help of a Vasuki (mighty and long serpent, king of Nagloka) the churning process began at the surface. From one side the gods pulled the serpent, which had coiled itself around the
Hrvatski mountain, and the demons pulled it from the other side. As the churning process required immense strength, hence the demons were persuaded to do the job—they agreed in return for a portion of
‫ﻓﺎرﺳﯽ‬ Amrit. Finally with their combined efforts (of the gods and demons), Amrit emerged from the ocean depths. All the gods were offered the drink but the gods managed to trick the demons who did not
Euskara
get the holy drink.
Українська
Dansk Mercury, which was so vital to alchemy everywhere, is first mentioned in the 4th to 3rd century BC Arthashastra, about the same time it is encountered in China and in the West. Evidence of the idea
Íslenska of transmuting base metals to gold appears in 2nd to 5th century AD Buddhist texts, about the same time as in the West.
Türkçe
Bahasa Indonesia It is also possible that the alchemy of medicine and immortality came to China from India, or vice versa; in any case, for both cultures, gold-making appears to have been a minor concern, and
Bahasa Melayu medicine the major concern. But the elixir of immortality was of little importance in India (which had other avenues to immortality). The Indian elixirs were mineral remedies for specific diseases or, at
Română the most, to promote long life.
Հայերեն
Edit links Europe [edit]
Main article: Philosopher's Stone
In European alchemical tradition, the Elixir of Life is closely related to the creation of the philosopher's stone. According to legend, certain alchemists have
gained a reputation as creators of the elixir. These include Nicolas Flamel and St. Germain.

Japan [edit]
In the eight-century Man'yōshū, 'waters of rejuvenation' (変若水, ochimizu) are said to be in the possession of the moon god Tsukuyomi. Similarities have
been noted with a folktale from the Ryukyu Islands, in which the moon god decides to give man the water of life (Miyako: sïlimizï), and serpents the water of
death (sïnimizï). However, the person entrusted with carrying the pails down to Earth gets tired and takes a break, and a serpent bathes in the water of life,
rendering it unusable. This is said to be why serpents can rejuvenate themselves each year by shedding their skin while men are doomed to die.[3][4]

Names [edit]
The Elixir has had hundreds of names (one scholar of Chinese history reportedly found over 1,000 names for it), among them Amrit Ras or Amrita, Aab-i-
Hayat, Maha Ras, Aab-Haiwan, Dancing Water, Chasma-i-Kausar, Mansarover or the Pool of Nectar, Philosopher's stone, and Soma Ras. The word elixir was
not used until the 7th century A.D. and derives from the Arabic name for miracle substances, "al iksir". Some view it as a metaphor for the spirit of God (e.g.,
Jesus's reference to "the Water of Life" or "the Fountain of Life"). "But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will
become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:14) The Scots and the Irish adopted the name for their "liquid gold": the Gaelic name for
whiskey is uisce beatha, or water of life. Dell' elixir vitae, 1624

Aab-i-Hayat is Persian and means "water of life".[5] "Chashma-i-Kausar" (not "hasma") is the "Fountain of Bounty", which Muslims believe to be located in
Paradise. As for the Indian names, "Amrit Ras" means "immortality juice", "Maha Ras" means "great juice", and "Soma Ras" means "juice of Soma". Later, Soma came to mean the moon. "Ras" later
came to mean "sacred mood experienced listening to poetry or music"; there are altogether nine of them. Mansarovar, the "mind lake" is the holy lake at the foot of Mt. Kailash in Tibet, close to the
source of the Ganges.

In popular culture [edit]

Main article: Alchemy in art and entertainment
The elixir of life has been an inspiration, plot feature, or subject of artistic works including animation, comics, films, musical compositions, novels, and video games. Examples include L. Frank Baum's
fantasy novel John Dough and the Cherub, the science fiction series Doctor Who, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, House of Anubis, the manga Fullmetal Alchemist, the light novel
Baccano!, the movie Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva of the Professor Layton franchise and the horror film As Above, So Below.

See also [edit]

Immortality
Ageing
Al Khidr
Ambrosia
Cup of Jamshid
 Cup of Jamshid
Death Becomes Her
Elixir
Fountain of Youth
Holy Grail
Magu (deity)
Panacea

References [edit]
1. ^ Medieval Science, Technology And Medicine: An Encyclopedia, A Glick, T.F., A Livesey, S.J., Wallis, F., Routledge, p. 20 2005
2. ^ "Tan chin yao chueh – occultism" . britannica.com.
3. ^ Nelly Naumann (2000). Japanese Prehistory: The Material and Spiritual Culture of the Jōmon Period . Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 133. ISBN 978-3-447-04329-8.
4. ^ Nevsky, Nikolai (April 1971). Masao, Oka (ed.). 月と不死 [Tsuki to fushi] (in Japanese). 平凡社. ISBN 9784582801859. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
5. ^ I. K. Poonawala. "ĀB ii. Water in Muslim Iranian culture" . Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 12 February 2012.

Bibliography [edit]
Heart of the Earth: The Elixir of Earth, second novel in the trilogy by Richard Anderson
Al-Khidr, The Green Man
Alchemy and Daoism
Naam or Word, Book Three: Amrit, Nectar or Water of Life
Needham, Joseph, Ping-Yu Ho, Gwei-Djen Lu. Science and Civilisation in China, Volume V, Part III . Cambridge at the University Press, 1976.
Turner, John D. (transl.). The Interpretation of Knowledge

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