Section one: Myth and ritual. 1. Five stones -- four rivers -- one town : the Hindu pañcāyatanapūjā / Mikael Aktor ; 2. A 'sulfurous' śakti : the worship of goddess Hiṅgulā in Baluchistan / Francesco Brighenti ; 3. From iron to sapphire : Indian myths and rituals about Saturn, the implacable lord of celestial spheres / Monia Marchetto and Manuel Martin Hoefer -- Section two: Science and health. 4. Mineral healing : gemstone remedies in astrological and medical traditions / Anthony Cerulli and Caterina Guenzi ; 5. Mercury tonics (rasāyana) in Sanskrit medical literature / Dagmar Wujastyk ; 6. When ngülchu is not mercury : Tibetan taxonomies of 'metals' / Barbara Gerke -- Section three: Power and devotion. 7. In search of the sādhu's stone : metals and gems as therapeutic technologies of transformation in vernacular asceticism in North India / Antoinette E. DeNapoli ; 8. 'Deg tegh fateh!' : metal as material and metaphor in Sikh tradition / Eleanor Nesbitt -- Section four: Body and embodiment. 9. A little lipstick goes a long way : chit-chatting with women in the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata / Deeksha Sivakumar ; 10. Ratna : a Buddhist world of precious things / Mattia Salvini ; 11. When earth comes alive : earth-bodied beings in Jain tradition / Ana Bajželj.