1–10 · Foundations and the person
| Term | IAST | Working meaning |
|---|---|---|
| आयुर्वेद | āyurveda | knowledge or science of life |
| आयुः | āyuḥ | life or living span |
| पुरुष | puruṣa | person or conscious embodied being |
| लोक | loka | world or cosmos |
| शरीर | śarīra | body |
| इन्द्रिय | indriya | sense capacity |
| मनस् | manas | mind |
| आत्मन् | ātman | self |
| शास्त्र | śāstra | organized discipline or authoritative teaching |
| सिद्धान्त | siddhānta | established conclusion or principle |
11–20 · Elements and doshas
| Term | IAST | Working meaning |
|---|---|---|
| आकाश | ākāśa | space or openness principle |
| वायु | vāyu | air or movement principle |
| तेजस् | tejas | fire, illumination or transformation principle |
| जल / आप् | jala / āp | water or cohesion principle |
| पृथ्वी | pṛthvī | earth or solidity principle |
| दोष | doṣa | functional organizing principle |
| वात | vāta | movement-centered dosha |
| पित्त | pitta | transformation-centered dosha |
| कफ | kapha | cohesion-centered dosha |
| त्रिदोष | tridoṣa | the three-dosha framework |
21–30 · Tissues, wastes and vitality
| Term | IAST | Working meaning |
|---|---|---|
| धातु | dhātu | supporting constituent |
| रसधातु | rasadhātu | nourishing-fluid tissue category |
| रक्त | rakta | blood-associated tissue category |
| मांस | māṃsa | flesh or muscular tissue category |
| मेदस् | medas | adipose or unctuous tissue category |
| अस्थि | asthi | bone tissue category |
| मज्जा | majjā | marrow-associated tissue category |
| शुक्र | śukra | reproductive or generative tissue category |
| मल | mala | residue, waste or product of separation |
| ओजस् | ojas | vital sustaining essence or vigor |
31–40 · Transformation and channels
| Term | IAST | Working meaning |
|---|---|---|
| अग्नि | agni | transformative principle |
| जाठराग्नि | jāṭharāgni | primary digestive transformation |
| भूताग्नि | bhūtāgni | element-level transformative category |
| धात्वग्नि | dhātvagni | tissue-level transformative category |
| पाक | pāka | cooking, digestion or transformation |
| स्रोतस् | srotas | channel, stream or pathway |
| स्रोतोमूल | srotomūla | root or principal site of a channel |
| प्राण | prāṇa | life-breath or vital movement |
| बल | bala | strength or sustaining capacity |
| व्याधिक्षमत्व | vyādhikṣamatva | capacity discussed in relation to resistance to disorder |
41–50 · Substance, quality and action
| Term | IAST | Working meaning |
|---|---|---|
| द्रव्य | dravya | substance or entity |
| गुण | guṇa | quality or attribute |
| कर्म | karma | action or activity |
| रस | rasa | taste in this context |
| वीर्य | vīrya | potency or active strength |
| विपाक | vipāka | post-transformative effect |
| प्रभाव | prabhāva | specific or distinctive effect |
| समवाय | samavāya | inherence or inseparable relation |
| सामान्य | sāmānya | generality or similarity |
| विशेष | viśeṣa | particularity or difference |
51–60 · Knowledge and reasoning
| Term | IAST | Working meaning |
|---|---|---|
| प्रमाण | pramāṇa | means of valid knowledge |
| प्रत्यक्ष | pratyakṣa | direct perception |
| अनुमान | anumāna | inference |
| आप्तोपदेश | āptopadeśa | trustworthy authoritative instruction |
| युक्ति | yukti | reasoned synthesis of multiple factors |
| उपमान | upamāna | comparison or analogy as a means of knowing |
| परीक्षा | parīkṣā | examination or investigation |
| तर्क | tarka | logical deliberation |
| वाद | vāda | reasoned debate or dialogue |
| तन्त्रयुक्ति | tantrayukti | interpretive device used to understand a treatise |
61–70 · Text structure and commentary
| Term | IAST | Working meaning |
|---|---|---|
| तन्त्र | tantra | systematic treatise or organized body of teaching |
| संहिता | saṃhitā | compendium or collected text |
| स्थान | sthāna | major section or division |
| अध्याय | adhyāya | chapter or lesson |
| श्लोक | śloka | metrical verse |
| सूत्र | sūtra | concise statement or thread |
| भाष्य | bhāṣya | extended commentary |
| टीका | ṭīkā | commentary or explanatory gloss |
| पाठ | pāṭha | reading, recitation or textual version |
| ग्रन्थ | grantha | book, composition or textual work |
71–80 · Constitution, balance and suitability
| Term | IAST | Working meaning |
|---|---|---|
| प्रकृति | prakṛti | constitution or primary formation |
| विकृति | vikṛti | alteration or changed state |
| सम | sama | balanced, appropriate or even |
| स्वस्थ | svastha | well; established in oneself |
| हित | hita | beneficial, suitable or supportive |
| अहित | ahita | harmful, unsuitable or unsupportive |
| सुख | sukha | ease, wellbeing or agreeable experience |
| दुःख | duḥkha | difficulty, suffering or disagreeable experience |
| सात्म्य | sātmya | suitability or habituated compatibility |
| असात्म्य | asātmya | unsuitability or incompatibility |
81–90 · Time, place and ways of living
| Term | IAST | Working meaning |
|---|---|---|
| काल | kāla | time |
| देश | deśa | place, region or habitat |
| मात्रा | mātrā | measure or quantity |
| आहार | āhāra | food or intake |
| विहार | vihāra | activity, conduct or way of living |
| दिनचर्या | dinacaryā | daily conduct or routine |
| ऋतुचर्या | ṛtucaryā | seasonal conduct or routine |
| ऋतु | ṛtu | season |
| वेग | vega | impulse, urge or forceful movement |
| आचार | ācāra | conduct or practice |
91–100 · Texts and the eight branches
| Term | IAST | Working meaning |
|---|---|---|
| बृहत् त्रयी | bṛhat trayī | the three great classical compendia |
| लघुत्रयी | laghutrayī | three influential later compendia |
| कायचिकित्सा | kāyacikitsā | branch of internal medicine |
| शल्य | śalya | surgical discipline |
| शालाक्य | śālākya | discipline concerned with structures above the clavicle |
| कौमारभृत्य | kaumārabhṛtya | branch concerning children and early life |
| अगदतन्त्र | agadatantra | toxicology |
| भूतविद्या | bhūtavidyā | historical branch concerning disturbances of mind and agency |
| रसायन | rasāyana | renewal and longevity discipline |
| वाजीकरण | vājīkaraṇa | reproductive vitality discipline |
How to use the glossary
These are working translations for orientation, not final definitions. Open the dedicated concept guide, identify the passage and check the commentary whenever an argument depends on one term.
- Prefer IAST when precise pronunciation and spelling matter.
- Keep the Sanskrit term when an English equivalent is misleading.
- Check grammatical form: dictionary stems and words in a verse may look different.
- Record the text and context whenever a term has several technical meanings.
Plain answers
Common questions
Why keep Sanskrit words in an English article?
Because a familiar English word may hide distinctions preserved by the technical term. A translation and the original can be shown together.
What is IAST?
The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is a standard Roman-letter system using diacritics to represent Sanskrit sounds precisely.
Why can one term have several meanings?
Meaning changes with grammar, discipline, passage and commentary; Sanskrit technical vocabulary is context-sensitive.
Transparent references
Sources & editorial method
These references support the definitions, textual context and interpretive distinctions in this guide. Editions, translations and commentaries may differ.
- Caraka Samhita Online: MonographsIndexed concept pages with terminology, derivations and classical references.
- Cologne Digital Sanskrit DictionariesSearchable Sanskrit lexicons for checking stems, semantic range and historical dictionary entries.
- Ayusoft: Principles of AyurvedaGovernment-supported overview of Panchamahabhuta, dosha, dhatu, mala, agni and prakriti.
- Foundational principles of classical Ayurveda researchPeer-reviewed discussion of classical principles, epistemology and approaches to studying Ayurveda.
- Vedic Matters editorial methodClassical descriptions, translation choices and modern interpretations are identified separately.