ācāra-rasāyana: what the term means and how it is translated
ācāra-rasāyana आचाररसायन is an Ayurvedic technical term. It is rendered into English in 6 different ways, which is the reason this page exists: the renderings do not agree, and the difference between them changes what the term is taken to mean.
| Transliteration | ācāra-rasāyana |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | आचाररसायन |
| Also written | ācārarasāyanam, achar rasayan, acara rasayana |
| Category, as gathered | swasthavritta |
| Grouped here under | Regimen and constitution |
| Classical citations | 2 |
| Citations checked | 2026-10-07 |
How it is translated, and whether the translation holds
Each rendering is given with the source that uses it. The assessment is ours.
Rejuvenation therapy through behaviour and practices
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-9.8.7; description: 'Rejuvenation therapy which promotes rejuvenation through the adoption of a prescribed code of conduct.' · comparator-standard
Read from the PDF (ISBN 978-92-4-006493-5) via mirror https://www.ayurvedadoctor.co.uk/WHO%20terminologies%20on%20Ayurveda.pdf; official IRIS download returned an HTML shell. Term appears twice in WHO 2022 with two different English terms.
Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda, which is what that licence permits. It is deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is offered under CC BY 4.0 and invites the modification a NoDerivs licence forbids.
Code and conduct
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-10.3.8 (section 10.3 Healthy lifestyle routine); description: 'A cognitive and behavioural regimen to enhance well-being and quality of life.' · comparator-standard
Second WHO entry for the same Sanskrit term; note sadvṛttam is the adjacent ITA-10.3.7 'Harmonious way of living'.
Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda, which is what that licence permits. It is deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is offered under CC BY 4.0 and invites the modification a NoDerivs licence forbids.
Conductible virility -Customary law, codes and conducts/ behavior which prevents the psychosomatic ailments. It includes principles explained in the context of dhāraṇīya Vega & Sad vritta Pālana.
NIA Jaipur / WHO-APW draft 'Standardization of Non-Clinical Terminologies of Ayurveda' (2011) · SV0001, https://www.nia.nic.in/pdf/TERMINOLOGIES.pdf · comparator-draft
This is the 2011 NIA draft, NOT the WHO 2022 standard. 'Conductible virility' is not meaningful English.
Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda, which is what that licence permits. It is deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is offered under CC BY 4.0 and invites the modification a NoDerivs licence forbids.
Rasayana of conduct
Kaviratna, Charaka-Samhita (1896-1913) · Chikitsasthana Lesson I, section heading 'RASAYANA OF CONDUCT' and translator's footnote: 'This section is headed Achara-Rasayanam, that is, the Rasayana of conduct' · public-domain-translation
Translator's footnote adds the gloss 'Such a person does not require the aid of any Rasayana of drugs' - that is Kaviratna's note, not the text.
Achara Rasayana (section heading, untranslated); 'code of conduct (Achara Rasayana)'
Charak Samhita New Edition wiki (carakasamhitaonline.com) and PMID 22557248 · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Rasayana_Adhyaya · textbook/secondary
behavioural rasayana; moral ethics (NAMASTE, as reported in secondary summaries)
Common textbook / secondary renderings · textbook · our paraphrase of the source, not its words
The NAMASTE rendering 'moral ethics' was seen only in a search-engine summary of secondary literature, not on the NAMASTE portal itself; treat as unverified.
The classical passages
Each citation gives its address so a reader can check it in a printed edition, our account of what the passage establishes, and the result of reading it against its source.
Charaka SamhitaChikitsasthana 1 (Rasayana), pada 4 (Ayurvedasamutthaniya):30-35 (numbering as printed on carakasamhitaonline.com; edition not named on page) · checked against the source
सत्यवादिनमक्रोधं निवृत्तं मद्यमैथुनात्| अहिंसकमनायासं प्रशान्तं प्रियवादिनम्||३०|| जपशौचपरं धीरं दाननित्यं तपस्विनम्| देवगोब्राह्मणाचार्यगुरुवृद्धार्चने रतम्||३१|| आनृशंस्यपरं नित्यं नित्यं करुणवेदिनम् | समजागरणस्वप्नं नित्यं क्षीरघृताशिनम्||३२|| देशकालप्रमाणज्ञं युक्तिज्ञमनहङ्कृतम्| शस्ताचारमसङ्कीर्णमध्यात्मप्रवणेन्द्रियम्||३३|| उपासितारं वृद्धानामास्तिकानां जितात्मनाम्| धर्मशास्त्रपरं विद्यान्नरं नित्यरसायनम्||३४|| गुणैरेतैः समुदितैः प्रयुङ्क्ते यो रसायनम्| रसायनगुणान् सर्वान् यथोक्तान् स समश्नुते||३५|| (इत्याचाररसायनम्)|
The locus classicus: a list of conduct qualities (truthful, free from anger, abstaining from wine and sex, non-violent, calm, pleasant-spoken, etc.) whose possessor 'should be known as one on perpetual rasayana' (nityarasāyanam); the colophon names the section ācāra-rasāyana.
Charaka SamhitaChikitsasthana Lesson I (Kaviratna's numbering):Kaviratna prints '52-&' (OCR-damaged; probably 52-56) after the long sentence and 57 after the next; standard numbering 30-34 and 35 per carakasamhitaonline - do not convert by arithmetic · checked against the source
One that is truthful, and free from wrath, that abstains from wine and sexual indulgence, that has no animosity, that undergoes only such labour as involves no fatigue, that is tranquil and of amiable speech, that is accustomed to the silent recitation of sacred texts, and is pure (in body and mind), that is endued with gravity and firmness, that is always charitable and engaged in penances, that honours the deities and kine and Brahmanas and preceptors and spiritual guides and men of advanced years, that is always averse to cruelty, that is always compassionate, that is regular in respect of sleep and wakefulness, that takes milk and ghee, that has knowledge of time and place as also authority, that is conversant with reasons, that is reft of pride, that is of practices which are praiseworthy, that is possessed of a liberal mind, that has senses directed towards the soul, that honours men of advanced years as also those who are endued with faith and who have their souls under control, that is devoted to the scriptures, should be known as a user of 'Rasayana.' ... (Further) he who, endued with these high attributes, uses Rasayana', enjoys all the effects enumerated of 'Rasayana.'
Kaviratna's English for the achara rasayana passage; his aphorism numbers are printed AFTER each passage; OCR text from archive.org item BIUSante_47357, quoted with OCR artefacts normalised only for spacing.
Where this term does work in the theory
One concept record names this term as one of its components, and glosses it there as follows.
- Rasayana theory as Achara rasayana
- Conduct-based rejuvenation: truthfulness, freedom from wrath, restraint, compassion and a long list of further attributes. On Kaviratna's text the person so described 'should be known as a user of Rasayana', and the following aphorisms make conduct the condition of the drug succeeding rather than a replacement for it. The claim that conduct alone produces rasayana effects with no drug at all appears in Kaviratna's footnote; the record previously carried the footnote's reading as the text's.
Not to be confused with
- sadvṛtta
- Code of good conduct for the healthy taught in Ca.Su.8 (Indriyopakramaniya); WHO 2022 gives it a separate entry ITA-10.3.7 'Harmonious way of living'. Achara rasayana is taught inside the Rasayana chapter and is defined by its rasayana (rejuvenative) outcome, not merely as ethics.
- dravya-rasāyana (drug-based rasayana)
- Achara rasayana is explicitly non-pharmacological; the text contrasts it with the kutipraveshika/vatatapika drug regimens that precede it.
- dhāraṇīya vega
- Restraint of harmful mental/verbal/physical urges (Ca.Su.7.26-29) overlaps in content, and the NIA 2011 draft folds dharaniya vega into its achara rasayana definition, but they are separate concepts in the Samhita.
Renderings that do not hold
- Conductible virility. NIA 2011 draft wording; not meaningful English and 'virility' imports vajikarana connotations absent from the text.
- Moral ethics / ethics. Drops the rasayana claim entirely; the text's point is that conduct produces rasayana effects (nityarasāyanam), not merely that it is virtuous.
- Behavioural rejuvenation drug. There is no drug; the Sanskrit colophon and WHO both make it a regimen of conduct.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Does NAMASTE carry a SAT code for achara rasayana, and with what English? The portal (namaste.ayush.gov.in) loads but the term list was not reachable without sign-in.
- Standard (Trikamji) verse numbers were taken from carakasamhitaonline.com, which does not name its edition; verify against a printed Trikamji edition.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, ācāra-rasāyana
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/achara-rasayana/, CC BY 4.0.
The whole lexicon is downloadable from the index.
Machine-readable source: Markdown.
Data exported 2026-10-08.
Educational reference only. A term entry explains what a word means and how it has been translated. Nothing here is advice, and nothing here describes how any condition should be treated.