ākṛti-parīkṣā: what the term means and how it is translated
ākṛti-parīkṣā आकृतिपरीक्षा is an Ayurvedic technical term. It is rendered into English in 5 different ways across 6 sources, 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 | ākṛti-parīkṣā |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | आकृतिपरीक्षा |
| Also written | ākṛti, akriti pariksha, akruti pariksha, rūpa-parīkṣā (section heading in the Nirnaya Sagar Yogaratnakara edition) |
| Category, as gathered | pariksha (clinical examination; eighth member of the Yogaratnakara's aṣṭasthāna/aṣṭavidha parīkṣā) |
| Grouped here under | Examination and treatment |
| 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.
build and appearance (domain 8 of 'Eight methods of clinical examination', aṣṭasthānaparīkṣā, ITA-4.7.4)
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-4.7.4, p.115 (PDF page 133) · comparator
WHO has no stand-alone entry for ākṛti-parīkṣā; 'build and appearance' appears only inside the description of the eightfold examination.
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.
Clinical presentation (ākṛtiḥ listed as a synonym alongside liṅga, lakṣaṇam, cihnam, samsthānam, vyañjanam, rūpam)
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · p.128 of PDF, synonym list under liṅga · comparator
Shows that ākṛti in WHO's own usage primarily means 'clinical presentation/form', not a specific examination; relevant for disambiguation.
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.
Akriti (general body appearance)
Shekhawat, JVWU e-notes 'Ashtasthana Pariksha' (BAMS teaching notes) · https://www.jvwu.ac.in/documents/Book%20Chapter%20by%20Dr%20suman%20-Ashtavidha%20pariksha.pdf p.1-2 · textbook/teaching
Akruti (Physique)
Shekhawat, JVWU e-notes (second list in same document) · same PDF, p.2 · textbook/teaching
IJARSCT review 'Application of Ashtavidha Pariksha by Yogratnakara with Respect to Tridosha Siddhanta' · https://ijarsct.co.in/Paper22641.pdf · journal review (non-indexed)
The source's rendering runs to a full definition and is not reproduced here, because this project has not cleared that source for quotation.
Three different glosses within one paper, illustrating how unsettled the English rendering is.
A Comprehensive Bodily Examination
web search summary of multiple review articles · secondary · our paraphrase of the source, not its words
Common in online summaries; not traced to a classical definition.
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.
YogaratnakaraPūrvārdha, opening section 'atha rogiṇām aṣṭasthāna-nirīkṣaṇam' Nirnaya Sagar Press edition (ed. Krishna Sharma Navre), text pp. 2-3 per OCR page headers:verse 1 of the aṣṭasthāna-nirīkṣaṇa section (OCR prints '॥ ३ ॥' after it, but the following verses run २, ३, ४..., so '३' is an OCR error for '१') · checked against the source
अथ रोगिणामष्टस्थाननिरीक्षणम् ! रोगाकान्तञ्मरीरस्य स्थानान्यष्टौ निरीक्षयेत् । नाडीं मूं मलं जिह शब्दं स्पश दगाङरृती ॥
ākṛti is the eighth of the eight sthānas to be inspected (nirīkṣayet) in the diseased body, listed after dṛk.
YogaratnakaraPūrvārdha, section headed 'atha rūpa-parīkṣā' Nirnaya Sagar Press edition, text p. 6-7 per OCR headers; section sequence after mala-parīkṣā is śabda, sparśa, rūpa, dṛk, āsya, jihvā:rūpa-parīkṣā verses 1-4 · checked against the source
अथ रूपपरीक्षा । विसुत्वादाश्चुकारित्वादरित्वादन्यकोपनात् । स्वातचयाढहुरोगत्वादो षाणां म्रबरोऽनिरः ॥ १ ॥ ... इति रूपपरीक्षा ।
In this edition the body-appearance section is headed rūpa-parīkṣā, not ākṛti-parīkṣā; its verses describe the vāta-, pitta- and kapha-dominant person's bodily appearance (the content modern authors call ākṛti-parīkṣā).
Not to be confused with
- prakṛti-parīkṣā (Caraka Vi. 8)
- Prakṛti is the constitutional type assessed in the tenfold examination; ākṛti in the Yogaratnakara is current outward build/appearance read for dosha-predominance. Modern papers fold the two together ('may be considered under Deha prakriti pariksha', IJARSCT review), which is an interpretation, not the text's own equation.
- ākṛti as 'clinical presentation'
- WHO 2022 lists ākṛtiḥ as a synonym of liṅga/lakṣaṇa/rūpa (clinical presentation). In that sense ākṛti means the form the disease takes, not the patient's physique.
- rūpa-parīkṣā
- The Nirnaya Sagar Yogaratnakara heads the relevant section 'rūpa-parīkṣā' while the enumeration verse says 'ākṛti'; the two words are being used interchangeably in that edition.
- samhanana / pramāṇa (Caraka Vi. 8)
- Compactness and proportion of the body are separate items in the tenfold examination; 'physique' renderings of ākṛti blur into them.
Renderings that do not hold
- Comprehensive bodily examination. Overstates it: in the Yogaratnakara the item is one of eight sites, a short section on dosha-typed appearance, not a whole-body work-up.
- Facial appearance. Narrower than the text, whose rūpa/ākṛti verses describe the whole person (hair, limbs, complexion, temperament).
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Does the Vidyotini (Chaukhambha) edition head the section 'ākṛti-parīkṣā' or 'rūpa-parīkṣā'? The IJARSCT paper cites Vidyotini 2015 for its ākṛti material but gives page numbers only.
- Verse numbering of the Yogaratnakara's parīkṣā sections differs by edition; no standard numbering was established.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, ākṛti-parīkṣā
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/akriti-pariksha/, 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.