apathya: what the term means and how it is translated
apathya अपथ्य is an Ayurvedic technical term. It is rendered into English in 5 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 | apathya |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | अपथ्य |
| Also written | apathyam, apathya-āhāra-vihāra, ahita (near-synonym in Ca.Su.25.31) |
| Category, as gathered | swasthavritta |
| Grouped here under | Regimen and constitution |
| Classical citations | 4 |
| 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.
Unwholesome
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-8.1.4: 'Dietary items, activities and behavioural regimens that are not beneficial for the body channels or systems. These are subject to individual variations. Antonym of pathya.' · comparator-standard
WHO gives pathyam two entries (ITA-8.1.3 'Wholesome'; ITA-9.1.5 'Compatible with health', as a synonym of treatment) but apathyam only one.
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.
Food and behaviors which are not conducive or not wholesome to body and mind is called as apathy. Contrast to Pathya.
NIA Jaipur / WHO-APW draft (2011) · SV0035 (note the typo 'apathy') · comparator-draft
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.
the reverse of Pathya ... and is not agreeable to the mind; unwholesome (food)
Kaviratna, Charaka-Samhita (1896-1913) · Sutrasthana Lesson XXV (pathya definition) and Lesson XXVIII his aphorism 8 ('wholesome or unwholesome') · public-domain-translation
Kaviratna translates pathya as 'Pathya (or regimen)' and leaves apathya as 'the reverse of Pathya'.
unwholesome; unfit for use; should be rejected
Bhishagratna, Sushruta Samhita Sutrasthana Ch. XLVI (1907) · https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-1-sutrasthana/d/doc141678.html · public-domain-translation
Bhishagratna uses 'wholesome'/'unwholesome' descriptively of foods; whether the underlying Sanskrit is pathya/apathya at each point was not checked.
unwholesome regimen; contraindicated diet and activities; incompatible diet (loose)
Common textbook renderings · textbook · our paraphrase of the source, not its words
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 SamhitaSutrasthana 25 (Yajjah Purushiya):45 (numbering as printed on carakasamhitaonline.com) · checked against the source
पथ्यं पथोऽनपेतं यद्यच्चोक्तं मनसः प्रियम्| यच्चाप्रियमपथ्यं च नियतं तन्न लक्षयेत्||४५||
Definition by contrast: pathya is what does not deviate from the path (patho'napetam) and is dear to the mind; what is apriya and apathya is not to be regarded. The next verse (46) makes pathya/apathya relative to mātrā, kāla, kriyā, bhūmi, deha and doṣa.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 25:31 (carakasamhitaonline numbering) · checked against the source
तमुवाच भगवानात्रेयः- हिताहारोपयोग एक एव पुरुषवृद्धिकरो भवति, अहिताहारोपयोगः पुनर्व्याधिनिमित्तमिति [१] ||३१||
Uses hita/ahita rather than pathya/apathya for the same wholesome/unwholesome contrast: ahita āhāra is the cause of disease.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana Lesson XXV (Kaviratna):Kaviratna's printed number illegible in OCR (between his 4 and 6 in the closing verse block); standard 45-46 per carakasamhitaonline - not converted · checked against the source
All that is suitable to the way (of life) and that is agreeable to the mind is said to constitute what is called Pathya (or regimen). What, however, is the reverse of Pathya and is not agreeable to the mind, should never be attended to. Combined with measure, time or season, the nature of the operation, place, the constitution of the body, the faults that have been provoked, and the other attributes, both what is Pathya and what is its reverse are seen to be this or that (i. e., baneful or beneficial)
Kaviratna's rendering of Ca.Su.25.45-46; he glosses patha as 'the way (of life)' - a translator's interpretation (Chakrapani reads patha as the body's channels/srotas, per secondary sources).
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana Lesson XXVIII (Kaviratna):Standard Sutrasthana 28.5 (final sentence, हिताहितोपयोगविशेषास्त्वत्र शुभाशुभविशेषकरा भवन्तीति||५||) and 28.6 (Agnivesha's objection, एवंवादिनं भगवन्तमात्रेयमग्निवेश उवाच... ||६||), Atreya's qualification being 28.7 (carakasamhitaonline Vividhashitapitiya_Adhyaya raw); Kaviratna Lesson XXVIII, his printed 8 (the wholesome/unwholesome sentence) and 9 (Agnivesha's objection), p. 394 (page image; the djvu OCR prints '8' for both) · checked against the source
As regards the body, particular administrations (of regimen), wholesome or unwholesome, become productive of good or evil consequences. ... It is seen, O illustrious one, that men who take even such food as has been called wholesome, catch disease, and that others, after taking food that has been called unwholesome, do not catch any disease.
Agnivesha's objection that the wholesome/unwholesome distinction appears to fail, which Atreya then qualifies - the classical statement that apathya is relative, not absolute.
Not to be confused with
- viruddha-āhāra
- Incompatible food combinations (WHO ITA-8.1.5, e.g. milk and fish); a specific category, whereas apathya is any food or activity unwholesome for a given person/condition.
- ahita
- Near-synonym ('not beneficial') used in Ca.Su.25.31; textbooks sometimes distinguish hita (intrinsically beneficial) from pathya (beneficial by context), but the texts use both.
- asātmya
- Not habituated/suited to the individual (WHO sātmyam ITA-10.2.7); an apathya item may be sātmya through habit and vice versa.
- pathya
- The antonym; also used as a synonym of 'treatment' (WHO ITA-9.1.5), which apathya is not.
Renderings that do not hold
- Incompatible food. That is viruddha-āhāra; apathya is wider and includes activities (vihāra).
- Forbidden foods (absolute list). Ca.Su.25.46 makes pathya/apathya relative to quantity, time, preparation, place, body and dosha; there is no absolute list.
- Apathy. Typo in the NIA 2011 draft ('is called as apathy'); unrelated English word.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Kaviratna's aphorism number for the pathya definition could not be read from the OCR.
- Whether Bhishagratna's 'wholesome/unwholesome' in Su.Su.46 corresponds to pathya/apathya in the Sanskrit at each point.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, apathya
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/apathya/, 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.