asthivaha srotas: what the term means and how it is translated
asthivaha srotas अस्थिवहस्रोतस् 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 | asthivaha srotas |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | अस्थिवहस्रोतस् |
| Also written | asthivahāni srotāṃsi, asthivāhīni srotāṃsi (Ca.Vi.5/17), asthivahasrotaḥ |
| Category, as gathered | srotas (body channel) — anatomy/physiology |
| Grouped here under | Body: tissues, wastes and channels |
| Classical citations | 3 |
| Citations checked | 2026-10-08 |
How it is translated, and whether the translation holds
Each rendering is given with the source that uses it. The assessment is ours.
Channel carrying bone
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-2.5.15 · standards-body comparator
WHO description: 'The pathway for bone. Entities related to this channel are fat and the hip region.', follows Caraka exactly (medas + jaghana).
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.
Vitiation of channels carrying bone
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-5.5.9 asthivahasrotoduṣṭiḥ · standards-body comparator (disorder term)
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.
channels carrying bone tissue
NAMASTE Portal, Standardised Ayurveda Terminologies · SAT-B.483 · national terminology comparator
Definition: 'originates from medas and jaghana'.
Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the Government of India NAMASTE terminology, 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.
derangement of asthivahasrotas
NAMASTE National Ayurveda Morbidity Codes · NAMC EG-1, referenced to Ca.Vi.5/8 · morbidity-code comparator
Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the Government of India NAMASTE terminology, 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.
injury to asthivahasrotas
NAMASTE National Ayurveda Morbidity Codes · NAMC LH-4.8, referenced to Su.Su.25/39 · morbidity-code comparator
NAMASTE supplies a SUSHRUTA reference for injury to this channel even though Suśruta's Śārīra 9 list of eleven does not include it. See gatheringNotes, I could not verify this reference.
Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the Government of India NAMASTE terminology, 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.
asthi dhatu or bone
carakasamhitaonline.com (CSRTSL), 2020 · Sroto Vimana 5/6-7 commentary · modern translation (in copyright; rendering recorded as comparator only)
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.
Caraka SaṃhitāVimāna Sthāna 5:5/8 · checked against the source
अस्थिवहानां स्रोतसां मेदो मूलं जघनं च|
Root = medas (fat) and jaghana (hip/buttock region). Counter-intuitive and unique: the bone channel is rooted in fat, reflecting the dhātu sequence medas → asthi.
Caraka SaṃhitāVimāna Sthāna 5:5/17 · checked against the source
व्यायामादतिसङ्क्षोभादस्थ्नामतिविघट्टनात्| अस्थिवाहीनि दुष्यन्ति वातलानां च सेवनात्||१७||
Causes: excessive exercise, excessive agitation, excessive friction/grinding of bones, and vāta-aggravating intake.
Caraka SaṃhitāVimāna Sthāna 5:5/7 · checked against the source
तद्यथा प्राणोदकान्नरसरुधिरमांसमेदोस्थिमज्जशुक्रमूत्रपुरीषस्वेदवहानीति
asthi-vaha appears in Caraka's thirteen; it is absent from Suśruta's eleven pairs at Śā.9, which I verified by reading that passage in full.
Not to be confused with
- majjāvaha srotas
- Caraka inverts the expected relation: asthivaha is rooted in medas, while majjāvaha is rooted in asthi and sandhi. The two are frequently swapped in secondary sources.
- asthi dhātu / asthi-dharā kalā
- Tissue and membrane versus conduit.
- medovaha srotas
- medas is the ROOT of asthivaha srotas and the dhātu served by medovaha srotas; the same word occupies two different structural positions in one passage.
- sandhi
- Joints belong to majjāvaha's root in Caraka, not to asthivaha, despite the obvious skeletal association.
Renderings that do not hold
- the skeletal system. The named roots are fat and the hip region; the channel is defined by nourishment of bone, not by the skeleton's extent.
- 'bone marrow channels'. That is majjāvaha srotas. Caraka's asthivaha is rooted in medas, majjāvaha in asthi, reversing them is the single commonest error on this pair.
- jaghana = buttocks (as a plain anatomical equivalent). WHO renders it 'the hip region' and NAMASTE leaves it in Sanskrit; jaghana in the Saṃhitās covers the pelvic girdle/loins and its exact extent is unsettled.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Is NAMASTE's Su.Su.25/39 a real locus for asthivaha srotas injury, or a chapter-numbering slip?
- Why is the bone channel rooted in medas rather than in bone itself, when every other dhātu-srotas is rooted at or near its own tissue?
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, asthivaha srotas
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/asthivaha-srotas/, 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.