# bala-vṛddhi (बलवृद्धि)

> Canonical version of this page: https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/bala-vriddhi/

An Ayurvedic technical term, rendered into English in 5 different ways.
The renderings do not agree, and the difference between them changes what the term is taken
to mean.

## Identification

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Transliteration | bala-vṛddhi |
| Devanagari | बलवृद्धि |
| Also written | balavṛddhikara bhāva, balavṛddhikarāḥ bhāvāḥ, (contrast) śarīra-vṛddhikara bhāva |
| Category, as gathered | physiology (promotion of strength) |
| Grouped 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.

### The following are means of increase of strength

Charaka Samhita, tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna · Śārīra-sthāna ch. 6, his verse 18 (= CS Śā. 6.13); followed by the list 'Birth in a country of strong men; Birth in an age of strong men; Happy conjunction of time; Wealth of attributes of both seed and soil; Wealth of food and drink; Wealth of body; Wealth of assimilability; Wealth of Mind; Dispensation of Nature; Youth; Acts; and Cheerfulness or joy.' · public-domain-translation

The only public-domain English rendering located. Kaviratna translates sampat as 'Wealth of', sātmya as 'assimilability', karma as 'Acts' and saṃharṣa as 'Cheerfulness or joy'.

### Factors which increase and maintain the strength of an individual

National Institute of Ayurveda / WHO-APW non-clinical terminologies glossary · SV0060, headword 'balavṛddhikara bhāva'; the entry then lists 'birth in a place having strong person, that in a time conducive for strength, favorable time, excellence of seed and soil, excellence of diet, body, suitability and psyche, natural mechanism, youth, physical exercise and cheerfulness' · glossary

Renders karma as 'physical exercise', where Kaviratna has the neutral 'Acts'. A genuine interpretive divergence on one list item.

Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda, which is what that
licence permits, and deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is CC BY 4.0.

### no entry for balavṛddhi or balavṛddhikara

WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · searched 'balavṛddhi', 'bala-vṛddhi' — absent; WHO covers bala at ITA-2.2.27 and its three types at ITA-2.2.28/29/30, and covers the PARALLEL term śarīra-vṛddhikara-bhāvaḥ at ITA-3.1.3 · who-ista

Negative finding. WHO standardises the body-growth factor list but not the strength-increase factor list, though Charaka gives both in consecutive sūtras (Śā. 6.12 and 6.13).

Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda, which is what that
licence permits, and deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is CC BY 4.0.

### Factors responsible for body growth — 'Body growth is determined by four factors: appropriate time, innate nature, proper nutrition and absence of obstructing or impairing factors.'

WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-3.1.3, śarīra-vṛddhikara-bhāvaḥ · who-ista

Recorded here because it is the immediately preceding sūtra (CS Śā. 6.12) and is constantly mistaken for the bala list. Four factors, not twelve.

Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda, which is what that
licence permits, and deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is CC BY 4.0.

### Energy required to perform daily activities is Strength... As long as the patient has good strength he can resist the all sorts of the diseases easily.

National Institute of Ayurveda / WHO-APW glossary, entry for bala · SV0057 · glossary

Included to show how the Indian glossary ties bala directly to disease resistance, which is the bridge to vyādhikṣamatva.

Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda, which is what that
licence permits, and deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is CC BY 4.0.

## The classical passages

### Charaka Samhita Śārīra-sthāna 6 (Śārīra-vicaya Śārīra):6.13, checked against the source

> बलवृध्दिकरास्त्विमे भावा भवन्ति| तद्यथा- बलवत्पुरुषे देशे जन्म बलवत्पुरुषे काले च, सुखश्च कालयोगः, बीजक्षेत्रगुणसंपच्च, आहारसंपच्च, शरीरसंपच्च, सात्म्यसंपच्च, सत्त्वसंपच्च, स्वभावसंसिध्दिश्च, यौवनं च, कर्म च, संहर्षश्चेति||१३||

tr. none (Sanskrit mūla) · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Sharira_Vichaya_Sharira

The canonical list of balavṛddhikara bhāvas. Quoted exactly as the page renders it. Note the page prints बलवृध्दि and स्वभावसंसिध्दि with the ध्द ligature rather than the usual द्धि, an orthographic variant of that site's text.

### Charaka Samhita Śārīra-sthāna 6:6.12, checked against the source

> कार्त्स्न्येन शरीरवृध्दिकरास्त्विमे भावा भवन्ति; तद्यथा- कालयोगः, स्वभावसंसिध्दि:, आहारसौष्ठवम्, अविघातश्चेति||१२||

tr. none (Sanskrit mūla) · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Sharira_Vichaya_Sharira

The four śarīra-vṛddhikara factors, immediately preceding the bala list. Quoted so the two can be told apart; WHO standardises this one and not the other.

### Charaka Samhita, tr. Kaviratna (public domain) Śārīra-sthāna 6:Kaviratna's verse 18 (= CS Śā. 6.13), checked against the source

> The following are means of increase of strength; They are — Birth in a country of strong men; Birth in an age of strong men; Happy conjunction of time; Wealth of attributes of both seed and soil; Wealth of food and drink; Wealth of body; Wealth of assimilability; Wealth of Mind; ... Dispensation of Nature; Youth; Acts; and Cheerfulness or joy.

tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

The public-domain English of the list. The ellipsis marks a page break in the scan occupied by a translator's footnote; no list item was omitted.

## Not to be confused with

- **bala.** Bala is the capacity; bala-vṛddhi is its augmentation. WHO classifies bala into sahaja/yuktikṛta/kālaja (ITA-2.2.28/29/30); the Śā. 6.13 list cuts across that classification, 'birth in a strong region' is sahaja-adjacent, 'karma' is yuktikṛta, 'yauvana' is kālaja.
- **śarīra-vṛddhi.** CS Śā. 6.12 lists FOUR factors for body growth; 6.13 lists TWELVE for strength. WHO standardises only the former (ITA-3.1.3). Citing 'the four factors' when you mean strength, or vice versa, is a common slip and the two sūtras are adjacent.
- **rasāyana.** Rasāyana is a therapeutic modality producing yuktikṛta bala; bala-vṛddhi as given in Śā. 6.13 is overwhelmingly non-therapeutic (birth, region, era, seed and soil, youth).
- **vyādhikṣamatva.** The NIA glossary's bala entry runs them together ('As long as the patient has good strength he can resist all sorts of diseases'), and WHO puts balam and vyādhikṣamatvam under one ID. But CS Sū. 28.7 predicates vyādhikṣamatva of śarīras with particular constitutions, while Śā. 6.13 is a causal list for bala. They are not interchangeable.
- **vṛddhi as pathological increase.** The same word names doṣa/dhātu excess (e.g. WHO ITA-5.2.2.4 pittavṛddhi-lakṣaṇam, rasavṛddhiḥ, raktavṛddhiḥ). In bala-vṛddhi it is desirable; in rakta-vṛddhi it is a disorder.

## Renderings that do not hold

- immunity boosting. Collapses bala-vṛddhi into vyādhikṣamatva and then into a product claim. Eight of the twelve factors in Śā. 6.13 are not modifiable at all.
- strength training. Reads karma as exercise and drops the other eleven items. The NIA glossary itself renders karma as 'physical exercise' where Kaviratna has 'Acts', so even the glossaries disagree on that single item.
- growth factors. Confuses the bala list (Śā. 6.13) with the śarīra-vṛddhi list (Śā. 6.12), and imports a biochemical sense of 'growth factor'.

## Open questions

Recorded rather than resolved.

- Whether 'bala-vṛddhi' is a headword anywhere in the samhitas at all. What is attested is the adjectival compound balavṛddhikara ('strength-increasing') qualifying bhāvāḥ. The lexicon should decide whether to head the entry balavṛddhikara bhāva instead.
- How Chakrapāṇi glosses karma and saṃharṣa in this list, the divergence between Kaviratna's 'Acts'/'Cheerfulness' and the NIA glossary's 'physical exercise'/'cheerfulness' turns on it. Not checked.
- Whether the Śā. 6.13 list has any relation to the three-fold bala classification, or is an independent scheme.

## Citation

Age Ayurveda Nighantu, "bala-vṛddhi", https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/bala-vriddhi/, CC BY 4.0.
Whole lexicon: https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon.json and https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon.csv.

Educational reference only. A term entry explains what a word means and how it has been
translated. Nothing here is advice.