bala: what the term means and how it is translated
bala बल 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 | bala |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | बल |
| Also written | balam, vyādhikṣamatva, sahaja bala, kālaja bala, yuktikṛta bala |
| Category, as gathered | prakriti |
| Grouped here under | Regimen and constitution |
| Classical citations | 5 |
| 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.
Immunity, strength, physical endurance
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-2.2.27 (balam, vyādhikṣamatvam) · standard
Three English words for one headword, and the headword merges balam with vyādhikṣamatvam. Description: 'This is classified into three types: innate strength, acquired strength and seasonal strength'. The merger is WHO's editorial decision, not a classical identity.
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.
Inherent capacity of the body to resist diseases
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-4.8.25 (vyādhikṣamatvam) · standard
WHO ALSO gives vyādhikṣamatvam a separate headword in the morbidity chapter. So the same standard both merges and separates bala and vyādhikṣamatva. This internal inconsistency is the most useful thing in the record.
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.
Innate strength / Acquired strength / Seasonal strength
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-2.2.28 / 2.2.29 / 2.2.30 · standard
WHO's order differs from Charaka's (sahaja, kālaja, yuktikṛta). Its 'Seasonal strength' description reads 'Strength attained by virtue of a favourable season or age, i.e. winter season, youth', correctly including age, which the English term alone hides.
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.
three kinds of strength … Natural strength
Charaka Samhita, tr. Kaviratna (1896-1913) · Sutrasthana 11 · translation
He renders sahaja as 'natural strength', kālaja periphrastically, and yuktikṛta as 'that which is due to exertion'.
strength / vitality / resistance / immunity
Indian Ayurvedic college usage · textbook · our paraphrase of the source, not its words
'Immunity' is the commonest modern Indian rendering and the one WHO endorses; it is also the most consequential, since it invites claims the classical term does not license.
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 11:36 · checked against the source
त्रिविधं बलमिति- सहजं, कालजं, युक्तिकृतं च| सहजं यच्छरीरसत्त्वयोः प्राकृतं, कालकृतमृतुविभागजं वयःकृतं च, युक्तिकृतं पुनस्तद्यदाहारचेष्टायोगजम्||३६||
The three-fold classification and its address. sahaja bala is prākṛta to BOTH śarīra and sattva, and kālaja is explicitly both ṛtu-derived and vayas-derived, so 'seasonal strength' alone is incomplete.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 11:34 · checked against the source
अथ खलु त्रय उपस्तम्भाः, त्रिविधं बलं, त्रीण्यायतनानि, त्रयो रोगाः, त्रयो रोगमार्गाः, त्रिविधा भिषजः, त्रिविधमौषधमिति||३४||
Sets the context: the three-fold bala is announced in a list of triads at verse 34 and expounded at 36, immediately after the three upastambhas.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 11:36 · checked against the source
There are three kinds of strength, viz., that which is due to one's nature, that which is due to a particular season ( of life or the year ) ; and that which is due to exertion ( such as physical exercise, the use of invigorating food and spices and liquors, &c). Natural strength implies that kind of strength which inheres to the very nature of one's body and mind.
Public-domain English for Su 11/36, preserving the body-and-mind scope of sahaja bala.
Charaka SamhitaVimanasthana 8:94 · checked against the source
tasmādāturaṁ parīkṣēta … balapramāṇaviśēṣagrahaṇahētōḥ||94||
Why bala anchors this whole term group: the stated purpose of the entire ten-fold examination is grasping the particular measure of strength. Bala is not one of the ten items; it is what the ten items are for. Ellipsis marks the ten-item list quoted in full in the prakriti record.
Charaka SamhitaVimanasthana 8:102 · checked against the source
sārataścēti sārāṇyaṣṭau puruṣāṇāṁ balamānaviśēṣajñānārthamupadiśyantē||102||
Confirms the same purpose clause for sāra specifically: the eight sāras are taught for knowing the measure of strength.
Where this term does work in the theory
2 concept records name this term as one of their components. Each gloss is that record's own.
- Ojas and the Ayurvedic Account of Resistance to Disease as Bala
- Strength, in the classical usage covering physical capacity, resistance and resilience; often used as the observable proxy for ojas. Charaka divides it three ways, by nature, by season and by exertion, in Sutrasthana 11 (quoted below), and Charaka Sutrasthana 30 says flatly that "The Ojas is the strength of the body."
- Ritucharya: the classical rationale for seasonal regimen
- Seasonal strength. Charaka states men are weak in the first season of visarga (rains) and the last of adana (summer), intermediate in the two middle seasons, and strongest in the last of visarga (hemanta) and the first of adana (shishira).
Not to be confused with
- vyādhikṣamatva
- WHO both merges them (ITA-2.2.27) and separates them (ITA-4.8.25). Su 11/36 defines bala without reference to disease resistance at all: sahaja bala is what is natural to body and mind. Treating them as one word is a modern move WHO has half-adopted.
- ojas
- A distinct WHO headword. Ojas is a substance; bala a capacity. Their classical relation is a live question, not a settled identity.
- vyāyāmaśakti
- Vi 8/121 says bala is inferred from karmaśakti; vyāyāmaśakti is evidence for bala, not bala.
- sāra
- Vi 8/102 says the sāras are taught in order to know bala. Indicator, not identity.
- dhātusāmya
- WHO ITA-2.2.26, whose criteria include 'increase in strength', so bala is a sign of dhātusāmya, hence distinct from it.
- bala as disease strength
- Vi 8/101 grades vyādhi-bala, the strength of the DISEASE, with the same word. A bare 'bala' in a nidāna passage may be the illness's strength, not the patient's.
Renderings that do not hold
- immunity. WHO's own first word at ITA-2.2.27, and the most consequential error in this group. Su 11/36 defines bala by what is natural to body and mind, by season and age, and by diet and activity, none of which is an immune mechanism. 'Immunity' licenses infection-resistance claims the classical definition does not support.
- seasonal strength (for kālaja bala). Incomplete. Su 11/36 says kālaja bala is ṛtu-vibhāgaja AND vayaḥkṛta. WHO's description catches this even though its English term does not.
- acquired strength (for yuktikṛta bala). Loses the specificity. yukti means rational contrivance; Su 11/36 says it arises from the yoking of āhāra and ceṣṭā. 'Acquired' could equally describe kālaja.
- physical strength. sahaja bala is explicitly prākṛta to śarīra AND sattva; restricting bala to the body contradicts the defining verse.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Is bala a headword in this lexicon or a cross-cutting concept? Vi 8/94 makes it the purpose of the examination rather than an item in it, which argues for a concept record rather than a term record.
- What is the classical relation between bala and ojas, and do Chakrapani and Gangadhara agree?
- Why does WHO carry vyādhikṣamatvam twice, once merged with balam and once alone?
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, bala
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/bala/, 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.