basti: what the term means and how it is translated
basti बस्ति 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 | basti |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | बस्ति |
| Also written | vasti, bastikarma, basti-karma, vasti-karma, nirūha / āsthāpana basti, anuvāsana / sneha basti, mātrā basti, uttara basti |
| Category, as gathered | chikitsa |
| Grouped here under | Examination and treatment |
| Classical citations | 8 |
| 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.
Therapeutic enema
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-9.2.71 bastikarma: 'The therapeutic application of medicated liquids via the rectal, urethral or vaginal routes.' Sub-types ITA-9.2.72 anuvāsanabastiḥ 'Half-dose therapeutic ghee or oily enema'; 9.2.73 snehabastiḥ 'Therapeutic ghee or oily enema'; 9.2.74 mātrābastiḥ 'Low-dose ghee or oily enema'; 9.2.75 āsthāpanabastiḥ/nirūhabastiḥ 'Therapeutic decoction enema'; 9.2.76 yāpanabastiḥ 'Palliative enema'; 9.2.85 uttarabastiḥ (vaginal/urethral). Separate anatomical entry ITA.3.11.13 'Urinary bladder' bastiḥ, vastiḥ, mūtravasti. · comparator-standard
WHO keeps the anatomical sense (bladder) and the procedural sense (bastikarma) as different entries in different chapters; its procedural definition widens the route beyond the rectum.
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.
substances used in BASTI (āsthāpana dravya, DG0015); 'Bladder' (basti, AF0477); 'substances having unctuous property used in BASTI' (anuvāsana dravya, DG0034)
NIA Jaipur / WHO-APW draft terminology (2011) · c3/nia_terms.pdf text extraction, entries DG0015, DG0016, DG0034, AF0477 · comparator-draft
The NIA draft has no stand-alone headword for the procedure; basti appears as the bladder and inside drug-class entries.
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.
enemata; 'Of all things that are destructive of wind, the best are enemata'; 'dry enemata' (for niruha) and 'oily enemata' (for anuvasana)
Kaviratna, Charaka Samhita, Sutrasthana Lessons II, XXII and XXV · archive.org BIUSante_47357 OCR; Lesson XXII his printed 18 and 26; Lesson XXV agrya list (his printed number not established); Lesson II translator's footnote · public-domain-translation
Kaviratna never transliterates the word; he uses the Latin plural 'enemata' throughout and glosses the two classes as 'dry' and 'oily' in a footnote.
Vasti (clyster, enema); 'an application of the Vasti'; 'Anuvasana-vasti (enema)'; 'asthapana'
Bhishagratna, Sushruta Samhita vol. 4, Cikitsasthana ch. XXXV and XXXVIII · wisdomlib doc142955 (ch. XXXV 'Description of a Netra and a Vasti (pipes, nozzles and apparatus)') and doc142960 (ch. XXXVIII 'The treatment with a Nirudha-vasti') · public-domain-translation
Bhishagratna keeps the Sanskrit 'Vasti' and adds 'enema' or 'clyster' in parentheses; his chapter title treats Vasti first as the apparatus.
medicated enema / therapeutic enema / basti karma
Common PubMed usage (e.g. PMID 36944117 'Basti karma (therapeutic enema)'; PMID 32278669 'Lekhana Basti (medicated enema)'; PMID 38262328 'Basti (medicated enema)') · textbook-usage
'Medicated enema' is the dominant modern gloss; it drops the apparatus and bladder senses.
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 SamhitaSiddhisthana 1 (Kalpanā Siddhi):39-40 (carakasamhitaonline numbering; standard Trikamji). No Kaviratna rendering of Siddhisthana was located in the scanned copy used. · checked against the source
तस्यातिवृद्धस्य शमाय नान्यद्बस्तिं विना भेषजमस्ति किञ्चित्||३९|| तस्माच्चिकित्सार्धमिति ब्रुवन्ति सर्वां चिकित्सामपि बस्तिमेके|४०|
For aggravated vāta there is no remedy other than basti; hence some call basti half of all treatment, or even the whole of it.
Charaka SamhitaSiddhisthana 1 (Kalpanā Siddhi):3 (carakasamhitaonline numbering) · checked against the source
का कल्पना पञ्चसु कर्मसूक्ता, क्रमश्च कः, किं च कृताकृतेषु| लिड्गं तथैवातिकृतेषु, सङ्ख्या का, किङ्गुणः, केषु च कश्च बस्तिः||३||
Agnivesha's opening questions on the five karmas single out basti: its number, qualities and indications are asked about separately.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 25 (Yajjaḥ Puruṣīya):40 (carakasamhitaonline numbering; one long prose sutra). Kaviratna's printed number for this list was not established from the OCR. · checked against the source
वमनं श्लेष्महराणां, विरेचनं पित्तहराणां,बस्तिर्वातहराणां, स्वेदो मार्दवकराणां
In the agrya (best-of) list basti is the foremost of vāta-alleviating measures; the same sutra later has 'बस्तिस्तन्त्राणां' (basti foremost among tantras/apparatus-based procedures).
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana Lesson XXV:Kaviratna's printed number not visible in OCR for this prose list; corresponds to the agrya list that carakasamhitaonline numbers 25.40 · checked against the source
Of all things that are destructive of wind, the best are enemata.
Kaviratna's rendering of bastir vātaharāṇām.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana Lesson XXII:Kaviratna's printed 16 (page image of printed p. 245, archive.org BIUSante_47357 leaf 347: the sentence closes '...included under Langhana.§16', the § being his footnote mark on 'Pachana'; the OCR garbles this as '^1 8') = standard Su 22.18 (carakasamhitaonline Langhanabrimhaniya Adhyaya prints 'चतुष्प्रकारा संशुद्धिः पिपासा मारुतातपौ | पाचनान्युपवासश्च व्यायामश्चेति लङ्घनम् ||१८||'). Kaviratna is two behind standard at this point in Lesson XXII. · checked against the source
The four kinds of corrective processes (viz., administration of emetics, of purgatives, of errhines or cerebral purgatives, and dry enemata), as also bearing thirst and wind and the heat of the Sun, drinking the medicines called Pachana, fast, and physical exercise, — these are all included under Langhana.
Kaviratna's 'dry enemata' = nirūha counted among the four saṁśuddhi; the parenthetical list is his gloss, the Sanskrit of 22.18 names none of the four.
Sushruta SamhitaCikitsasthana 35 (Netrabastipramāṇapravibhāga cikitsita):3 (sa.wikisource transcription; the project's parent page names 'Sushruta Samhita ... edited by Bhishagacharya Hari Sastri, 1980 edition', typed by Om Prakash Sharma and proofread by Maya Nand Sastri, from the peterffreund.com Vedic Literature Unicode Ayurveda collection — the chapter subpage itself names no edition and no scan is linked); Bhishagratna's section 2 (his '1.' closes the chapter's opening sentence) · checked against the source
तत्र स्नेहादीनां कर्मणां बस्तिकर्म प्रधानतममाहुराचार्याः कस्मात् अनेक-कर्मकरत्वाद्बस्तेः इह खलु बस्तिर्नानाविधद्र व्यसंयोगाद्दष्णां संशोधनसंश-मनसंग्रहणानि करोति क्षीणशुक्रं वाजीकरोति कृशं बृंहयति स्थूलं कर्शयति
Teachers (ācāryāḥ) hold bastikarma the foremost (pradhānatama) among the procedures beginning with snehana (snehādīnāṁ karmaṇām, i.e. the series oleation, sudation, emesis, purgation and the rest, not a sub-class of oleation), because it performs many actions (anekakarmakaratva): through its varied drug combinations it cleanses (saṁśodhana), pacifies (saṁśamana) and restrains (saṁgrahaṇa) the doṣas, makes the semen-depleted virile, nourishes the lean and reduces the corpulent. Bhishagratna renders the opening phrase 'the best of all measures such as, the application of a Sneha, etc.'.
Sushruta SamhitaCikitsasthana XXXV:Bhishagratna's section 2 (his own numbering, printed after the paragraph; his '1.' closes the chapter's opening sentence 'Now we shall discourse on the dimensions and classifications of a Netra and a Vasti ...'; no Sanskrit verse numbers printed). Sanskrit Ci 35.3 per sa.wikisource. · checked against the source
Sages of authority hold an application of the Vasti to be the best of all measures such as, the application of a Sneha, etc.; and why? Because on account of its varied functions and of its being composed of the various kinds of medicinal drugs a Vasti helps to restrain (Samgraha), pacify (Samshamana) and cleanse (Samshodhana) the different Doshas (morbific principles) of the body.
Bhishagratna's rendering of the Chi.35 opening; 'Vasti' kept, 'best of all measures'.
Sushruta SamhitaCikitsasthana 35:18-19 (sa.wikisource text, Hari Sastri 1980 edition) · checked against the source
तस्यापि विकल्पोऽधार्धमात्रावकृष्टोऽपरिहार्यो मात्राबस्तिरिति १८ / / :निरूहः शोधनो लेखी स्नैहिको बृंहणो मतः / :निरूहशोधितान्मार्गान् सम्यक् स्नेहोऽनुगच्छति १९
Sushruta's own typology: mātrābasti as the reduced, restriction-free variant; nirūha is cleansing/scraping, the sneha (oily) basti is nourishing (bṛṁhaṇa).
Not to be confused with
- basti (anatomical, urinary bladder)
- Same word; WHO ITA.3.11.13 'Urinary bladder' is a different entry from ITA-9.2.71 bastikarma. The procedure is named from the animal bladder used as the enema bag (Bhishagratna's note on Dallana).
- nirūha / āsthāpana basti
- The decoction (non-unctuous) enema, the cleansing type; Sushruta Chi.35.19 'nirūhaḥ śodhano lekhī'; Kaviratna 'dry enemata'; WHO ITA-9.2.75.
- anuvāsana / sneha basti
- The unctuous enema, nourishing (Chi.35.19 'snaihiko bṛṁhaṇo mataḥ'); WHO ITA-9.2.72/73 distinguish half-dose anuvāsana from full snehabasti.
- uttara basti
- Urethral or vaginal route (WHO ITA-9.2.85); WHO's bastikarma definition folds these routes in, classical usage treats them as a named sub-type.
- pañcakarma
- Charaka's five count two bastis (nirūha and anuvāsana) separately (Kaviratna's footnote, Lesson II); Vāgbhaṭa's five count nirūha once and add bloodletting (AH Su.14.5, GRETIL).
- netra
- The nozzle/pipe; Sushruta Chi.35 is titled for both Netra and Vasti, so 'vasti' in that chapter often means the bag, not the procedure.
Renderings that do not hold
- colonic irrigation / colon cleanse / detox enema. Imports hydrotherapy and pop-wellness toxin models; classical basti is a dosed medicated preparation retained or expelled on a schedule, with a nourishing (anuvāsana) class that has no cleansing aim at all.
- enema (unqualified). Collapses nirūha, anuvāsana, mātrā, yāpana and uttara basti into one biomedical procedure; the Sanskrit sources treat the classes as having opposite actions (śodhana vs bṛṁhaṇa).
- bladder (when the procedural sense is meant). Dictionary first sense; WHO keeps two entries for this reason.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Kaviratna's printed aphorism number for the Lesson XXV agrya list could not be read from the OCR; a human should check the scan for how he numbers the prose sutra that carakasamhitaonline calls 25.40.
- Whether Kaviratna's translation reaches Siddhisthana at all was not checked; the BIUSante copy used runs Sutra through Chikitsa.
- Charaka's own definition of basti by route (Siddhisthana 1.41 region, 'सम्यक् सुखेनैति च यः स बस्तिः') was seen only as a half-line; the full verse was not transcribed.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, basti
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/basti/, 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.