daivavyapāśraya: what the term means and how it is translated
daivavyapāśraya दैवव्यपाश्रय 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 | daivavyapāśraya |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | दैवव्यपाश्रय |
| Also written | daiva-vyapāśraya cikitsā, daivavyapāśrayacikitsā, daivī cikitsā, daiva vyapashraya chikitsa, daivavyapashraya |
| Category, as gathered | chikitsa |
| Grouped here under | Examination and treatment |
| Classical citations | 3 |
| 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 rituals
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-9.1.14 daivavyapāśrayacikitsā, daivīcikitsā: 'One of the treatment classifications: spiritual therapies include the incantation of mantra, talismans, wearing gems, auspicious offerings, gifts, oblations, atonements, fasting and pilgrimage.' Paired with ITA-9.1.26 yuktivyapāśrayacikitsā, mānuṣīcikitsā 'Structured therapy based on clinical reasoning'. · comparator-standard
WHO's headword is 'Therapeutic rituals' with 'spiritual therapies' in the description; the list follows Ca.Su.11.54. Its yukti counterpart is rendered with the modern phrase 'evidence-based'.
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.
non-pharmacological management of illness applying spiritual intervention
NIA Jaipur / WHO-APW draft terminology (2011) · entry BP0090 daivavyapāśraya · comparator-draft
Draft gloss; 'non-pharmacological' is a biomedical frame.
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.
medicines ... that depend for their action upon the deities and invisible influences
Kaviratna, Charaka Samhita, Sutrasthana Lesson XI · archive.org BIUSante_47357 OCR, his printed 56 (standard 11.54) · public-domain-translation
Kaviratna renders auṣadha as 'medicines' and daiva as 'the deities and invisible influences'; he does not transliterate the compound.
dependence on the unobservable
G. L. Krishna, Indian J Med Ethics 2023 (PMID 36880463) · 'daiva-vyapashraya (literally, dependence on the unobservable) and yukti-vyapashraya (dependence on reason)' · peer-reviewed-gloss
A literal etymological gloss, offered in a polemical note; 'unobservable' is one reading of daiva (fate / the divine / the unseen).
spiritual therapy / divine therapy / faith healing
Common textbook usage; PubMed PMID 23049189 'three modes of healing ... Daiva-Vyapashraya'; PMID 24049402 'Daiva Vyapashraya Chikitsa which includes of Manidharana and chanting Mantras' · textbook-usage · our paraphrase of the source, not its words
'Spiritual' and 'divine' dominate; see mistranslations.
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 (Tisraiṣaṇīya):Standard Sutrasthana 11.54 (carakasamhitaonline / Trikamji, unit closed ||५४||); Kaviratna prints 55 (Lesson XI, his p. 130, archive.org BIUSante_47357 leaf 193), ONE ahead here · checked against the source
त्रिविधमौषधमिति- दैवव्यपाश्रयं, युक्तिव्यपाश्रयं, सत्त्वावजयश्च| तत्र दैवव्यपाश्रयं- मन्त्रौषधिमणिमङ्गलबल्युपहारहोमनियमप्रायश्चित्तोपवासस्वस्त्ययनप्रणिपातगमनादि,युक्तिव्यपाश्रयं- पुनराहारौषधद्रव्याणां योजना, सत्त्वावजयः- पुनरहितेभ्योऽर्थेभ्यो मनोनिग्रहः||५४||
The locus classicus: auṣadha is threefold; daivavyapāśraya comprises mantra, herbs (auṣadhi), gems (maṇi), auspicious rites, offerings (bali, upahāra), oblation (homa), observances (niyama), expiation (prāyaścitta), fasting (upavāsa), benedictions (svastyayana), prostration (praṇipāta), pilgrimage (gamana) and the like.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana Lesson XI:Kaviratna Lesson XI, printed aphorism 55 (his p. 130, archive.org BIUSante_47357 leaf 193), the number placed after the third-kind sentence = standard Sutrasthana 11.54 (carakasamhitaonline / Trikamji) · checked against the source
Medicines are of three kinds; those that depend for their action upon the deities and invisible influences; those that depend for their application and action upon knowledge and reason; and those that appertain to the subjugation of the mind. Among these, mantras, herbs and plants of invisible virtue (if kept in contact with the body), gems, auspicious rites, offerings in sacrifices, offers of articles to the deities in course of worship or religious rites, libations of meat and ghee on the sacred fire, practice of vows, expiatory ceremonies and rites, fasts, propitiatory rites, bows to the deities, and pilgrimage to sacred waters and shrines, constitute medicines of the first kind.
Kaviratna's rendering of 11.54; his 'herbs and plants of invisible virtue (if kept in contact with the body)' expands auṣadhi with a gloss; 'libations of meat and ghee' expands homa.
Ashtanga HridayaUttarasthana (GRETIL file section containing bhūtavidyā/graha chapters) Not established; GRETIL line reads 'śāpātharvaṇa-mantrotthe vidhir daiva-vyapāśrayaḥ' and a variant note '5.83dv ... daiva-vyapāśrayaṃ tat tad atharvoktaṃ ca pūjitam' · address only, nothing quoted to check
Vāgbhaṭa uses the compound and ties it to Atharvan rites; chapter and verse not determined from the plaintext.
Not to be confused with
- yuktivyapāśraya
- The second of the three auṣadhas in Ca.Su.11.54: rational combination of diet and drugs (WHO ITA-9.1.26 'Structured therapy based on clinical reasoning').
- sattvāvajaya
- The third: restraint of the mind from harmful objects (Ca.Su.11.54); not a ritual and not a drug.
- daivabalapravṛtta roga
- Disease classified by cause (WHO ITA entry 'daivabalapravṛttarogaḥ'); daivavyapāśraya is a class of treatment, not of disease.
- mantra / maṇi / homa individually
- These are items in the daivavyapāśraya list, not synonyms for it; WHO gives them separate sub-entries (e.g. ITA-9.1.15 'Chanting of auspicious hymns').
- bhūtavidyā
- The speciality dealing with graha/possession; daivavyapāśraya is a treatment mode available across specialities.
Renderings that do not hold
- faith healing. Imports a Christian/evangelical practice; the Charaka list is a set of ritual actions (homa, prāyaścitta, upavāsa, gamana) rather than belief as the agent.
- divine therapy / treatment by God. Daiva in Ca.Su.11 contrasts with yukti (human reasoning) and is close to 'fate' or 'the unseen'; the list includes fasting and pilgrimage, which are not interventions by a deity.
- spiritual therapy (unqualified). Widely used (WHO description, NIA gloss) but it absorbs sattvāvajaya, which Charaka keeps separate as mind-control.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- The AH Uttarasthana locus for daiva-vyapāśraya was seen only as plaintext lines in GRETIL; chapter and verse need establishing against a printed edition.
- Whether Sushruta uses the compound was not checked.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, daivavyapāśraya
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/daiva-vyapashraya/, 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.