# dinacaryā (दिनचर्या) > Canonical version of this page: https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/dinacharya/ An Ayurvedic technical term, rendered into English in 6 different ways. The renderings do not agree, and the difference between them changes what the term is taken to mean. ## Identification | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Transliteration | dinacaryā | | Devanagari | दिनचर्या | | Also written | dinacharya, dincharya, dinacaryā adhyāya (AH.Su.2 chapter title) | | Category, as gathered | swasthavritta | | Grouped under | Regimen and constitution | | Classical citations | 5 | | 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. ### Daily routine WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-10.3.1: 'A term covering activities related to diet, lifestyle, work and recreation from the time an individual wakes up through to sleep: it is prescribed in accordance with natural diurnal rhythms and their impact on the human body and mind based on the person's age, place of habitation and seasonal cycle.' · comparator-standard WHO pairs it with ITA-10.3.2 rātricaryā 'Night routine' (no description) and ITA-10.3.3 ṛtucaryā 'Seasonal routine'. 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. ### Made out of two words, Dina and Charya. Dina refers to Day/day time/day today and Charya refers to regimen/routine work which includes Ahara (Food) and Vihara (activities), thus Dinacharaya means daily routines or day to day regimens. NIA Jaipur / WHO-APW draft (2011) · SV0089 dinacaryā · comparator-draft 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 term) - chapter title rendered 'Matrashitiya (proper measure in respect of diet)'; regimen items listed individually (collyrium, the stick to be smoked, the stick for brushing the teeth, rubbing the body with oil...) Kaviratna, Charaka-Samhita (1896-1913) · Sutrasthana Lesson V · public-domain-translation Charaka has no chapter or term 'dinacharya'; the daily-regimen material sits in Su.5 under the heading of food quantity. Kaviratna accordingly never uses the word. ### the rules of hygiene and the prophilactic measures in general Bhishagratna, Sushruta Samhita Chikitsa-sthana Ch. XXIV (Anagatabadha-pratishedha) (1911) · https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-4-cikitsasthana/d/doc142934.html · public-domain-translation Sushruta's daily-regimen chapter is titled 'prevention of future afflictions'; Bhishagratna does not use 'daily regimen'. ### Daily regimen for preservation of health (dinacharya); daily regimen Charak Samhita New Edition wiki (carakasamhitaonline.com) · textbook/secondary The source's own wording is not reproduced here: the CSRTSDC/Charak Samhita New Edition English, in copyright. ### daily regimen; daily routine; Ayurvedic daily routine Common textbook and popular renderings · textbook · our paraphrase of the source, not its words ## The classical passages ### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 5 (Matrashitiya):71-73 (numbering as printed on carakasamhitaonline.com), checked against the source > आपोथिताग्रं द्वौ कालौ कषायकटुतिक्तकम्||७१|| भक्षयेद्दन्तपवनं दन्तमांसान्यबाधयन्| निहन्ति गन्धं वैरस्यं जिह्वादन्तास्यजं मलम्||७२|| निष्कृष्य रुचिमाधत्ते सद्यो दन्तविशोधनम्| करञ्जकरवीरार्कमालतीककुभासनाः||७३|| tr. none (Sanskrit) · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Matrashiteeya_Adhyaya A representative daily-regimen item in Charaka (tooth-stick, twice daily, astringent/pungent/bitter, without injuring gums). The chapter contains no word 'dinacaryā'; the carakasamhitaonline page uses it only in its own headings/keywords. ### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 5:3 (carakasamhitaonline numbering), checked against the source > मात्राशी स्यात्| आहारमात्रा पुनरग्निबलापेक्षिणी||३|| tr. none (Sanskrit) · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Matrashiteeya_Adhyaya The chapter opens with food quantity, showing that Charaka frames the regimen chapter around mātrā rather than a 'daily routine'. ### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana Lesson V (Kaviratna):Kaviratna Lesson V, his printed 63 (the tooth-stick rule, with dagger footnote) and 64 (its effects), pp. 60-61 (page image; the djvu OCR prints '88' and '84'); standard Sutrasthana 5.71cd-73ab per carakasamhitaonline Matrashiteeya_Adhyaya (||७१|| आपोथिताग्रं द्वौ कालौ कषायकटुतिक्तकम्; ||७२|| भक्षयेद्दन्तपवनं दन्तमांसान्यबाधयन्| निहन्ति गन्धं वैरस्यं जिह्वादन्तास्यजं मलम्; ||७३|| निष्कृष्य रुचिमाधत्ते सद्यो दन्तविशोधनम्). Recorded separately, not converted., checked against the source > The stick for brushing the teeth should be either astringent or pungent or bitter. One of its ends should be chewed into the form of a brush. It should he used twice a day, taking care that the gums be not injured. The process (of washing the teeth thus) destroys bad odor and bad taste. It removes sordes from the tongue, teeth, and mouth, and quickly produces appetite and purifies the teeth. tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt Kaviratna's English for the tooth-stick rule (astringent, pungent or bitter stick, end chewed to a brush, used twice daily without hurting the gums; removes bad odour and taste, clears sordes, restores appetite). His footnote 'To this day many Hindus wash their teeth twice a day... A brush once used should not be used again.—T.' is the translator's note, not the text. In Su.5 his numbers run about eight BEHIND the standard (his 63-64 = std 71-73). ### Sushruta Samhita Chikitsa-sthana XXIV (Anagatabadha-pratishedha; Bhishagratna's chapter number):Sanskrit verse numbers not established (Bhishagratna prints none), checked against the source > Now we shall discourse on the rules of hygiene and the prophilactic measures in general ... A man should leave his bed early in the morning and brush his teeth. The tooth-brush should be made of a fresh twig of a tree or a plant grown on a commendable tract and it should be straight, not worm-eaten, devoid of any knot or at most with one knot only ... What is (popularly) known as physical exercise is (nothing but) a sense of weariness from bodily labour, and it should be taken every day. After taking physical exercise, the whole body should be shampooed, until it gives rise to a comfortable sensation in the limbs. tr. Kunja Lal Bhishagratna · https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-4-cikitsasthana/d/doc142934.html Sushruta's daily-regimen chapter (rising, tooth-brushing, exercise, massage) framed as prophylaxis against future disease. ### Ashtanga Hridaya Sutrasthana 2 (Dinacaryā adhyāya):1 (verse number not printed on retrieved page; conventionally 2.1) **Quotation withheld:** nobody has yet read this quotation against its printed source, and an unchecked quotation is not published here. The passage is at https://ahsutrasthana.blogspot.com/2013/10/2-dinacharya-adhyaya-daily-regimen.html Vagbhata is the text that uses 'Dinacaryā' as a chapter title; the opening verse prescribes rising in brāhma muhūrta to protect life. Verse number not displayed on the retrieved page. ## The concept record for this term A term entry answers what the word means. It does not answer whether the thing the word names is settled, and often it is not. That is what the concept record is for: it sets out the questions on which the sources disagree about this term, with each position attributed, and states what is not established. - [Dinacharya: the classical rationale for a daily regimen](https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/concept/dinacharya-rationale/) ## Not to be confused with - **rātricaryā.** Night regimen (WHO ITA-10.3.2); dinacaryā in the texts actually runs from waking to sleep, so textbooks sometimes fold night into day. - **ṛtucaryā.** Seasonal regimen (Ca.Su.6, AH.Su.3); varies by season rather than by day. - **sadvṛtta.** Code of conduct (Ca.Su.8), ethical rather than hygienic, though AH.Su.2 mixes conduct rules into its dinacaryā chapter. - **svasthavṛtta.** The umbrella discipline (WHO ITA-10.1.3 'Routine(s) for health maintenance': 'Daily, seasonal and ethical regimens'); dinacaryā is one of its parts. - **Mātrāśitīya (Ca.Su.5).** Charaka's chapter containing the daily-regimen rules is named for food quantity; citing it as 'Charaka's dinacharya chapter' is a modern relabelling. ## Renderings that do not hold - Ayurvedic morning routine. Popular usage reduces dinacaryā to pre-noon practices; the texts and WHO run it from waking to sleep. - Hygiene. Bhishagratna's 'rules of hygiene' captures only part; dinacaryā includes exercise, massage, diet, conduct and sleep. - Daily ritual. Imports a religious frame; the texts give physiological rationales (e.g. tooth-stick 'produces appetite and purifies the teeth'). ## Open questions Recorded rather than resolved. - Verify the NAMASTE SAT code for dinacharya (carakasamhitaonline cites 'SAT-J.9'); the portal term list was not reachable without sign-in. - Verify AH.Su.2.1 verse number and Kaviratna's Su.5 aphorism numbers (OCR '88' is doubtful). - Does the word dinacaryā occur anywhere in Charaka or Sushruta Sanskrit? Not found in the retrieved Su.5 page; a full-text check is needed. ## Citation Age Ayurveda Nighantu, "dinacaryā", https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/dinacharya/, 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.