guṇa: what the term means and how it is translated
guṇa गुण is an Ayurvedic technical term. It is rendered into English in 7 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 | guṇa |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | गुण |
| Also written | guṇāḥ (pl.), gurvādi guṇa (the twenty), sattva/rajas/tamas (mahāguṇa, different sense) |
| Category, as gathered | padartha |
| Grouped here under | Foundations and categories |
| Classical citations | 4 |
| 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.
Property, quality or trait
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-1.9.4.1 'guṇaḥ': 'Attribute, property or quality of a substance; it forms an inseparable entity with substance (dravya); quality is devoid of any action on its own, although it is responsible for action through dravya.'; also ITA-1.9.1.3 guṇa-sāmānyam 'Quality exists in substance.' · comparator
Tracks Ca.Su.1.51 (niśceṣṭa) closely. Section 1.9.4 then runs to the sāttvika etc. and the 41 gunas.
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.
properties of a substance; present in the substance as a co inherent factor to perform a definite set of actions; might be physical, chemical, pharmacological, etc. but mainly pertains to the pharmacological properties.
National Institute of Ayurveda, WHO-APW 'Standardization of Non-Clinical Terminologies of Ayurveda' (nia.nic.in/pdf/TERMINOLOGIES.pdf) · DG0086 'guṇa'; also BP0104 guṇāntarādhānam 'modulation of property'; DG0263 sāmānya guṇa 'Common property' · comparator
Pharmacological framing; 'mainly pertains to the pharmacological properties' is a modern gloss.
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.
properties (in the list of six); attributes (in the definition and at the enumeration); 'the attributes of matter'
Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.1 his printed 27 ('properties'), his 48 ('are called attributes'), his 50 ('is called attribute'); his 54 region ('the attributes of matter') · public-domain translation
Kaviratna switches from 'properties' in the list to 'attributes' in the definitions. His footnote to his 48 says 'The word rendered properties is artha', i.e. in that verse 'properties' translates artha (sense-objects), not guna.
Guna (attribute)
Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Vi.8, his printed 28 (= standard 8.29) · public-domain translation
Consistent with his Su.1 definitional choice.
attributes; virtues; properties (e.g. 'the attributes of taste, etc.'; 'five factors (of substance, taste, virtues, etc.)'; 'native or inherent properties')
Sushruta Samhita tr. K. L. Bhishagratna, public domain (wisdomlib.org) · Su.Su.40 (Bhishagratna's chapter XL) · public-domain translation
Three words in one chapter; 'virtues' is Edwardian pharmacy English for guna.
Attribute (as one of the 'Predicables')
Vaiśeṣika Sūtra 1.1.4 tr. Nandalal Sinha (1923), as presented on wisdomlib.org · https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/vaisheshika-sutra-commentary/d/doc427557.html · comparator (non-Ayurvedic philosophical text)
The Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika Indological default.
quality
WHO ITA-1.9.1 description of the six ('quality (gunaḥ)') and carakasamhitaonline wiki link label 'guna' · ITA-1.9.1; https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Rogabhishagjitiya_Vimana&action=raw · comparator / modern online edition
'Quality' is the most common textbook rendering; WHO uses it in the six-category list but 'Property, quality or trait' as the headword.
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.
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 1:Standard 1.51 (carakasamhitaonline numbering); Kaviratna prints 50 · checked against the source
That, on the other hand, which is inherent, and which is the passive cause, is called attribute.
The definition of guna: inherent (samavāyī), inactive (niśceṣṭa), a cause. Sanskrit as retrieved from https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Deerghanjiviteeya_Adhyaya&action=raw : समवायी तु निश्चेष्टः कारणं गुणः||५१||. 'Passive' is Kaviratna's rendering of niśceṣṭa (without activity).
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 1:Standard 1.49; Kaviratna prints 48 · checked against the source
The properties (of vision, taste, scent, touch, and hearing), pairs of opposites (such as heavy and light, heat and cold, &c.), the intellect, pleasure and pain, and desire and aversion and will, and the qualities of dissimilarity and others (i.e., dissimilarity, contrariety, union, number, composition, division, separateness, measure, inertia and contiguity) are called attributes, while all functions such as (of the mind in) will, are called action.
The enumeration of gunas: the sense-objects (artha), the gurvādi pairs, buddhi and the series ending in prayatna, and the parādi series. Sanskrit: सार्था गुर्वादयो बुद्धिः प्रयत्नान्ताः परादयः| गुणाः प्रोक्ताः प्रयत्नादि कर्म चेष्टितमुच्यते||४९||. All bracketed expansions are Kaviratna's. His footnote (translator's note, not text) reads: 'The word rendered properties is artha. They are, as explained by the commentator, the sensations, viz., vision, taste, touch, scent, and hearing' and admits 'I am not sure as to what parādaya means'.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 1:Standard 1.28-29; Kaviratna prints 27-28 · checked against the source
Those great Rishis (then) beheld duly, with the eye of knowledge, similarities, dissimilarities, properties, objects, and operations, as also compositions.
Guna ('properties') among the six. Sanskrit: सामान्यं च विशेषं च गुणान् द्रव्याणि कर्म च||२८||.
Sushruta SamhitaSutrasthana 40 (Bhishagratna's chapter XL):Standard 40.3 per siva.sh for the dravya argument; Bhishagratna prints no verse numbers · checked against the source
Fifthly because, a drug or a substance is the receptacle of the attributes of taste, etc., while the latter are the things contained.
The guna-as-contained / dravya-as-container relation (āśrayatvāc ca, dravyam āśritā rasādayaḥ in the Sanskrit retrieved from siva.sh). Also in the same chapter: 'Since an attribute per se can not be possessed of another attribute, the eight kinds of potency (properties) can only appertain to a substance and not to a taste, which is an attribute in itself.' (the nirguṇā guṇāḥ principle in Bhishagratna's words).
Not to be confused with
- dravya
- Ca.Su.1.51: dravya is the substratum and samavāyi-kāraṇa; guna inheres in it and is niśceṣṭa. Bhishagratna: receptacle versus thing contained.
- karma
- Ca.Su.1.49: 'are called attributes, while all functions such as (of the mind in) will, are called action'. Guna is passive, karma is activity (prayatnādi ceṣṭita).
- artha (sense-objects)
- Kaviratna's footnote to his 48: the word he renders 'properties' at the head of the guna list is artha (śabda, sparśa, rūpa, rasa, gandha), which are a subclass of guna, not a synonym.
- gurvādi guṇa (the twenty)
- The twenty pharmacological pairs are one sub-series of Ca.Su.1.49's list; guna as a padārtha is the whole category including buddhi, sukha/duḥkha, icchā/dveṣa, prayatna and the parādi gunas. NIA DG0086's 'mainly pertains to the pharmacological properties' narrows to this subset.
- sattva, rajas, tamas (mahāguṇa / triguṇa)
- WHO ITA-1.9.4.2 lists them under the same heading, but they are Sāṃkhya constituents of prakṛti, not inherent properties of a dravya in Charaka's Su.1.49 sense.
- guna as 'virtue' (merit)
- Bhishagratna's 'virtues' is pharmacy English ('the virtues of a herb'); the ethical sense of guna (good quality of a person) is a separate use.
Renderings that do not hold
- virtue. Bhishagratna and Kaviratna both use it; modern English reads it as moral merit.
- property (as if only physical/chemical). Ca.Su.1.49 counts buddhi, pleasure, pain, desire, aversion and effort among gunas; a reader equating guna with material properties will not recognise half the list.
- quality (as 'grade' or 'excellence'). The ordinary English sense of 'quality' (high/low quality) is absent from the technical term.
- energy. Popular writing; the abstract of PMID 22408303 even calls the mahāgunas 'the prime energy'. Charaka's definition is the opposite: guna is niśceṣṭa, without activity.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Chakrapāṇi on parādi gunas (Su.1.49) not retrieved; Kaviratna himself confesses uncertainty about 'parādaya'.
- Whether Sushruta anywhere gives a categorial definition of guna (as opposed to using it) was not established; only Su.40 was read.
- Relation between WHO's 41 gunas (ITA-1.9.4 series) and Charaka's 1.49 list not tabulated.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, guṇa
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/guna/, 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.