kāraṇa: what the term means and how it is translated
kāraṇa कारण 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 | kāraṇa |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | कारण |
| Also written | kāraṇam, karaṇa (करण, instrument; a DIFFERENT word often written identically in roman script), hetu, kartā, samavāyi-kāraṇa / asamavāyi-kāraṇa / nimitta-kāraṇa |
| 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.
Causative agent
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-1.8.2.29 'kāraṇam': 'The agent which initiates action independently; also denoted as cause (hetu) or doer (karma). It may be of three types: inherent cause (samavayikarana), non-inherent cause (asamavayi-karaṇa) and efficient cause (nimitta-karana).'; ITA-1.8.2.30 samavāyikāraṇam 'Inherent cause'; ITA-1.8.2.31 asamavāyi-kāraṇam 'Non-inherent cause'; ITA-1.8.2.32 nimitta-kāraṇam 'Efficient cause ... This resembles the cause of the same name in Aristotelianism.' · comparator
Note WHO's 'doer (karma)' where the Sanskrit of Ca.Vi.8.69 has kartā; this looks like an error in WHO (karma for kartā).
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.
Principal agent
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-1.11.2 'kāraṇam': 'The means by which an action is effectuated, the idea expressed by instrumental cause: in the medical context may often refer to the physician, who is instrumental in maintaining fundamental bodily equilibrium.'; ITA-1.11.3 'karaṇam': 'Tool, instrument: The tool or instrument used for treatment, i.e. a medicine or procedure.'; ITA-1.11.1 daśavidhaparīkṣyabhāvaḥ lists 'principal agent (karana); tool, instrument (karana)' · comparator
WHO has two separate kāraṇa headwords (epistemology section and ten-factors section) and renders them differently ('Causative agent' vs 'Principal agent'). In ITA-1.11.1 both kāraṇa and karaṇa appear as 'karana' in the English column, which is exactly the confusion this entry exists to prevent.
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.
Ayurveda uses the term Karana (cause) for Padartha
National Institute of Ayurveda, WHO-APW 'Standardization of Non-Clinical Terminologies of Ayurveda' · BP0178 'padārthaḥ' (within its definition); DG0102 'kāraṇa dravya': 'Causative substances that are said to be the cause of manifestation of all other substances; nine in number.'; DG0277 'samavāyi kāraṇa': 'inherent cause;'; BP0128 'karaṇam': '1. Subordinate cause 2. Sensory and motor organ 3. medicines'; SK0099 'karaṇa': 'The means or instrument by which an action is effected , the idea expressed by the instrumental cause, instrumentality' · comparator
The NIA glossary has no standalone kāraṇa headword that I found; it covers the compounds and treats karaṇa (instrument) separately.
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.
Kārana (cause); 'that which does an act. That, again, is (otherwise) called Hetu, as also Actor'
Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Vi.8 his printed 80 (enumeration) and the following aphorism (his number OCR-garbled; by sequence 81) · public-domain translation
Kaviratna keeps the Sanskrit and glosses in brackets. He consistently distinguishes Kārana (cause) from Karana (means/instrument).
Cause (in 'Thus is explained Cause as also Action or Effect')
Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.1 his printed 52 (= standard 1.53 'ityuktaṁ kāraṇaṁ kāryaṁ') · public-domain translation
Here kāraṇa sums up the six categories just defined (dravya, guna, karma, samavāya etc. as the causes) and kārya is dhātusāmya.
cause or doer
carakasamhitaonline.com section heading at Vi.8.69 ('Karana (cause or doer)') and translation body · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Rogabhishagjitiya_Vimana&action=raw · modern online edition (CC BY-NC-SA)
Heading only quoted.
Samavayi-Karana (rendered 'by way of cause and effect' / 'inseparable inherence')
Sushruta Samhita tr. K. L. Bhishagratna, public domain · Su.Su.40 (Bhishagratna's chapter XL): 'these attributes have an inseparable inherence in and are intimately associated with the substance by way of cause and effect (Samavayi-Karana)' · public-domain translation
Bhishagratna paraphrases rather than translating the compound.
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 SamhitaVimanasthana 8:Standard 8.69 (carakasamhitaonline numbering); Kaviratna's printed number OCR-garbled ('*1'), by sequence 81 between his legible 80 and 87 · checked against the source
Amongst these, Kārana is that which does an act. That, again, is (otherwise) called Hetu, as also Actor.
The definition of kāraṇa in the ten factors to be examined before action: the agent, identified with hetu and kartā. Sanskrit as retrieved from https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Rogabhishagjitiya_Vimana&action=raw : तत्र कारणं नाम तद्यत्करोति, स एव हेतुः, स कर्ता||६९||. OCR 'Kdrana' corrected to Kārana.
Charaka SamhitaVimanasthana 8:Standard 8.68; Kaviratna prints 80 · checked against the source
The actor, with unsurpassable intensity of resolution, should, for accomplishing it, set himself to achieve an act that is fraught with desirable results, being deeply engaged on it, and after having properly ascertained (Kārana) cause, (Karana) means, (Kāryya-yoni) springs of actions, (Kāryya) action, (Kāryya-phala) fruits of action, (Anubandha) adjuncts, (Deśa) place, (Kāla) time, (Pravritti) exertion and (Upāya) instruments.
The enumeration of the ten factors, with Kaviratna's bracketed renderings. Sanskrit: ज्ञात्वा हि कारण-करण-कार्ययोनि-कार्य-कार्यफलानुबन्ध-देश-काल-प्रवृत्त्युपायान् सम्यगभिनिर्वर्तमानः...||६८||. Kaviratna's printed 80 is twelve ahead of the standard 68 in this block (read, not computed; his legible 87 and 88 fall on standard 75 and 76 by content).
Charaka SamhitaVimanasthana 8:Standard 8.84; Kaviratna's printed number illegible in OCR · checked against the source
In this connection, the Kārana (cause) for the accomplishment of action is the physician. The Karana (or instrument) is medicine. The Kāryya-yoni (material cause) is absence of harmony, among the dhātus or constituent elements of the body. The Kāryya (action, or, rather, result of energy spent) is restoration of harmony among the dhātus.
The medical application: kāraṇa = physician, karaṇa = medicine, kāryayoni = dhātuvaiṣamya, kārya = dhātusāmya. Sanskrit: इह कार्यप्राप्तौ कारणं भिषक्, करणं पुनर्भेषजं, कार्ययोनिर्धातुवैषम्यं, कार्यं धातुसाम्यं, कार्यफलं सुखावाप्तिः...||८४||. Kaviratna's '(material cause)' and 'or, rather, result of energy spent' are his glosses.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 1:Standard 1.53; Kaviratna prints 52 · checked against the source
Thus is explained Cause as also Action or Effect. The restoration of the ingredient humours (of the human body) to their normal state will now be explained.
That Charaka sums up the six categories as kāraṇa (cause) and names dhātusāmya as the kārya. Sanskrit: इत्युक्तं कारणं कार्यं धातुसाम्यमिहोच्यते| धातुसाम्यक्रिया चोक्ता तन्त्रस्यास्य प्रयोजनम्||५३||. This is the textual basis for the NIA BP0178 remark that Ayurveda calls the padārthas 'kāraṇa'.
Not to be confused with
- karaṇa (करण, instrument)
- A different word with a short first vowel. Ca.Vi.8.70 defines karaṇa as what serves as upakaraṇa (means) for the agent; Vi.8.84 makes it the medicine while kāraṇa is the physician. Kaviratna: 'Kārana (cause)' vs 'Karana (means)'. WHO ITA-1.11.1 prints both as 'karana' in English. Roman-script sources without diacritics merge them.
- hetu
- Ca.Vi.8.69 identifies them ('sa eva hetuḥ'), but hetu is also the nidāna-sense cause of disease and the 'reason' in a syllogism (Vi.8.33 hetur nāmopalabdhikāraṇaṁ). Kaviratna elsewhere (Nidanasthana) lists 'Hetu, Nimitta, Āyatana, Kartri, Kārana, Pratyaya, Samutthāna' as synonyms of disease-cause.
- kārya
- Effect versus cause: Vi.8.72 kārya is what the agent sets out to accomplish; Su.1.53 kārya = dhātusāmya, kāraṇa = the six categories.
- the six padārthas
- Su.1.53 and NIA BP0178 show Ayurveda calling the six categories collectively 'kāraṇa' (causes of dhātusāmya). So 'kāraṇa' can mean either the whole set of six or the agent/physician in the ten-factor list.
- samavāyi / asamavāyi / nimitta kāraṇa
- The Vaiśeṣika threefold analysis (WHO ITA-1.8.2.30-32). Ca.Su.1.51 uses only samavāyi: dravya is the samavāyi-kāraṇa. The three-fold scheme is not stated in the Charaka verses read.
Renderings that do not hold
- instrument / means / tool (for kāraṇa). Those render karaṇa. WHO ITA-1.11.2's 'the idea expressed by instrumental cause' for kāraṇa imports the karaṇa sense into the kāraṇa headword.
- doer (karma). WHO ITA-1.8.2.29 writes 'doer (karma)'; the Sanskrit (Vi.8.69) has kartā. Karma is action, kartā is doer.
- reason (as in 'the reason why'). Kaviratna renders hetu as 'reason' in the debate context (Vi.8); kāraṇa in Vi.8.69 is the agent that acts, not an argument.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- The task listed 'karana' without diacritics. This record treats it as kāraṇa and records karaṇa under distinguishFrom; if the lexicon wants a separate karaṇa entry, Ca.Vi.8.70 and 8.84, WHO ITA-1.11.3 and NIA BP0128/SK0099 are the anchors already retrieved.
- Kaviratna's printed numbers for Vi.8.69-73 and 8.84 are OCR-garbled; a human should read the page images to confirm 81-85.
- Chakrapāṇi on 'sa eva hetuḥ, sa kartā' not retrieved.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, kāraṇa
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/karana/, 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.