karma (foundations and categories): what the term means and how it is translated
karma कर्म is an Ayurvedic technical term. It is rendered into English in 6 different ways across 7 sources, 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 | karma |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | कर्म |
| Also written | karman, kriyā, ceṣṭā, pravṛtti (Vi.8.77 gives kriyā, karma, yatna, kāryasamārambha as synonyms of pravṛtti) |
| 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.
Action
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-1.9.5.1 'karma': 'Activity, one of the six ontological categories of an object. It refers to pharmacological, nutritional and action in the context of medical practice.'; also 'action (karma)' in ITA-1.9.1; ITA-1.9.1.4 karma-sāmānyam 'Similarity at the level of action: Action or physical movement which may lead to an increase in a specific element. e.g. sleep increasing kapha.' · comparator
WHO's description is grammatically broken ('pharmacological, nutritional and action') but shows the pharmacological narrowing.
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.
1. One among the six causative factors which resides in substance and responsible for pharmacological action 2. efforts done by body senses and mind
National Institute of Ayurveda, WHO-APW 'Standardization of Non-Clinical Terminologies of Ayurveda' · BP0129 'karma'; also DG0111 'karma': 'action; mainly pharmacological action arising out of breakdown & resynthesis at the mahabhautika level;' · comparator
'Six causative factors' = the six padārthas as kāraṇa. DG0111's 'breakdown & resynthesis at the mahabhautika level' is an interpretive gloss with no classical anchor retrieved.
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.
operations (in the list of six); action (in the definitions); 'Action or Effect' (in the summary)
Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.1 his printed 27 ('operations'), his 48 and 51 ('action'), his 52 ('Cause as also Action or Effect') · public-domain translation
Kaviratna's 'operations' in the list is unusual; he shifts to 'action' once defining.
(omitted)
Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Vi.8 his printed 28 (= standard 8.29): 'Dravya (substance), Guna (attribute), Samanya (similarity), Vigesha (dissimilarity), and Samavaya (combination)' · public-domain translation
Kaviratna drops Karma from the six here although the Sanskrit (द्रव्य-गुण-कर्म-सामान्य-विशेष-समवायाः) has it. A translator's omission, not a doctrine.
action
carakasamhitaonline.com section heading 'Dravya, Guna and Karma' at Su.1.48 and link label at Vi.8.29 · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Deerghanjiviteeya_Adhyaya&action=raw · modern online edition (CC BY-NC-SA)
Heading only.
Action (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)
Indological default.
action (Bhishagratna: 'A substance or drug necessarily implies action and attributes')
Sushruta Samhita tr. K. L. Bhishagratna, public domain · Su.Su.40 (Bhishagratna's chapter XL) · public-domain translation
Bhishagratna pairs 'action and attributes' for karma and guna.
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 1.52 (carakasamhitaonline numbering); Kaviratna prints 51 · checked against the source
That which is the cause of both Union and Separation, which inheres to the substance, and which represents that function which is to be, is (called) Action. Action is independent of other action.
The categorial definition of karma: cause of conjunction and disjunction, residing in dravya, the activity of what is to be done, needing nothing else. Sanskrit as retrieved from https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Deerghanjiviteeya_Adhyaya&action=raw : संयोगे च विभागे च कारणं द्रव्यमाश्रितम्| कर्तव्यस्य क्रिया कर्म कर्म नान्यदपेक्षते||५२||. Kaviratna's 'independent of other action' renders 'nānyad apekṣate' (depends on nothing else); the Sanskrit does not say 'other action'.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 1:Standard 1.49; Kaviratna prints 48 · checked against the source
...are called attributes, while all functions such as (of the mind in) will, are called action.
Karma contrasted with guna: 'prayatnādi karma ceṣṭitam ucyate' (activity beginning with effort). Sanskrit: ...गुणाः प्रोक्ताः प्रयत्नादि कर्म चेष्टितमुच्यते||४९||. '(of the mind in)' is Kaviratna's gloss.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 1:Standard (Trikamji / carakasamhitaonline) Su 1.28 through the first word of 1.29: 'sāmānyaṃ ca viśeṣaṃ ca guṇān dravyāṇi karma ca ||28|| samavāyaṃ ca ...'. Kaviratna prints '27' after 'operations,' (= Su 1.28) and '28' after 'immortal life' (= Su 1.29); 'as also compositions' is the opening of his 28 and of Su 1.29. Both numberings recorded; no conversion. · checked against the source
Those great Rishis (then) beheld duly, with the eye of knowledge, similarities, dissimilarities, properties, objects, and operations, as also compositions.
Karma ('operations') as one of the six padārthas the ṛṣis beheld, named at the close of Su 1.28; samavāya ('compositions'), the sixth, is the first word of Su 1.29. Sanskrit: सामान्यं च विशेषं च गुणान् द्रव्याणि कर्म च||२८|| समवायं च तज्ज्ञात्वा ...||२९||.
Charaka SamhitaVimanasthana 8:Standard 8.29; Kaviratna prints 28 (OCR '*23') · checked against the source
द्रव्य-गुण-कर्म-सामान्य-विशेष-समवायाः स्वलक्षणैः श्लोकस्थाने पूर्वमुक्ताः||२९||
The six including karma, referred back to their Sutrasthana definitions; the Sanskrit order here (dravya, guṇa, karma, sāmānya, viśeṣa, samavāya) is the Vaiśeṣika order, unlike Su.1.28-29. Kaviratna's English for this sentence omits Karma.
Not to be confused with
- guṇa
- Ca.Su.1.49 and 1.51: guna is niśceṣṭa (inactive), karma is ceṣṭita (activity).
- kārya
- Karma is the activity (kriyā); kārya is the result aimed at. Kaviratna's 'Action or Effect' at Su.1.53 for kārya blurs this.
- pravṛtti
- Ca.Vi.8.77 (Kaviratna: 'It is also known by the names of Kriyā, Karma, Yatna, and Kāryya-samārambha') makes karma a synonym of pravṛtti in the ten-factor list, a different register from the padārtha.
- pañcakarma / karma as therapeutic procedure
- Ca.Su.26.10 'karma pañcavidham' (see existing record karma-dravyaguna.json); therapeutic operations, not the category.
- karma as deed/destiny
- Ethical sense; irrelevant to the category.
- saṁyoga / vibhāga
- Conjunction and disjunction are gunas in the parādi series (Kaviratna's 'union ... division' at Su.1.49); karma is their cause (Su.1.52), not identical with them.
Renderings that do not hold
- pharmacological action (as the definition). WHO ITA-1.9.5.1 and NIA BP0129/DG0111 frame; Ca.Su.1.52 defines karma physically as cause of conjunction/disjunction residing in substance.
- operations. Kaviratna's word in the list; in modern English suggests surgery or procedures.
- fate / karma (destiny). Popular English sense.
- 'independent of other action'. Kaviratna's rendering of 'karma nānyad apekṣate'; the Sanskrit says action requires nothing else (for being action), not that it is independent of other actions.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Why Vi.8.29 uses the Vaiśeṣika order while Su.1.28-29 leads with sāmānya/viśeṣa was not investigated; Chakrapāṇi not retrieved.
- Whether the omission of Karma in Kaviratna's Vi.8 sentence is in his printed text or an OCR dropout should be checked on the page image.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, karma
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/karma/, 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.