# kaṣāya (कषाय)

> Canonical version of this page: https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/kashaya/

An Ayurvedic technical term, rendered into English in 4 different ways.
The renderings do not agree, and the difference between them changes what the term is taken
to mean.

## Identification

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Transliteration | kaṣāya |
| Devanagari | कषाय |
| Also written | kashaya rasa, kaṣāyo rasaḥ, astringent taste, kasaya |
| Category, as gathered | dravyaguna-1 |
| Grouped under | Pharmacology and the action of substances |
| 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.

### Astringent; One among the six Rasas.

WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · code DG0112 'kaṣāya'; separate entry BK0070 'kaṣāya': 'Boiled & filtered decoction of herbs, used for the therapeutics & pharmaceutical manufacturing'; DG0113 'kaṣāya skandha': 'Group of Drugs having actions attributed to astringent taste.'; also 'kaṣāyavarṇaṁ' (colour sense) appears in the index · comparator

WHO keeps taste, decoction and colour senses as separate codes.

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.

### astringent; the Astringent Taste

Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.1 his 64; Su.26 his 67-68 and his 35 · public-domain translation

Consistent for the rasa.

### astringent (Kashaya)

Sushruta Samhita tr. K. L. Bhishagratna, public domain, via wisdomlib · Sutrasthana ch. XLII · public-domain translation

Consistent.

### Kashaya (astringent) Rasa (taste)

Kolhe, Acharya & Shukla, AYU 2014 (PMID 25558164) · title and abstract · modern literature

Research usage.

## The classical passages

### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 1:Standard 1.65; Kaviratna prints 64, checked against the source

> Sweet, sour, salt, pungent, bitter, and astringent, these are regarded as the sixfold catalogue of tastes.

tr. A. C. Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

Kashaya as the sixth rasa. Sanskrit: स्वादुरम्लोऽथ लवणः कटुकस्तिक्त एव च| कषायश्चेति षट्कोऽयं रसानां सङ्ग्रहः स्मृतः||६५||

### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 26:Standard 26.43 (final sub-section, ending ||४३||); Kaviratna prints 67 (merits) and 68 (effects of excess), checked against the source

> The Astringent Taste restores harmony among the faults. It restrains (the stools, urine, and other secretions). It draws in and contracts the limbs of the body. It causes sores and parts eaten away to heal or fill up. It dries up the fluids of the body. It retains or restrains all secretions. It alleviates phlegm and hemorrhages caused by excitement of the bile. It sucks up all phlegmonous and other secretions of the system. It is dry, cool, and heavy.

tr. A. C. Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

Karma and guna of kashaya. Sanskrit as retrieved: कषायो रसः संशमनः सङ्ग्राही सन्धानकरः पीडनो रोपणः शोषणः स्तम्भनः श्लेष्मरक्तपित्तप्रशमनः शरीरक्लेदस्योपयोक्ता रूक्षः शीतोऽलघुश्च| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Atreyabhadrakapyiya_Adhyaya). Kaviratna: 'restores harmony among the faults' = saṁśamana; 'heavy' = alaghu. His footnotes gloss Grahi/Samgrahi, Pidana ('akrishya-sankocha-kara', Gangadhara), Ropana ('Vranasya mangsadi-purana'), and quote U. C. Dutt on Stambhana; these are notes, not text. Excess effects (his 68) end: 'In consequence of its being rough, clear, and dry, it brings about Hemiplegia, Paralysis, Spasmodic contractions, facial paralysis, and other diseases of the kind that spring from excited wind.'

### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 26:Standard 26.40; Kaviratna prints 54, checked against the source

> From a preponderance of the attributes of Wind and Earth arises the taste called Astringent.

tr. A. C. Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

Pañcabhautika constitution: vāyu + pṛthvī. Agrees with Bhishagratna's Sushruta ('earth and air').

### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 26:Standard number NOT established (taste-identification verses near chapter end); Kaviratna prints 35, checked against the source

> That object which brings upon the tongue a sensation that is the very reverse of sliminess, as also of contraction and rigidity, and which seems to contract the throat also and stretch the heart, is to be known as possessing the Astringent taste.

tr. A. C. Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

Charaka's perceptual test for kashaya.

### Sushruta Samhita Sutrasthana 42:Sanskrit verse number not established, checked against the source

> A taste, which brings about the dryness of the mouth, numbs the palate, obstructs the throat, and gives rise to a drawing, pressing sensation in the region of the heart, is called astringent (Kashaya).

tr. K. L. Bhishagratna · https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-1-sutrasthana/d/doc141672.html

Sushruta's perceptual definition. Same page: 'An astringent taste is possessed of astringent, healing, styptic (Stambhana), purifying, liquefacient, drying and contracting virtues. It lessens secretions from mucous membranes.' and 'The specific properties of earth and air should be regarded as dominant in an astringent taste.' and 'An astringent taste should be considered as possessed of the same properties as the Vayu'. Note Bhishagratna's 'liquefacient' sits oddly beside 'drying'; check against Sanskrit before use.

## Not to be confused with

- **kaṣāya = decoction (kvātha, niryūha, śṛta).** WHO BK0070 and wisdomlib (Yogasārasaṅgraha) record the pharmaceutical sense; context decides. Kaviratna in Su.4 appears to render the five kaṣāya-kalpanā as 'Astringents' (line not read in full; flagged).
- **kaṣāya = colour (brownish/ochre).** WHO index 'kaṣāyavarṇaṁ'; also the monastic robe colour in Buddhist/Jain usage.
- **kaṣāya (Jain/Buddhist 'passions').** Homograph in religious literature (wisdomlib notes Jainism/Buddhism senses).
- **tikta (bitter).** Lay speakers conflate bitter and astringent; Charaka separates them (tikta: 'pains it much and destroys its relish... dryness'; kashaya: 'contraction and rigidity').
- **stambhana / saṁgrāhī (actions).** These are karmas of kashaya (Ca.Su.26.43), not the taste; Bhishagratna's 'astringent... styptic' virtues illustrate the slide from taste to action.

## Renderings that do not hold

- bitter. Common lay error; kashaya is the astringent, mouth-drying taste.
- astringent (as a drug action/styptic). In English pharmacology 'astringent' names an action; the rasa is a perception. Both Kaviratna and Bhishagratna use the one word for both.
- heavy (for alaghu). Kaviratna's 'heavy' renders 'not light'; the Sanskrit avoids 'guru'. Sushruta (Bhishagratna) calls astringent 'light' - an inter-text tension hidden by the rendering.
- liquefacient (Bhishagratna). Doctrinally odd next to 'drying'; probably his rendering of a Sanskrit term (kledana/vilekhana?) - unverified; do not record as doctrine.

## Open questions

Recorded rather than resolved.

- Standard verse numbers for the Charaka taste-identification block and for Sushruta Su.42 passages.
- Kaviratna's Su.4 use of 'Astringents' for kaṣāya-kalpanā (line 2297 of the OCR) should be read in full.
- Which Sanskrit term Bhishagratna renders 'liquefacient'.

## Citation

Age Ayurveda Nighantu, "kaṣāya", https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/kashaya/, 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.