kaṣāya: what the term means and how it is translated
kaṣāya कषाय is an Ayurvedic technical term. It is rendered into English in 4 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 | kaṣāya |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | कषाय |
| Also written | kashaya rasa, kaṣāyo rasaḥ, astringent taste, kasaya |
| Category, as gathered | dravyaguna-1 |
| Grouped here 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. It is deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is offered under CC BY 4.0 and invites the modification a NoDerivs licence forbids.
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
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 1.65; Kaviratna prints 64 · checked against the source
Sweet, sour, salt, pungent, bitter, and astringent, these are regarded as the sixfold catalogue of tastes.
Kashaya as the sixth rasa. Sanskrit: स्वादुरम्लोऽथ लवणः कटुकस्तिक्त एव च| कषायश्चेति षट्कोऽयं रसानां सङ्ग्रहः स्मृतः||६५||
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 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.
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 SamhitaSutrasthana 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.
Pañcabhautika constitution: vāyu + pṛthvī. Agrees with Bhishagratna's Sushruta ('earth and air').
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 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.
Charaka's perceptual test for kashaya.
Sushruta SamhitaSutrasthana 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).
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. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- 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'.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, kaṣāya
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/kashaya/, 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.