laṅghana-pācana: what the term means and how it is translated
laṅghana-pācana लङ्घनपाचन is an Ayurvedic technical term. It is rendered into English in 11 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 | laṅghana-pācana |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | लङ्घनपाचन |
| Also written | laṅghanapācana (compound as in Ca.Vi. 3.43: laṅghanapācanaṁ), laṅghanapācanaiḥ (instrumental plural, Ca.Su. 16.20), langhana pachana, langhana-pachana, Langhana-Pāchana (Kaviratna's spelling), laṃghana-pācana |
| Category, as gathered | agni |
| Grouped here under | Pharmacology and the action of substances |
| Classical citations | 6 |
| 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.
Langhana-Pāchana (left untranslated as a proper term); in the explanatory aphorism: "both Langhana and Pāchana"
Charaka Samhita, tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna (Vimanasthana, Lesson III, his printed aphorisms 59-61, his p. 490) · https://archive.org/details/BIUSante_47357 (page image: https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/page/n642_w1400.jpg) · public-domain translation
Kaviratna does not translate the compound; he transliterates it in the list of three apatarpana and then paraphrases it as the joint administration of Langhana and Pachana. His footnote adds the gloss that Langhana works like sun and wind and Pachana like dust and ashes falling on water, which is a translator's note, not the text.
"fasts and Pāchanas" (for laṅghanapācanaiḥ)
Charaka Samhita, tr. Kaviratna (Sutrasthana, Lesson XVI, his printed aphorism 17, his p. 181) · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/page/n261_w1400.jpg · public-domain translation
Here Kaviratna renders laṅghana narrowly as 'fasts', though elsewhere (Su. Lesson XXII and a note at Vatarogika) he insists 'The word does not mean fast only'. His footnote: "'Pāchanas' are medicines compounded of vegetable substances. They are administered for aiding the digestion of undigested food. In some cases, they act as appetizers."
"fasting and the administration of 'Pāchana' (i.e., drugs which assist in digesting undigested food, without increasing the appetite)"
Charaka Samhita, tr. Kaviratna (Chikitsasthana, Grahani chapter, his printed aphorism 74, his p. 1421) · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/page/n1760_w1400.jpg · public-domain translation
Clinically the most explicit rendering: the pair is prescribed when ama rasa has spread through the body. The parenthesis is Kaviratna's gloss.
"'Pāchana' is an infusion or decoction of various drugs which promotes digestion or brings bad humours into maturity. The drugs employed are chiefly carminatives or gentle stimuli."
Kaviratna, translator's footnote to Sutrasthana Lesson XXII (his aphorism 16, his p. 245) · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/page/n347_w1400.jpg · translator's note (public domain)
A footnote, not the Samhita. Useful as evidence of how an Edwardian translator understood pachana ('brings bad humours into maturity' = pacifies/ripens ama), but should not be attributed to Charaka.
"langhana pachana (reducing therapy along with therapies for digestion of ama dosha)"
Charak Samhita New Edition (carakasamhitaonline.com), Vimana Sthana 3, translation of verse 43 · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Janapadodhvansaniya_Vimana · modern textbook translation (in copyright; short rendering recorded as fact only)
The current standard Indian institutional rendering. It makes explicit that the pachana component is directed at ama, which the Sanskrit of Vi. 3.44 does not say in so many words (the verse speaks of madhyabala dosha being dried up).
"fasting and digestive drugs" (for laṅghanapācanaiḥ in Su. 16.20)
Charak Samhita New Edition (carakasamhitaonline.com), Sutra Sthana 16 · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Chikitsaprabhritiya_Adhyaya · modern textbook translation (in copyright; short rendering recorded as fact only)
Same site renders the same compound two different ways in two chapters (reducing therapy vs fasting), which shows the range of the term.
No entry for the compound. Components: laṅghanam = "Lightness promoting therapy" (ITA-9.1.46, 'One of the six types of treatment modalities: a procedure that induces lightness in the body'); pācanam = "Digestive action" (ITA-6.2.6.8, 'A drug which directly acts on products of incomplete digestion, transformation or metabolism (ama) but does not kindle digestive fire'); apatarpaṇam = "Depleting therapy" (ITA-9.1.41); doṣāvasecanam = "Procedure to eliminate morbid dosha from body" (ITA-9.1.52)
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022), as extracted from a mirrored PDF copy · https://www.ayurvedadoctor.co.uk/WHO%20terminologies%20on%20Ayurveda.pdf (printed pp. 414-416 and ch. 6.2.6) · comparator standard
WHO lists langhana sub-measures ITA-9.1.47 to 9.1.51 (kṣudhā, tṛṣṇā, mārutaḥ, ātapaḥ, vyāyāmaḥ) but does not list pācana among them, so the Charaka ten-fold langhana (which includes pācana) is not reproduced as such. Note also WHO homonyms: pācanam as a haemostasis method (ITA-9.6.109) and pācanakarma as removal of foreign body by suppuration (ITA-9.6.205).
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.
"Fastings and employment of digestive (Pacana) and appetising (Dipaniya) remedies"
Sushruta Samhita, tr. Kunja Lal Bhishagratna, Uttara-tantra ch. XXIV (Pinasa) · https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-6-uttara-tantra/d/doc143021.html · public-domain translation
Sushruta does not use the compound as a technical category; Bhishagratna renders the pairing of fasting with Pacana as a sequence of remedies in a specific disease.
"Upavasa plus Pachana" (as a Langhana sub-type combination)
Rajani A, Vyas MK, Vyas HA, AYU 2010;31(3):351-4 · PMID 22131738 · peer-reviewed paper
The only PubMed-indexed paper found that operationalises the combination; it uses upavasa (fasting) rather than langhana in the wider sense, and Shunthi as the pachana.
"Carminatives (pachana)" listed under pacifying (shamana) langhana procedures
carakasamhitaonline.com, article 'Langhana' · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Langhana · modern textbook/encyclopaedia article
'Carminative' is a common but narrow rendering of pachana (see mistranslations).
"Langhana-pachana is a therapeutic approach in Ayurveda that encompasses two key processes: Langhana, which involves the reduction of doshas, and Pachana, focusing on the digestion of food intake."
wisdomlib.org concept page 'Langhana-pachana' (as surfaced in a web-search snippet; page itself returned HTTP 403 on retrieval) · https://www.wisdomlib.org/concept/langhana-pachana · web glossary · our paraphrase of the source, not its words
Not independently retrieved; recorded only as evidence of a popular gloss. 'Digestion of food intake' is doctrinally loose: pachana in this context acts on ama/dosha, not on dietary intake.
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 3 (Janapadodhvamsaniya):Standard (Trikamji/carakasamhitaonline) 3.43-44; Kaviratna's printed aphorisms 59 (list of three) and 60-61 (explanation), his p. 490 · checked against the source
Sanskrit (carakasamhitaonline, v.43-44): अपतर्पणमपि च त्रिविधं- लङ्घनं, लङ्घनपाचनं, दोषावसेचनं चेति||४३|| तत्र लङ्घनमल्पबलदोषाणां , लङ्घनेन ह्यग्निमारुतवृद्ध्या वातातपपरीतमिवाल्पमुदकमल्पो दोषः प्रशोषमापद्यते; लङ्घनपाचने तु मध्यबलदोषाणां, लङ्घनपाचनाभ्यां हि सूर्यसन्तापमारुताभ्यां पांशुभस्मावकिरणैरिव चानतिबहूदकं मध्यबलो दोषः प्रशोषमापद्यते; बहुदोषाणां पुनर्दोषावसेचनमेव कार्यं, न ह्यभिन्ने केदारसेतौ पल्वलाप्रसेकोऽस्ति, तद्वद्दोषावसेचनम्||४४|| — Kaviratna (p. 490, numbers printed after each aphorism): "Apatarpana is of three kinds ; (1) Langhana, (2) Langhana-Pāchana, and (3) Doshāvasechana.59 Of these, Langhana is prescribable for faults slightly provoked. A fault slightly provoked and of little strength becomes dried up through the increase of the (digestive) fire and of the wind brought about by Langhana, even as a piece of shallow water is dried up by heat and wind.60 A fault that is provoked a little more than what would be called slight and that possesses middling strength, is dried up by (the administration of) both Langhana and Pāchana, even as a quantity of water that is not large is dried up by the wind and the hot rays of the sun as also by (clouds of) dust and ashes falling upon it.61"
The locus classicus: laṅghana-pācana is the second of three grades of apatarpaṇa, indicated for doṣa of middling strength (madhyabala), between laṅghana alone (alpabala doṣa) and doṣāvasecana (bahudoṣa). The simile: a moderate body of water dried by sun and wind plus dust and ashes. Numbering note: Kaviratna's printed numbers here run 16 AHEAD of the standard numbering (his 59 = std 43; his 60-61 = std 44, one standard prose unit split across two of his paragraphs); both were read directly, not converted.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 16 (Chikitsaprabhritiya):Standard 16.20; Kaviratna's printed aphorism 17, his p. 181 · checked against the source
Sanskrit (carakasamhitaonline, v.20): दोषाः कदाचित् कुप्यन्ति जिता लङ्घनपाचनैः| जिताः संशोधनैर्ये तु न तेषां पुनरुद्भवः||२०|| — Kaviratna: "The faults of the system, if subjugated by fasts and Pāchanas, may reappear. If subjugated by correctives, they cannot reappear.17"
Doṣa subdued by laṅghana-pācana may flare up again, whereas doṣa removed by saṃśodhana do not recur: positions laṅghana-pācana as a palliative (non-evacuative) management relative to śodhana. Numbering note: Kaviratna's printed 17 = standard 20 (three behind in this chapter, read directly).
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 22 (Langhanabrimhaniya):Standard 22.18; Kaviratna's printed aphorism 16, his p. 245 · checked against the source
Sanskrit (carakasamhitaonline, v.18): चतुष्प्रकारा संशुद्धिः पिपासा मारुतातपौ। पाचनान्युपवासश्च व्यायामश्चेति लङ्घनम्॥१८॥ — Kaviratna: "The four kinds of corrective processes (viz., administration of emetics, of purgatives, of errhines or cerebral purgatives, and dry enemata), as also bearing thirst and wind and the heat of the Sun, drinking the medicines called Pāchana, fast, and physical exercise,—these are all included under Langhana.16"
Pācana is itself one of the ten laṅghana measures (pācanāni among the ten). So 'laṅghana-pācana' in Vi. 3.43 is not laṅghana plus something outside laṅghana, but a grade of laṅghana in which pācana drugs are added to the lighter measures; Kaviratna's footnote here glosses Pāchana as 'an infusion or decoction of various drugs which promotes digestion or brings bad humours into maturity'. Numbering note: Kaviratna's printed 16 = standard 18 (two behind here, read directly).
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 22 (Langhanabrimhaniya):Standard 22.20-21; Kaviratna's printed '18-19' (read from the archive.org OCR text, not from the page image) · checked against the source
Sanskrit (carakasamhitaonline, v.20-21): येषां मध्यबला रोगाः कफपित्तसमुत्थिताः। वम्यतीसारहृद्रोगविसूच्यलसकज्वराः॥२०॥ विबन्धगौरवोद्गारहृल्लासारोचकादयः। पाचनैस्तान् भिषक् प्राज्ञः प्रायेणादावुपाचरेत्॥२१॥ — Kaviratna (OCR): "...such as vomiting, diarrhoea, thoracic diseases, choleraic diarrhoea, tympanites, fever, suppression of stools and urine, heaviness of the limbs, eructations, hiccup, nausea or disgust for food; and other diseases of the kind, are generally treated at the outset, by the wise physician, with the aid of Pachana.18-19"
The indication for pācana within the laṅghana scheme: diseases of middling strength (madhyabala) arising from kapha and pitta are to be treated first with pācana. This is the Sutrasthana counterpart of Vi. 3.44's 'madhyabala' indication for laṅghana-pācana.
Charaka SamhitaChikitsasthana 15 (Grahani Chikitsa):Kaviratna's printed aphorism 74, his p. 1421. Standard verse number NOT established: carakasamhitaonline was unreachable (database error) and easyayurveda groups the passage as verses 73-76 without a one-to-one mapping. · checked against the source
Kaviratna: "When the 'āma Rasa' (i.e., the undigested juice of the food taken) spreads over the whole body, fasting and the administration of 'Pāchana' (i.e., drugs which assist in digesting undigested food, without increasing the appetite) are prescribable. 74"
Clinical application in grahaṇī: when āma has spread systemically (as opposed to adhering in the pakvāśaya, which gets dīpana, or lodged in the āmāśaya, which gets emesis), the indicated management is laṅghana plus pācana. Shows the pair is the standard answer to systemic sāma states.
Sushruta SamhitaUttara-tantra XXIV (Pratishyaya/Pinasa, 'Symptoms and treatment of Catarrh'):Verse number not given by Bhishagratna; not established from a Sanskrit edition · checked against the source
"Fastings and employment of digestive (Pacana) and appetising (Dipaniya) remedies should be the medical treatment in cases of Pinasa (nasal catarrh) accompanied by such distressing symptoms as vomiting, aching, heaviness in the limbs, feverishness, non-relish for food, apathy, and Atisara (diarrhea)."
Sushruta pairs fasting with pācana (and dīpana) as the treatment of a sāma-type presentation (heaviness, anorexia, nausea, fever) in a specific disease, but does not use laṅghana-pācana as a named grade of therapy as Charaka does. Bhishagratna prints no Sanskrit verse numbers.
Not to be confused with
- laṅghana (alone)
- Laṅghana alone is the first grade of apatarpaṇa, for alpabala doṣa (Ca.Vi. 3.44). Laṅghana-pācana adds pācana drugs for madhyabala doṣa. Confusing the two collapses Charaka's three-grade scheme. Note also that laṅghana is not only fasting: Ca.Su. 22.18 lists ten laṅghana measures, of which upavāsa is one and pācana another.
- doṣāvasecana / saṃśodhana (evacuative therapy)
- Third grade of apatarpaṇa, for bahudoṣa. Ca.Su. 16.20 explicitly contrasts the two: doṣa subdued by laṅghana-pācana may recur, those evacuated by saṃśodhana do not. Laṅghana-pācana is therefore a non-evacuative (śamana-type) management.
- dīpana
- WHO ISTA ITA-6.2.6.7 vs 6.2.6.8: dīpana kindles agni without acting directly on āma; pācana acts directly on āma without kindling agni. Kaviratna's notes make the same distinction ('drugs which assist in digesting undigested food, without increasing the appetite'). Many drugs are both (dīpana-pācana), but the therapeutic grade 'laṅghana-pācana' is named for the pācana action, and Ca.Ci. 15 (Kaviratna 74-75) sequences pācana during the sāma phase and dīpana afterwards.
- āma-pācana
- A drug/action term (digestion of āma) rather than a grade of therapy. Laṅghana-pācana is the regimen (lightening measures plus pācana drugs) in which āma-pācana is the intended pharmacological effect. Modern reviews often use the two interchangeably.
- upavāsa (fasting)
- Upavāsa is one of the ten laṅghana measures (Ca.Su. 22.18), not a synonym of laṅghana. 'Upavasa plus Pachana' (Rajani 2010) is one concrete instantiation of laṅghana-pācana, not the definition of it.
- pācana (surgical/homonym senses)
- WHO ISTA also lists pācanam as a method of haemostasis by chemical cautery (ITA-9.6.109), vraṇapācanakarma as induction of suppuration (ITA-9.6.127) and pācanakarma as removal of a foreign body by suppuration (ITA-9.6.205), plus cooking-process senses (ITA-8.3.2, 8.3.3). None of these is the pācana of laṅghana-pācana.
- apatarpaṇa
- The genus. Apatarpaṇa (depletion) is threefold: laṅghana, laṅghana-pācana, doṣāvasecana (Ca.Vi. 3.43). Laṅghana-pācana is one species of it, not a synonym.
Renderings that do not hold
- "fasting and digestion" / "fasting therapy". Reduces laṅghana to upavāsa, which is only one of its ten measures (Ca.Su. 22.18), and reads pācana as the physiological process of digestion rather than the class of drugs/measures that ripen āma. Kaviratna himself uses 'fasts and Pāchanas' at Su.16 but warns elsewhere that laṅghana 'does not mean fast only'.
- "detox" / "detoxification therapy". Marketing gloss. Laṅghana-pācana is defined by Charaka as the non-evacuative grade; it is specifically the grade that does NOT remove doṣa from the body (Ca.Su. 16.20), so 'detox' inverts its position relative to doṣāvasecana.
- "starvation therapy" / "deprivation therapy". Over-reads laṅghana as deprivation; the classical criterion is laghutā (lightness) and the measures include exercise, sun, wind and pācana drugs. Also carries a connotation of harm that the text guards against (Ca.Su. 22 lists signs of excessive laṅghana).
- "carminatives" for pācana. 'Carminative' (relieving flatulence) is a pharmacological subset at best; pācana is defined by its action on āma (WHO ITA-6.2.6.8; Kaviratna's notes 'brings bad humours into maturity'). Kaviratna's and carakasamhitaonline's use of 'carminative' is a convenience, not a definition.
- "digestive enzymes" / "digestive supplements" for pācana. Modern biomedical substitution; pācana drugs in the classics are hot, light, dry herbal decoctions and powders (e.g. Shunthi in Rajani 2010), chosen for their action on āma, not enzyme preparations.
- "langhana-pachana = treatment of ama". Too broad: the classical indication is doṣa of middling strength (madhyabala, Ca.Vi. 3.44; Ca.Su. 22.20-21), and the carakasamhitaonline gloss 'digestion of ama dosha' is an interpretive addition. Sāma states with bahudoṣa go to śodhana, and with alpabala doṣa to laṅghana alone.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, laṅghana-pācana
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/langhana-pachana/, 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.