mala: what the term means and how it is translated
mala मल is an Ayurvedic technical term. It is rendered into English in 7 different ways across 8 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 | mala |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | मल |
| Also written | malaḥ, malāḥ (pl.), malas, trimala (the three: purīṣa, mūtra, sveda, modern usage), āhāramala, dhātumala, anna-mala (Kaviratna) |
| Category, as gathered | mala |
| Grouped here under | Body: tissues, wastes and channels |
| Classical citations | 7 |
| 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.
Excretory products
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-2.4.1 malaḥ; description: 'Waste products formed during various stages of digestion and metabolism; one of the fundamental constituents of the human body along with dosha (regulatory functional factors) and fundamental structural components; there are two categories: waste products from digestion of food and waste products from transformation of structural components. The waste products from digestion of food comprise urine and faeces. The waste products from transformation of structural components are: phlegm (excretory form of kapha) from the primary product of digestion (the primary circulating nutrient fluid), bile (excretory form of pitta) from blood, mucus of nose and ear wax from muscle, perspiration from fat, nails and hair from bone, and rheum of the eye from bone marrow.' · standard
WHO's headword is plural-sense 'Excretory products' and the definition tracks Charaka Chi 15/18-19 (dhātumala list) rather than Su 28/4. Note WHO's āhāramala are urine and faeces only; sweat is placed under dhātumala (from fat), consistent with Chi 15/18 but not with the 'trimala' textbook grouping.
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.
Derangement of excretory products
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-5.4.1 malavaiṣamyam (block 5.4 'Disorders of vitiated excretory products') · standard
WHO has no malakṣaya/malavṛddhi generic; disorders are coded per mala (5.4.3-5.4.11).
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.
waste products
NAMASTE Portal, Standardised Ayurveda Terminologies · SAT-B.457 malaḥ; definition: 'one of the fundamental constituent of the human body along with doṣa and dhātu which include the various waste products formed during various stages of digestion and metabolism. Mala are of two classes: āhāramala and dhātumala. āhāramala include mūtra (urine) and purīṣa (faeces). Following are the dhātumala: kapha from rasa, pitta from rakta, mucus of nose and ear wax from the māṁsa, sveda (perspiration) from the meda, nails and hair from the asthi, rheum of the eye from the majjā.' · standard
Same two-class scheme as WHO; NAMASTE chooses 'waste products' where WHO chooses 'Excretory products'.
Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the Government of India NAMASTE terminology, 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.
derangement of excretory products
NAMASTE National Ayurveda Morbidity Codes · NAMC C malavaiṣamyam (chapter heading); CZ malavaiṣamyam-saṅkīrṇa 'derangement of excretory products-miscellaneous' · classification
NAMC's chapter C is the mala-disorder chapter; its sub-blocks CA (mūtra), CB (purīṣa), CC (sveda) code kṣaya and vṛddhi per mala.
Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the Government of India NAMASTE terminology, 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.
excretions (Mala); excrements; secretion(s)
Sushruta Samhita, tr. Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna (1907) · Sutrasthana XV (chapter title rendered 'development and non-development of the humoral constituents of the body and excrements'; text: 'excretions (Mala)') · translation
Bhishagratna alternates 'excretions', 'excrements' and 'secretion' for mala within one chapter without signalling a single Sanskrit term.
Malas; the impurities evacuated by the system; excrements
Charaka Samhita, tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna (1896-1913) · Sutrasthana Lesson XXVIII ('those Dhatus which are called by the name of Malas'; 'Malas, which have the virtue of being excreted'); Lesson XVII ('the impurities evacuated by the system') · translation
Kaviratna mostly keeps 'Malas' as a loanword and, following the Sanskrit of Su 28/4, calls them a class of 'Dhatus'. 'Impurities' is his Edwardian gloss at Su 17/63 and carries a moral overtone the Sanskrit does not.
Refuse (for kiṭṭa, the source of the malas)
Charaka Samhita, tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna (1896-1913) · Sutrasthana Lesson XXVIII · translation
Recorded so the kiṭṭa/mala boundary in his English is visible: 'Refuse' = kiṭṭa; 'Malas'/'excrements' = the products.
mala or excretory products; wastes
Charak Samhita Online (ITRA Jamnagar), Su 28/4 translation · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Vividhashitapitiya_Adhyaya · edition
CC BY-NC-SA comparator; not reproducible.
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 28:4 (standard; carakasamhitaonline prints the whole prose unit as ||4||) · checked against the source
तत्राहारप्रसादाख्यो रसः किट्टं च मलाख्यमभिनिर्वर्तते| किट्टात् स्वेदमूत्रपुरीषवातपित्तश्लेष्माणः कर्णाक्षिनासिकास्यलोमकूपप्रजननमलाः केशश्मश्रुलोमनखादयश्चावयवाःपुष्यन्ति| ... ते सर्व एव धातवो मलाख्याः प्रसादाख्याश्च रसमलाभ्यां पुष्यन्तः स्वं मानमनुवर्तन्ते यथावयःशरीरम्| ... स्वमानातिरिक्ताः पुनरुत्सर्गिणः शीतोष्णपर्यायगुणैश्चोपचर्यमाणा मलाः शरीर धातुसाम्यकराः समुपलभ्यन्ते||४|| / tatrāhāraprasādākhyō Rasaḥ kiṭṭaṁ ca malākhyamabhinirvartatē| kiṭṭāt svēdamūtrapurīṣavātaPittaślēṣmāṇaḥ karṇākṣināsikāsyalōmakūpaprajananamalāḥ kēśaśmaśrulōmanakhādayaścāvayavāḥ puṣyanti| ... tē sarva ēva dhātavō malākhyāḥ prasādākhyāśca Rasamalābhyāṁ puṣyantaḥ svaṁ mānamanuvartantē yathāvayaḥśarīram| ... svamānātiriktāḥ punarutsargiṇaḥ śītōṣṇaparyāyaguṇaiścōpacaryamāṇā malāḥ śarīra Dhātusāmyakarāḥ samupalabhyantē||4||
Three things: (1) mala is the name of the kiṭṭa-derived class; (2) its members include sweat, urine, faeces AND vāta-pitta-śleṣman AND the orifice secretions, hair and nails; (3) Charaka calls both malas and prasāda-products 'dhātavaḥ', and says malas that exceed their measure are to be excreted (utsargiṇaḥ) and, properly handled, keep the dhātus in equilibrium. Mala is therefore a functional constituent, not inert waste.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 28:4 (standard); Kaviratna's printed numbers for this passage unreadable in OCR · checked against the source
The Refuse operates similarly with respect to those Dhatus which are called by the name of Malas. ... As regards the latter Dhatus, viz., Malas, which have the virtue of being excreted, when they increase beyond their normal measure, being treated alternately by regimen of cooling and warm properties, they regain their position of restoratives of the elements of the body to harmony.
Public-domain English for the malākhya-dhātu and utsargin clauses. Kaviratna preserves the Sanskrit's startling classification of malas as 'Dhatus'.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 17:63 (standard Trikamji numbering; carakasamhitaonline prints ||६३||); Kaviratna prints 62 for this aphorism (Part VII, p. 192, archive.org BIUSante_47357 leaf n290, superscript *62 after 'of wind and the others'), one BEHIND the standard; the djvu OCR misreads his 62 as 63 · checked against the source
वातादीनां रसादीनां मलानामोजसस्तथा| क्षयास्तत्रानिलादीनामुक्तं सङ्क्षीणलक्षणम् ||६३|| / vātādīnāṁ rasādīnāṁ malānāmōjasastathā| kṣayāstatrānilādīnāmuktaṁ saṅkṣīṇalakṣaṇam ||63|| — Kaviratna: 'Attenuation is in respect of the wind and the others ; of the (seven) elements beginning with Rasa or humour and the others; of the impurities evacuated by the system ; and of the element called Ojas.'
Mala is one of four classes whose kṣaya Charaka enumerates (doṣa, dhātu, mala, ojas). Kaviratna's rendering of mala here is 'the impurities evacuated by the system'.
Sushruta SamhitaSutrasthana 15:3 (Sanskrit verse number from siva.sh e-text; Bhishagratna prints no verse numbers) · checked against the source
दोषधातुमलमूलं हि शरीरं, तस्मादेतेषां लक्षणमुच्यमानमुपधारय ॥३॥ — Bhishagratna: 'Since the human body is constituted of humours, (Doshas), excretions (Mala), and the fundamental principles (Dhatus) of blood, marrow, etc., hear me discourse on the features which are peculiar to each of them.'
The body is rooted in doṣa, dhātu and mala. Bhishagratna renders mala 'excretions' and re-orders the triad in English (doṣa, mala, dhātu).
Sushruta SamhitaSutrasthana 15:41 (siva.sh numbering); Bhishagratna, closing metrical text of chapter XV · checked against the source
समदोषः समाग्निश्च समधातुमलक्रियः । प्रसन्नात्मेन्द्रियमनाः स्वस्थ इत्यभिधीयते ॥४१॥ — Bhishagratna: 'A person with an uniformly healthy digestion, and whose bodily humours are in a state of equilibrium, and in whom the fundamental vital fluids course in their normal state and quantity, accompanied by the normal processes of secretion, organic function, and intellection, is said to be a healthy person.'
The famous svastha definition includes 'sama-dhātu-mala-kriya'. Bhishagratna paraphrases mala-kriyā as 'the normal processes of secretion'; the word mala does not surface in his English.
Sushruta SamhitaSutrasthana 15:40 (siva.sh numbering) · checked against the source
An intelligent physician should preserve the state of health in a healthy individual, while he should increase or decrease the quantity of the bodily humours, vital fluids, or excrements in a sick patient according to the exigencies of the case until his health is perfectly restored.
Treatment is framed as increasing or decreasing doṣa, dhātu and mala; here mala = 'excrements'.
Ashtanga HridayaSutrasthana 11:1 (GRETIL numbering) · checked against the source
doṣa-dhātu-malā mūlaṃ sadā dehasya taṃ calaḥ | utsāhocchvāsa-niśvāsa-ceṣṭā-vega-pravartanaiḥ || 1 ||
Vāgbhaṭa opens Doṣādivijñānīya with the same triad as Sushruta 15/3: doṣa, dhātu, mala are always the root of the body.
Not to be confused with
- kiṭṭa
- Kiṭṭa is the waste fraction produced by digestion; mala is the name of the class it nourishes (Charaka Su 28/4 'kiṭṭaṁ ca malākhyam'). WHO and NAMASTE keep both headwords with overlapping definitions.
- doṣa
- Routinely opposed to mala in textbooks, yet Charaka Su 28/4 lists vāta, pitta and śleṣman among the products of kiṭṭa, and Chi 15/18 calls kapha and pitta the malas of rasa and rakta. The doṣa/mala boundary is drawn by function (doṣas regulate; malas are excreted when in excess), not by substance.
- dhātu
- Charaka Su 28/4 explicitly calls malas 'dhātavaḥ malākhyāḥ'; Kaviratna keeps this ('those Dhatus ... called ... Malas'). The modern tripartition doṣa/dhātu/mala should not be read back as Charaka saying malas are not dhātus.
- āma / sāma-mala
- Āma is undigested; mala is the normal product of digestion. WHO ITA-5.4.8 sāmamalaḥ codes the pathological overlap.
- malavaiṣamya
- WHO ITA-5.4.1 / NAMC C: the disorder-class, not the substance.
- mala-apravṛtti
- Retention of stool; found as an index term under ICD-11 TM2 SM7Y 'Other specified gastro-intestinal disorders (TM2)'. Here mala is used in the narrow sense of faeces, as it often is in Sanskrit; the lexicon must say which sense is meant.
Renderings that do not hold
- toxins. Common in popular and some clinical writing. No classical source retrieved calls mala toxic; Charaka Su 28/4 says malas within their measure are dhātusāmyakarāḥ (keep the dhātus in equilibrium), and Sushruta Su 15/5 (Bhishagratna) says faeces are 'indispensably necessary for the preservation of the body'.
- impurities (Kaviratna, Su 17/63). Edwardian English with a moral charge; the Sanskrit mala in these passages is a physiological constituent with assigned functions.
- waste (unqualified). Not wrong, but 'waste' in English implies worthless residue, whereas Charaka and Sushruta assign functions to each mala and count mala among the three roots of the body. Both WHO and NAMASTE use 'waste products' and immediately qualify it as 'one of the fundamental constituents'.
- mala = faeces only. True in colloquial and some clinical Sanskrit (cf. mala-apravṛtti, mala-pravṛtti), but as a technical term in Su 28/4 it is the whole class. Entries must disambiguate the two senses.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Why do WHO and NAMASTE place sweat under dhātumala (from fat) while the common 'trimala' teaching groups it with urine and faeces as āhāramala? Charaka Chi 15/18 supports the WHO placement; the source of the trimala grouping was not located in a primary text.
- Kaviratna's footnote counts seven malas (stools, urine, five orifice secretions) in the eighteen kṣayas; Chakrapāṇi's enumeration not checked.
- Whether any ICD-11 TM2 code addresses mala as a class: none found in my searches; only the index term mala-apravṛtiḥ under SM7Y.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, mala
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/mala/, 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.