# manas (मनः (stem मनस्))

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

An Ayurvedic technical term, rendered into English in 7 different ways.
The renderings do not agree, and the difference between them changes what the term is taken
to mean.

## Identification

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Transliteration | manas |
| Devanagari | मनः (stem मनस्) |
| Also written | manah, manaḥ, sattva (Ca.Sū.8.4: sattvasañjñaka), cetas (Ca.Sū.8.4: 'cetaḥ' ity āhur eke), antaḥkaraṇa (as a class term), mana |
| Category, as gathered | manas / darshana |
| Grouped under | Mind |
| 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.

### Mind, psyche

WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-1.9.3.3.1 manaḥ, cetaḥ · standard

COMPARATOR. Description: 'The faculty through which cognitive organs (indriya) connect with the soul (atman). Denotes consciousness.' Related: ITA-1.9.3.3.2 manoguṇaḥ/svarūpam 'Characteristics of mind' ('minuteness ... (anutva) and oneness or singularity (ekatva)'); ITA-1.9.3.3.3 aṇutva 'Atomicity'; ITA-1.9.3.3.4 ekatva 'Singularity'; ITA-1.9.3.3.5 indriyāntara-sañcāraḥ 'Trans-sense migration'; ITA-1.9.3.3.7 manoarthaḥ 'Objects of the mind' ('thought, analysis, contemplation, mediation [sic] and volition'); ITA-1.9.3.3.34 antaḥkaraṇam 'Inner cognitive faculty'.

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.

### The mind, the internal organ which link among soul, sensory and motor organs

National Institute of Ayurveda terminology list · BP0154 manas · standard

COMPARATOR (grammar sic).

Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the National Institute of Ayurveda terminology list, which is what that
licence permits, and deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is CC BY 4.0.

### mind / the Mind

Charaka Samhita tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna (1896-1913) · throughout; Sūtrasthāna 1, 8; Śārīrasthāna 1 · translation

Public domain. His default, but with two explicit caveats: Sū.8 footnote, 'The word manah, as used here, certainly includes buddhi or understanding'; Śā.1 footnote, 'the word Manas, as used in Hindu philosophy, has not for its equivalent Mind, for Manas excludes Buddhi. With Buddhi, Manas is Mind.' The two footnotes pull in opposite directions.

### Sattwa

Charaka Samhita tr. Kaviratna · Vimānasthāna 5 footnote; Sūtrasthāna 8 (his 2: 'It is sometimes called satwa') · translation

Public domain. 'Sattwa is the mind as understood in Hindu philosophy.'

### the mind (Manah)

Sushruta Samhita tr. Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna (1911) · Śārīrasthāna 1, sections 4-5 · translation

Public domain. Counted as the eleventh indriya.

### sentiment (Manah)

Sushruta Samhita tr. Bhishagratna · Śārīrasthāna 1, section 18 · translation

Public domain. In the list of attributes of the individual: 'intellect (Vuddhi), sentiment (Manah), deliberation, discretion, memory'. An idiosyncratic rendering.

### mind / psyche / mental faculty / inner instrument

common textbook renderings · other · our paraphrase of the source, not its words

## The classical passages

### Charaka Samhita Sūtrasthāna 8:4-5 (standard; Kaviratna prints 2-3), checked against the source

> Atīndriyaṁ punarmanaḥ sattvasañjñakaṁ, 'cētaḥ' ityāhurēkē, tadarthātmasampadāyattacēṣṭaṁ cēṣṭāpratyayabhūtamindriyāṇām||4|| Svārthēndriyārthasaṅkalpavyabhicaraṇāccānēkamēkasmin puruṣē sattvaṁ, rajastamaḥsattvaguṇayōgācca; na cānēkatvaṁ, nahyēkaṁ hyēkakālamanēkēṣu pravartatē; tasmānnaikakālā sarvēndriyapravr̥ttiḥ||5||

tr. Sanskrit text as printed on Charak Samhita Online · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Indriyopakramaniya_Adhyaya

Manas is atīndriya (beyond/other than the indriyas), named sattva, by some cetas; its activity depends on its objects and on ātma-sampad; it is the cause of the indriyas' activity (4). It appears manifold but is one; hence the senses cannot all act at once (5). Kaviratna (his 2-3): 'The mind is regarded as something different from the senses. It is sometimes called satwa, and some again call it chetas. Its functions are regulated by the contact of its objects with the soul. Some regard the mind as the cause of the functions of the senses. ... In reality, however, there is no multiplicity of minds. ... Therefore, all the senses are incapable of acting at one and the same time.' English at https://archive.org/stream/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt. Kaviratna's 'Some regard' for ceṣṭāpratyayabhūtam has no 'some' in the Sanskrit.

### Charaka Samhita Sūtrasthāna 8:7 (standard; Kaviratna prints 5), checked against the source

> Manaḥpuraḥsarāṇīndriyāṇyarthagrahaṇasamarthāni bhavanti||7||

tr. Sanskrit text as printed on Charak Samhita Online · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Indriyopakramaniya_Adhyaya

The senses grasp objects only when manas leads. Kaviratna: 'The senses become capable of seizing their respective objects only when they are led by the mind.'

### Charaka Samhita Śārīrasthāna 1:18-21 (standard; Kaviratna prints 25-26, 27, 28), checked against the source

> lakṣaṇaṁ manasō jñānasyābhāvō bhāva ēva ca| sati hyātmēndriyārthānāṁ sannikarṣē na vartatē||18|| vaivr̥ttyānmanasō jñānaṁ sānnidhyāttacca vartatē| aṇutvamatha caikatvaṁ dvau guṇau manasaḥ smr̥tau||19|| cintyaṁ vicāryamūhyaṁ ca dhyēyaṁ saṅkalpyamēva ca| yatkiñcinmanasō jñēyaṁ tat sarvaṁ hyarthasañjñakam||20|| indriyābhigrahaḥ karma manasaḥ svasya nigrahaḥ| ūhō vicāraśca, tataḥ paraṁ buddhiḥ pravartatē||21||

tr. Sanskrit text as printed on Charak Samhita Online · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Katidhapurusha_Sharira

The fullest Caraka account: manas is inferred from the presence and absence of knowledge when ātmā, indriya and artha are already in proximity (18); its two guṇas are aṇutva and ekatva (19); its objects are the thinkable, considerable, conjecturable, meditable and resolvable (20); its karma is control of the senses, self-restraint, conjecture and consideration, after which buddhi proceeds (21). Kaviratna (his 25-28): 'The attributes by which one may define mind are the presence and absence of knowledge ... Subtility and oneness have been regarded as the two attributes of the mind. That which is remembered, that upon which reason (or comparison) works, that upon which ratiocination is employed, that which after reproduction is held fast in consciousness, that which is resolved upon, and that which is known, form what is called the objects of the mind. Seizure of objects by means of the senses, subjecting them to control, comparison, and ratiocination, are the functions of the mind. After this the understanding begins to work.' Note Kaviratna's 'That which is remembered' for cintya is loose; the Sanskrit has no smṛti here.

### Charaka Samhita Sūtrasthāna 1:46, 48, 57 (standard; Kaviratna prints 45, 47, 56), checked against the source

> sattvamātmā śarīraṁ ca trayamētattridaṇḍavat| (46) ... khādīnyātmā manaḥ kālō diśaśca dravyasaṅgrahaḥ| (48) ... mānasaḥ punaruddiṣṭō rajaśca tama ēva ca||57||

tr. Sanskrit text as printed on Charak Samhita Online · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Deerghanjiviteeya_Adhyaya

Manas (as sattva) is one leg of the tridaṇḍa with ātmā and śarīra (46); one of the nine dravyas (48); and the seat of the two mānasa doṣas rajas and tamas (57). Kaviratna: 'Mind, soul, and body, this trinity ... like three sticks'; 'The qualities of Passion and Darkness have, again, been indicated to be the causes of mental diseases.'

### Sushruta Samhita Śārīrasthāna 1:Bhishagratna's sections 4-5; Sanskrit verse number not established, checked against the source

> The eleven organs of cognition, communication or sense perception ... They are the ears, skin, eyes, tongue, nose, speech, hands, genitals, anus, feet and the mind (Manah). Of these foregoing organs the first five are intellectual or sense organs (Vuddhi-Indriya); the next five being operative (Karma-Indriya). The mind (Manah) partakes of the character of both the intellectual and operative organs alike.

tr. Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna · https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-3-sharirasthana/d/doc142879.html

Suśruta classes manas as the eleventh indriya, ubhayātmaka, following Sāṃkhya; this is the direct opposite of Caraka's atīndriya (Sū.8.4). The 'moon god is that of the mind (Manah)' in section 7 gives its presiding deity.

## The concept record for this term

A term entry answers what the word means. It does not answer whether the thing the word
names is settled, and often it is not. That is what the concept record is for: it sets out
the questions on which the sources disagree about this term, with each position attributed,
and states what is not established.

- [Manas and the triguna: mind, sattva, rajas and tamas in health](https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/concept/manas-in-health/)

## Not to be confused with

- **buddhi.** Ca.Śā.1.21-23: manas deliberates, buddhi determines. Kaviratna's Śā.1 footnote: 'Manas excludes Buddhi. With Buddhi, Manas is Mind.' English 'mind' spans both.
- **sattva.** Ca.Sū.8.4 makes sattva a NAME of manas (sattvasañjñaka), and Sū.1.46 uses sattva for the mental leg of the tridaṇḍa; but sattva is also one of the three guṇas (Sū.8.6). Kaviratna: 'Sattwa is the mind as understood in Hindu philosophy.' The lexicon must flag the two senses.
- **cetas / cetanā.** Cetas is an alternative name for manas (Sū.8.4, 'some call it cetas'; WHO lists 'manaḥ, cetaḥ'); cetanā is consciousness, a liṅga of ātmā (Śā.1.72) and the sixth dhātu of the puruṣa (Śā.1.16). Not the same.
- **ātmā.** Manas is an instrument with guṇas and objects; ātmā is nirvikāra witness. Caraka lists them separately everywhere (Sū.1.42, 1.48, Śā.1.17).
- **indriya.** Caraka: manas is atīndriya (Sū.8.4). Suśruta: manas is the eleventh indriya. Any English gloss 'the sixth sense' follows Suśruta, not Caraka.
- **antaḥkaraṇa.** A class term (WHO ITA-1.9.3.3.34: buddhi, manas, ahaṃkāra, citta; NIA SR0066: manas, buddhi, indriya, ahaṃkāra). Manas is a member, and the two lists disagree on membership.
- **hṛdaya / mastiṣka (seat).** None of the passages retrieved locates manas anatomically; PMID 42453143 reviews the brain question. A lexicon should not assert a seat from these sources.

## Renderings that do not hold

- mind. Not wrong, but Kaviratna's own footnote says manas 'has not for its equivalent Mind'. English 'mind' includes buddhi and often ātmā-functions; manas in Ca.Śā.1.21 stops where buddhi begins.
- sentiment. Bhishagratna, Su.Śā.1 section 18. Manas is a cognitive instrument, not feeling.
- the sixth sense. Popular gloss. Follows Suśruta's eleven-indriya count against Caraka's atīndriya, and 'sense' imports the English sensory meaning.
- psyche. WHO offers 'Mind, psyche'. 'Psyche' in English carries Greek soul/Jungian connotations that overlap ātmā rather than manas.

## Open questions

Recorded rather than resolved.

- Whether Caraka's atīndriya means 'not an indriya' or 'beyond the reach of the indriyas' (imperceptible); Kaviratna's Vi.5 footnote takes the second reading ('beyond the ken of the five organs of sense').
- Whether the triguṇa psychometrics (PMID 40774071 and predecessors) measure manas, mānasa prakṛti, or neither, in classical terms.

## Citation

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