padārtha: what the term means and how it is translated
padārtha पदार्थ is an Ayurvedic technical term. It is rendered into English in 6 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 | padārtha |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | पदार्थ |
| Also written | padārthaḥ, ṣaṭpadārtha / ṣaṭ padārthāḥ (the six), kāraṇa (Ayurvedic usage for the six, per Ca.Su.1.53 and NIA BP0178) |
| Category, as gathered | padartha |
| Grouped here under | Foundations and categories |
| Classical citations | 4 |
| 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.
Object denoted by a word
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-1.8.3.5 'padārthaḥ': 'Etymologically “the meaning or referent of a word”, it is applied to any entity that is knowable and nameable, i.e. an object of experience.'; ITA-1.9.1 'ṣaṭpadārthāḥ': 'Six ontological categories of an object: The object of experience is subdivided into six fundamental categories: generality (samanyam), particularity (vishesham), substance (dravyam), quality (gunaḥ), action (karma), and inherence (samavayaḥ).' · comparator
WHO places the simplex in the epistemology section and the six in a separate ontology section; the ordering of the six follows Charaka Su.1.28-29, not Vaiśeṣika.
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.
1. The meaning of a word or group of words; 2. Substance which exists has a nomenclature and is a subject of Knowledge. This whole universe is categorized in six padarthas. Ayurveda uses the term Karana (cause) for Padartha
National Institute of Ayurveda, WHO-APW 'Standardization of Non-Clinical Terminologies of Ayurveda' · BP0178 'padārthaḥ'; BP0265 'shat padārthaḥ': 'The Six Matters : Samanya, Vishesha, Guna, Dravya, Karma and Samavaya.' · comparator
The NIA entry's third sentence records the Ayurvedic substitution of kāraṇa for padārtha, which Ca.Su.1.53 supports. 'The Six Matters' is an awkward calque.
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.
The term “Padartha” is the meaning implied by a word or an aphorism (i.e. a sentence).
Sushruta Samhita tr. K. L. Bhishagratna, public domain (wisdomlib.org) · Uttara-tantra ch. 65 (Bhishagratna's chapter LXV, 'The Technical terms used in the treatise'), his section 7 · public-domain translation
The tantrayukti sense: a hermeneutic device, not an ontological category.
Predicables
Vaiśeṣika Sūtra 1.1.4 tr. Nandalal Sinha (1923), as presented on wisdomlib.org · the source's own wording is not reproduced here: Sinha 1923, pre-1930 and probably clear, but outside the two translations this project has cleared and never confirmed by a human · comparator (non-Ayurvedic philosophical text)
The older Indological rendering ('predicables'); 'categories' is now standard.
(not rendered; Kaviratna leaves the Vi.8 technical terms in Sanskrit)
Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Vi.8 translator's footnote at his printed 27: 'Instead of endeavouring to give the English renderings of these technical words, it is more convenient to present them in their original forms. ... Many of these terms belong to the Nyaya school of philosophy' · public-domain translation
Quoted AS a translator's note. The word padārtha itself does not occur in the Charaka verses read; Kaviratna therefore never renders it.
six ontological categories / six categories
WHO ITA-1.9 section heading; general textbook usage · WHO ITA-1.9 'Six ontological categories of an object' · comparator / textbook
'Categories' is the dominant modern rendering.
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.
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.
Sushruta SamhitaUttara-tantra 65 (Bhishagratna's chapter LXV, Tantra-yukti):10 (Sushruta, Uttara-tantra 65.10; printed ॥ १० ॥ in the Trikamji/Nirnaya Sagar 2nd ed. 1931, p. 757. Bhishagratna's unnumbered English runs this as his section 7.) · checked against the source
योऽर्थोऽभिहितः सूत्रे पदे वा स पदार्थः, पदस्य पदयोः पदानां वाऽर्थः पदार्थः; अपरिमिताश्च पदार्थाः । यथा—स्नेहस्वेदाञ्जनेषु निर्दिष्टेषु द्वयोस्त्रयाणां वाऽर्थानामुपपत्तिर्दृश्यते, तत्र योऽर्थः पूर्वापरयोगसिद्धो भवति स ग्रहीतव्यः ... एष पदार्थः ॥ १० ॥
Padārtha as a tantrayukti at Su.Ut.65.10 in the printed Sanskrit: the meaning conveyed by a sūtra or a word, of one word, two words or several, and such meanings are unlimited; where a word admits two or three senses (sneha, sveda, añjana), the sense established by what precedes and follows is the one to be taken. This is the interpretive device, distinct from the six ontological categories, and it is Bhishagratna's section 7.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 1:Standard 1.28-29; Kaviratna prints 27-28 · checked against the source
Those great Rishis (then) beheld duly, with the eye of knowledge, similarities, dissimilarities, properties, objects, and operations, as also compositions. Knowing these, and conforming to the ordinances of that Science, they obtained great felicity and even immortal life.
The six categories as Charaka lists them (sāmānya, viśeṣa, guṇa, dravya, karma, samavāya), without using the word padārtha. Sanskrit: महर्षयस्ते ददृशुर्यथावज्ज्ञानचक्षुषा| सामान्यं च विशेषं च गुणान् द्रव्याणि कर्म च||२८|| समवायं च तज्ज्ञात्वा तन्त्रोक्तं विधिमास्थिताः| लेभिरे परमं शर्म जीवितं चाप्यनित्वरम्||२९||.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 1:Standard 1.53; Kaviratna prints 52 · checked against the source
Thus is explained Cause as also Action or Effect.
That Charaka's own collective name for the six just defined is kāraṇa, not padārtha. Sanskrit: इत्युक्तं कारणं कार्यं धातुसाम्यमिहोच्यते||५३||.
Vaiśeṣika SūtraBook 1, chapter 1 1.1:1.1.4 as printed on wisdomlib · address only, nothing quoted to check
Quotation withheld: quotes Sinha 1923, pre-1930 and probably clear, but outside the two translations this project has cleared and never confirmed by a human. The passage is at this address.
The philosophical source: the six named explicitly as padārthas, in the order dravya, guṇa, karma, sāmānya, viśeṣa, samavāya. This is the verification the earlier shad-padartha.json flagged as missing.
Not to be confused with
- ṣaṭpadārtha (the six) vs padārtha (simplex)
- WHO separates ITA-1.8.3.5 (meaning/referent of a word, any nameable entity) from ITA-1.9.1 (the six categories). The simplex is semantic, the compound ontological.
- padārtha as tantrayukti
- Su.Ut.65 (Bhishagratna): 'the meaning implied by a word or an aphorism'. A reading device for the text, not a category of being. Both uses occur inside Ayurveda.
- kāraṇa
- Ca.Su.1.53 and NIA BP0178: Ayurveda calls the six 'kāraṇa' (causes of dhātusāmya). Charaka's verses never use 'padārtha' for them; the word enters via the commentators and Vaiśeṣika.
- prameya
- WHO ITA-1.8.3.4 'Object of knowledge'. Prameya is what is to be known by a pramāṇa; padārtha is what exists and is nameable.
- Vaiśeṣika's six/seven padārthas
- Vaiśeṣika Sūtra 1.1.4 (retrieved) gives six in the order dravya, guṇa, karma, sāmānya, viśeṣa, samavāya; Charaka Su.1.28-29 leads with sāmānya/viśeṣa; later Vaiśeṣika adds abhāva (WHO ITA-1.9.7.1 'Nonexistence' under 'Miscellaneous ontological categories').
- pañcamahābhūta
- Five elements, which are dravyas; constantly conflated with the six categories in popular writing.
Renderings that do not hold
- six substances. Dravya is one of the six.
- six elements. Confuses with pañcamahābhūta.
- The Six Matters. NIA BP0265's calque; 'matters' has no technical content in English.
- word-meaning (for the six). The etymological sense (pada + artha) is WHO ITA-1.8.3.5 and Su.Ut.65; applying it to the ontological six is a category error, although the etymology is real.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Whether any Ayurvedic mūla text uses the compound ṣaṭpadārtha was not established; the Vaiśeṣika Sūtra uses 'padārthānām' with the six named.
- Standard verse number for the Su.Ut.65 padārtha passage not established; Bhishagratna's '7' is his own section number.
- The Chakrapāṇi gloss 'ṣaṇṇāṃ padārthānāṃ' recorded in the project's shad-padartha.json was not re-retrieved.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, padārtha
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/padartha/, 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.