# prajñāparādha (प्रज्ञापराध) > Canonical version of this page: https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/prajnaparadha/ An Ayurvedic technical term, rendered into English in 10 different ways across 11 sources. The renderings do not agree, and the difference between them changes what the term is taken to mean. ## Identification | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Transliteration | prajñāparādha | | Devanagari | प्रज्ञापराध | | Also written | prajnaparadha, pragnaparadha, pragyaparadha, prajña-aparādha, prajñāparādhaḥ | | Category, as gathered | manas-2 | | Grouped under | Mind | | Classical citations | 9 | | 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. ### Behaviour based on erroneous judgement WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-4.4.11, p.108 of PDF (Chapter 4); description: "One of the three primary causes of a disease owing to behaviour based on erroneous judgement." · comparator-standard Comparator only. The PDF text layer renders the Devanagari as प्रज्ापराधः (font-extraction glitch); the IAST column reads prajñāparādhaḥ. Retrieved from the NIA mirror https://www.nia.nic.in/pdf/TERMINOLOGIES.pdf (WHO IRIS returned 403). 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. ### Judgement of error WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-4.8.36; description: "An action taken based on an erroneous judgement, which may be due to a failure of wisdom, intellect or memory" · comparator-standard WHO lists the term twice with different English heads (4.4.11 and 4.8.36). The second head, 'Judgement of error', reads as an inversion of 'error of judgement'. 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. ### intellectual error WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-4.4.9 trividhahetuḥ description: "A classification of etiology into three types: these are improper use of sense organs, intellectual error and transformation under the effect of time." · comparator-standard Used inside the definition of the three-cause scheme rather than as the term's own head. 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. ### intellectual blasphemy; knowingly opting the wrong things may be dietetic or behavioural NAMASTE portal, Standardised Ayurveda Terminologies (SAT) · SAT-C.76 प्रज्ञापराधः prajñāparādhaḥ; long definition: "included as one of the three prime causes of a disease; the misuse of a person's intellect in identifying the wholesome / beneficial thing, any act done bereft of intelligence, perseverance and mindfulness. such an act aggravates all the three doṣa thus should be avoided by a wise person" · comparator-standard From the downloadable combined SAT Excel (https://namaste.ayush.gov.in/admin/assets/excel/namaste/ayu_sat_table_combined.xlsx). 'Intellectual blasphemy' is the head rendering. Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the Government of India NAMASTE terminology, which is what that licence permits, and deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is CC BY 4.0. ### intellectual blasphemy NAMASTE portal, Standardised Ayurveda Terminologies (SAT) · SAT-J.49 प्रज्ञापराधः; long definition: "it is made out of two words pragya and aparadha. pragya refers to knowledge/intellect. aparadha means offence/ transgression/ fault. volitional transgression; erroneous deeds done on account of the impairment of intellect, wisdom and memory." · comparator-standard Second NAMASTE entry (Section J). Same head rendering; the definition introduces 'volitional transgression'. SAT-C.74 trividhahetuḥ also glosses it as 'prajnaparadha(intellectual blasphemy)'. Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the Government of India NAMASTE terminology, which is what that licence permits, and deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is CC BY 4.0. ### faults of the Understanding Charaka Samhita tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna (1896-1913), public domain · Sutrasthana Lesson XI, his aphorisms 41-42 (printed pp.125-126 of the BIUSante scan); also Vimanasthana Lesson III his 23 'faults of the understanding' · public-domain-translation Kaviratna's main rendering in Sutrasthana 11 and Vimanasthana 3. He glosses in a footnote: "'Prajna' means wisdom, or, rather, the faculty by which one judges of things correctly. 'Aparadha' of this, therefore, must imply all instances of erroneous judgment or incorrect apprehension." ### fault of judgment Charaka Samhita tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna (1896-1913), public domain · Sarirasthana Lesson I, his aphorisms 109, 115, 116 (pp.678-679); Nidanasthana Lesson VII his 13 (p.994) · public-domain-translation His rendering in Sarirasthana 1 and Nidanasthana 7; footnote at Ni.7: "'Prajnaparadha,' as explained previously, is fault of judgment, i.e., errors of the understanding." ### intellectual error Charak Samhita New Edition (carakasamhitaonline.com), glossary page 'Prajnaparadha' · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Prajnaparadha · textbook/online Contemporary standard textbook rendering. Not a public-domain source; used only for the rendering and for locating verses. ### intellectual errors / intellectual blasphemy / offence against wisdom Dharmawiki, 'Prajnaparadha (प्रज्ञापराधः)' · https://dharmawiki.org/index.php/Prajnaparadha_(प्रज्ञापराधः) · online encyclopaedia Lists all three as circulating renderings. ### intellectual blasphemy or failure of wisdom Web search result snippet (Ayurveda journal literature, non-PubMed) · Search result text, 2026-10-07 · journal-snippet · our paraphrase of the source, not its words 'Failure of wisdom' circulates in Indian Ayurveda journals; not seen in a retrieved full page. ### crime against wisdom Common popular/textbook rendering · general knowledge · our paraphrase of the source, not its words Widely used in Western Ayurveda writing; NOT verified in any page. Treat as unconfirmed. ## The classical passages ### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 11 (Tistraiṣaṇīya):Standard (Trikamji-type, as printed on carakasamhitaonline) 11/43 prose; Dharmawiki numbers the same prose 11.44. Kaviratna prints his aphorisms 41, 42, 43 for this block., checked against the source > Sanskrit (carakasamhitaonline, numbered 43): "इत्यसात्म्येन्द्रियार्थसंयोगः, प्रज्ञापराधः, परिणामश्चेति त्रयस्त्रिविधविकल्पा हेतवो विकाराणां". Kaviratna (his 41-42, p.125-126): "Correlation, as shown above, is of three kinds. These three kinds of acts or exertions are regarded as faults of the Understanding.41 ... Thus are the three subjects treated of, viz., the improper contact of objects of sense with the Mind, faults of the Understanding, and Time or Parinama.42 These three, (viz., the improper contact of objects of sense with the Mind, faults of the Understanding, and Time,) each sub-divided into three kinds, constitute the causes of disease." tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna (English); Sanskrit from carakasamhitaonline.com · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt ; https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Tistraishaniya_Adhyaya ; https://dharmawiki.org/index.php/Prajnaparadha_(प्रज्ञापराधः) Prajñāparādha is named as the second of the three causes (hetu) of disorders, alongside asātmyendriyārtha-saṃyoga and pariṇāma. Kaviratna's number 42 matches standard 43 by content here (one behind), but his 41 is a different prose unit from standard 42; do not convert by offset. ### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 1 (Dīrghañjīvitīya):Standard 54 (carakasamhitaonline). Kaviratna prints 53., checked against the source > Sanskrit (numbered 54): "कालबुद्धीन्द्रियार्थानां योगो मिथ्या न चाति च| द्वयाश्रयाणां व्याधीनां त्रिविधो हेतुसङ्ग्रहः||५४||". Kaviratna (his 53): "Of all diseases, physical and mental, the causes in brief are of three kinds, viz., adverse or excessive correlation or want of correlation of time, mind, and the objects of the senses.*53" tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt ; https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Deerghanjiviteeya_Adhyaya The verse names 'buddhi' (not prajñāparādha by name) as the middle member of the three-fold cause; Kaviratna renders buddhi here as 'mind', which obscures the link to prajñāparādha. Kaviratna's footnote (his own, not the text): "Time is of two kinds, viz., (1) that portion of eternity with which human life is concerned and which goes on ceaselessly, and (2) the age of man". ### Charaka Samhita Sarirasthana 1 (Katidhāpuruṣīya):Standard 98 (carakasamhitaonline). Kaviratna prints 105., checked against the source > Sanskrit (numbered 98, first line only as retrieved): "धीधृतिस्मृतिविभ्रंशः सम्प्राप्तिः कालकर्मणाम्". Kaviratna (his 105, p.677): "Loss of Understanding, of Firmness, and of Memory, time in respect of the accession of disease and of the administration of correctives as also the accession of objects unaccordant with the senses, — these should be known as the causes of sorrow.105" tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt ; https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Katidhapurusha_Sharira Restates the three causes of suffering in Sarirasthana, with dhī-dhṛti-smṛti-vibhraṃśa as the first. Kaviratna's own footnote (not text): "I render 'dhi' the equivalent of 'buddhi,' as Understanding; 'dhriti' as firmness ... and lastly 'smriti' as Memory or the retentive power." In this chapter Kaviratna runs seven ahead of the standard numbering (105/98, 109/102, 116/109), verified by content at each of those three points. ### Charaka Samhita Sarirastana 1 (Katidhāpuruṣīya):Standard 99-101 (carakasamhitaonline). Kaviratna prints 106, 107, 108., checked against the source > Sanskrit: "विषमाभिनिवेशो यो नित्यानित्ये हिताहिते। ज्ञेयः स बुद्धिविभ्रंशः समं बुद्धिर्हि पश्यति॥९९॥ विषयप्रवणं सत्त्वं धृतिभ्रंशान्न शक्यते। नियन्तुमहितादर्थाद्धृतिर्हि नियमात्मिका॥१००॥ तत्त्वज्ञाने स्मृतिर्यस्य रजोमोहावृतात्मनः। भ्रश्यते स स्मृतिभ्रंशः स्मर्तव्यं हि स्मृतौ स्थितम्॥१०१॥". Kaviratna (his 106-108, p.678): "An injudicious attention to what is unchangeable and what is changeable, as also to good and evil, is regarded as loss of understanding, since the understanding implies a judicious application to things.*106 The mind that is prone to earthly objects is incapable of being restrained from evil courses owing to loss of firmness, for firmness implies restraint of inclinations.107 The swerving of the mind of a person who is overwhelmed by passion and heedlessness from the knowledge of truth, is known as loss of memory, for that which should be remembered (viz., the knowledge of truth) dwells in memory.108" tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt ; https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Katidhapurusha_Sharira Defines the three component failures (buddhi/dhī-vibhraṃśa, dhṛti-bhraṃśa, smṛti-bhraṃśa) that together constitute prajñāparādha. ### Charaka Samhita Sarirasthana 1 (Katidhāpuruṣīya):Standard 102 (carakasamhitaonline; Dharmawiki cites the same verse as 'Char. Samh. 1.102'). Kaviratna prints 109., checked against the source > Sanskrit: "धीधृतिस्मृतिविभ्रष्टः कर्म यत् कुरुतेऽशुभम्। प्रज्ञापराधं तं विद्यात् सर्वदोषप्रकोपणम्॥१०२॥". Kaviratna (his 109, p.678): "The evil acts which a man who has lost understanding, firmness, and memory, perpetrates, should be known to constitute what is called fault of judgment. This (fault of judgment) is provocative of all the faults.109" tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt ; https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Katidhapurusha_Sharira The canonical definition: unwholesome action done by one whose dhī, dhṛti and smṛti are deranged is prajñāparādha, and it provokes all doṣas. Kaviratna's footnote (his own): "'Dosha' in 'sarvadoshaprakopanam' has reference as much to the faults, (wind, bile and phlegm) as to all trangressions from duty." ### Charaka Samhita Sarirasthana 1 (Katidhāpuruṣīya):Standard 108-109 (carakasamhitaonline). Kaviratna prints 115-116., checked against the source > Sanskrit: "यच्चान्यदीदृशं कर्म रजोमोहसमुत्थितम्। प्रज्ञापराधं तं शिष्टा ब्रुवते व्याधिकारणम्॥१०८॥ बुद्ध्या विषमविज्ञानं विषमं च प्रवर्तनम्। प्रज्ञापराधं जानीयान्मनसो गोचरं हि तत्॥१०९॥". Kaviratna (his 115-116, p.679): "These and such other acts which arise from passion and stupefaction, are regarded by sages as disease-producing faults of judgment.115 Injudicious apprehension of things by the understanding, as also a setting of one's self to injudicious acts, should be known as fault of judgment. That which is called fault of judgment really concerns the mind.*116" tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt ; https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Katidhapurusha_Sharira Second definition: wrong cognition by the intellect and wrong action; prajñāparādha is located in the domain of manas (manaso gocaram). Kaviratna's footnote: "Acts have two elements, viz., mental and physical. The physical element is excluded. Acts that are faults of judgment are, the Rishi says, all mental." The list of acts (standard 103-107 / Kaviratna 110-114) sits between these two quotes. ### Charaka Samhita Vimanasthana 3 (Janapadodhvaṃsanīya):Kaviratna prints 23 (OCR reads '28!' between his 22 and 24, so 23). carakasamhitaonline lists this as Vi. 3/20; standard number NOT verified against a Sanskrit source., checked against the source > Kaviratna (p.477): "Unto him the illustrious son of Atri said, — O Agniveca, the perversity that arises of all these, viz., air and the rest, has unrighteousness for its root. That unrighteousness has for its root sinful acts committed before. The source of both these (viz., unrighteousness and sinful acts), is faults of the understanding.23" Footnote (translator's note, not text): "By 'prajnaparadhah' is meant faults of the understanding. 'Prajna' means wisdom, or, rather, the faculty by which one judges of things correctly. 'Aparadha' of this, therefore, must imply all instances of erroneous judgment or incorrect apprehension." tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt Prajñāparādha as the root of adharma, which in turn is the root of the vitiation of air, water, place and time that destroys communities (epidemic causation). ### Charaka Samhita Vimanasthana 6 (Roganika Vimana):Standard Vimānasthāna 6/6 (Trikamji; carakasamhitaonline Roganika Vimana prints ||६|| after 'परिणामश्चेति'). Kaviratna: Vimanasthana Lesson VI, printed p. 515, inside the block closed by his printed 10 (his 10 covers standard 6-9; number printed after). Not Nidānasthāna: Kaviratna's Nidanasthana Lesson I (printed p. 928) renders Ni 1/3 as a different sentence., checked against the source > Kaviratna: "Amongst them, verily, of these two kinds of Faults (viz., mental and bodily), there are three kinds of exciting causes, viz., union with disagreeing objects of sense, faults of understanding, and Time." Footnote (translator's note): "By 'Parinama' is meant Time." tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt The three causes, asātmyendriyārtha-saṃyoga, prajñāparādha and pariṇāma, restated in Vimānasthāna 6/6 as the threefold provokers (trividhaṃ prakopaṇam) of both classes of doṣa, the mental (rajas, tamas) and the bodily (vāta, pitta, kapha). The gloss 'By Parinama is meant Time' is Kaviratna's footnote, not the text. The same triad is the definition of nidāna at Ni 1/3 (tat trividham: asātmyendriyārthasaṃyogaḥ, prajñāparādhaḥ, pariṇāmaś ceti), which Kaviratna renders differently. ### Charaka Samhita Nidanasthana 7 (Unmāda-nidāna):Kaviratna prints 13 (OCR 'r3', p.994). carakasamhitaonline lists prajñāparādha as cause of unmāda at Ni. 7/10; standard number NOT verified against Sanskrit., checked against the source > Kaviratna: "Some say that the evil acts of previous lives are the cause of this variety of Insanity (viz., that which is called Accidental). But the illustrious Punarvasu of Atri's race declared that fault of judgment is the cause.13" Footnote (translator's note): "'Prajnaparadha,' as explained previously, is fault of judgment, i.e., errors of the understanding. Almost all diseases are born of such errors." tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt Prajñāparādha named as the cause of āgantu (exogenous) unmāda, over against the 'past deeds' view. ## 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. - [Prajnaparadha (error of judgement as a cause of disease)](https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/concept/prajnaparadha/) ## Not to be confused with - **asātmyendriyārtha-saṃyoga.** The first of the three causes: wrong (excess, deficient, perverse) contact of senses with their objects. Kaviratna himself notes (Sa.1 footnote) that the first and third 'are scarcely exclusive of each other'; the texts nonetheless keep them as separate heads. - **pariṇāma / kāla.** The third cause, time and its transformations (season, age). Prajñāparādha is volitional; pariṇāma is not. - **dhī-dhṛti-smṛti-vibhraṃśa.** The derangement of intellect, restraint and memory is the mechanism; prajñāparādha is the unwholesome ACT that results from it (Ca.Sa.1.102). Kaviratna's footnote says the compound 'is otherwise called Prajnaparadha', collapsing cause and effect; the Sanskrit of 102 keeps them distinct. - **adharma / pāpa.** Ca.Vi.3 makes prajñāparādha the ROOT of adharma, not a synonym for sin. Kaviratna's Su.11 footnote (translator's view) frames the doctrine in terms of 'sin', which is his gloss. - **mithyāyoga of karma (Ca.Su.11).** In Sutrasthana 11 the three kinds of wrong exertion of speech, mind and body are what is 'regarded as' prajñāparādha; in Sarirasthana 1 the definition is cognitive. The two chapters define it at different levels (act vs. faculty). - **buddhi (as 'mind').** Kaviratna renders buddhi in Ca.Su.1.54 as 'mind', so a reader of his translation will not see that this verse is the seed of the prajñāparādha doctrine. ## Renderings that do not hold - intellectual blasphemy. Still the head rendering in NAMASTE (SAT-C.76, SAT-J.49). 'Blasphemy' imports a theological register absent from aparādha (offence, fault, transgression); the Sanskrit concerns erroneous judgement and volitional wrong action, not sacrilege. Even the carakasamhitaonline page calls it 'a more Victorian style'. - Judgement of error. WHO ITA-4.8.36 head term; an inversion of 'error of judgement' that reads as a judgement ABOUT error. - crime against wisdom. Popular Western rendering; 'crime' over-criminalises aparādha and 'wisdom' mystifies prajñā, which Kaviratna glosses as 'the faculty by which one judges of things correctly'. Not retrieved in a source; flagged as circulating. - fault of judgment = all mental (Kaviratna footnote). Kaviratna's note that 'the physical element is excluded' is his reading of manaso gocaram; the text itself lists bodily acts (suppression of urges, overindulgence) as prajñāparādha. Treat the note as translator's opinion. ## Open questions Recorded rather than resolved. - Standard (Trikamji) verse numbers for Ca.Vi.3 (listed as 3/20), Ca.Ni.1 (1/3) and Ca.Ni.7 (7/10) were taken from carakasamhitaonline's reference list and not verified against a numbered Sanskrit page; Kaviratna's printed numbers (23, 10, 13) are what was read. - Sutrasthana 11 prose numbering differs between editions: carakasamhitaonline prints 43 for the 'ity asātmyendriyārtha...' sentence, Dharmawiki cites 11.44 for the same sentence. - Whether Ashtanga Hridaya Su.1/19 (kālārthakarmaṇāṃ yogo hīnamithyātimātrakaḥ, cited by Dharmawiki) should be recorded as a parallel: no public-domain English exists and the Sanskrit was seen only on Dharmawiki. - ICD-11 TM2 coverage: a search found no evidence that prajñāparādha is coded (it is a cause, not a disorder); not checked in the ICD-11 browser itself. ## Citation Age Ayurveda Nighantu, "prajñāparādha", https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/prajnaparadha/, 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.