# purīṣa (पुरीष)

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

An Ayurvedic technical term, rendered into English in 7 different ways across 8 sources.
The renderings do not agree, and the difference between them changes what the term is taken
to mean.

## Identification

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Transliteration | purīṣa |
| Devanagari | पुरीष |
| Also written | purīṣam, śakṛt (synonym; Ca.Su.17/70 'śakr̥ti'), viṭ / viḍ (synonym; Ca.Chi.15/18 'viṇmūtraṁ'), varcas (synonym, cf. varcovāhīni Ca.Vi.5/21), mala (in the narrow sense: stool), purisha, purISha |
| Category, as gathered | mala |
| Grouped 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.

### Faeces

WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-2.4.3 purīṣam, śakṛt, viṭ; 'A by-product of digestion, the function of which is to support the body in general and vata and digestive, metabolic factors in particular.' · standard

WHO lists three Sanskrit synonyms under one code. The function clause paraphrases Su.Su.15/5 (upastambha; vāyv-agni-dhāraṇa).

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.

### faeces

NAMASTE Portal, Standardised Ayurveda Terminologies · SAT-B.459 purīṣam; 'one of the āhāramala, the function of which is to support the body in general and vāyu and agni in particular' · standard

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.

### feaces [sic]

NAMASTE Portal, Standardised Ayurveda Terminologies · SAT-B.461 śakṛt; 'synonym of purīṣa' · standard

Misspelling is in the source.

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.

### excreta

NAMASTE Portal, Standardised Ayurveda Terminologies · SAT-B.463 viṭ/viḍ; 'waste products of the body especially faeces' · standard

NAMASTE gives viṭ a broader gloss than WHO, which treats it as a plain synonym.

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.

### abnormal stool (purīṣavaiṣamyam); depletion of feces (CB-1); morbid increase of purISha (CB-2)

NAMASTE National Ayurveda Morbidity Codes · NAMC CB, CB-1, CB-2 · classification

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.

### faeces; stools

Charaka Samhita, tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna (1896-1913) · Sutrasthana Lesson XXVIII ('faeces'); Lesson XVII his 70 ('stools'); Chikitsa Lesson XV his 17 ('stools and urine') · translation

He alternates 'faeces' and 'stools' for purīṣa/śakṛt/viṭ without distinguishing the Sanskrit synonyms.

### fecal matter; the excreta or the fecal matters

Sushruta Samhita, tr. Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna (1907) · Sutrasthana XV · translation

### stool

Uikey and Kar, Ayu 2015 (PMID 27011711), 'A review on Purisha Pariksha in Ayurveda' · abstract: 'The changes pertaining to Purisha (stool)...' · paper

Modern Indian Ayurvedic-journal usage is 'stool'.

## The classical passages

### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 28:4 (standard), checked against the source

> किट्टात् स्वेदमूत्रपुरीषवातपित्तश्लेष्माणः ... पुष्यन्ति| / kiṭṭāt svēdamūtrapurīṣavātaPittaślēṣmāṇaḥ ... puṣyanti| — Kaviratna: 'From the Refuse arise urine, sweat, faeces* wind, bile, and phlegm'

tr. Sanskrit from carakasamhitaonline; English by Avinash Chandra Kaviratna · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Vividhashitapitiya_Adhyaya ; https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

Purīṣa is nourished from kiṭṭa.

### Charaka Samhita Chikitsasthana 15:18 (standard); Kaviratna's printed 17, checked against the source

> किट्टमन्नस्य विण्मूत्रं / kiṭṭamannasya viṇmūtraṁ — Kaviratna: 'That which Is called the ‘Kitta’ (refuse) of the food taken, consists of stools and urine'

tr. Sanskrit from carakasamhitaonline; English by Avinash Chandra Kaviratna · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Grahani_Chikitsa ; https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

Faeces (here viṭ) are the kiṭṭa of food; Charaka uses the synonym viṭ in this verse and śakṛt at Su 17/70, purīṣa at Su 28/4.

### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 17:70 (standard); Kaviratna's printed 70 (aligned), checked against the source

> क्षीणे शकृति चान्त्राणि पीडयन्निव मारुतः| रूक्षस्योन्नमयन् कुक्षिं तिर्यगूर्ध्वं च गच्छति||७०|| — Kaviratna: 'When the stools decrease below the quantity that is normal, the wind in the constitution of the patient who has become dry, becomes provoked or aggravated and afflicting his entrails forces them upwards and penetrates the abdomen in transverse and upward directions.'

tr. Sanskrit from carakasamhitaonline; English by Avinash Chandra Kaviratna · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Kiyanta_Shiraseeya_Adhyaya ; https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

Purīṣa-kṣaya signs (vāta-dominated); source of WHO ITA-5.4.6 and NAMC CB-1 (which cites Ca.Su.17/70). Kaviratna's 'provoked or aggravated' is an addition; the Sanskrit says vāta presses the intestines and moves obliquely and upward.

### Sushruta Samhita Sutrasthana 15:5 (siva.sh numbering); Bhishagratna prints no verse numbers, checked against the source

> पुरीषमुपस्तम्भं वाय्वग्निधारणं च / purīṣam upastambhaṁ vāyvagnidhāraṇaṁ ca — Bhishagratna: 'The excreta or the fecal matters of a man are indispensably necessary for the preservation of the body. They contain the wind and digestion (being primarily connected with the movements of the bodily Vayu and the feeling of hunger).'

tr. Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna (English); Sanskrit from siva.sh · https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-1-sutrasthana/d/doc122907.html ; https://www.siva.sh/sushruta-samhita/sutra-sthana/15/

The functions of faeces: upastambha (support) and holding vāyu and agni. This is the source of the 'support the body ... vata and agni' clause in WHO 2.4.3 and NAMASTE SAT-B.459. Bhishagratna's 'indispensably necessary for the preservation of the body' is an expansion of upastambha; his parenthesis is his own gloss.

### Sushruta Samhita Sutrasthana 15:11 and 15 (siva.sh numbering), checked against the source

> पुरीषक्षये हृदयपार्श्वपीडा सशब्दस्य च वायोरूर्ध्वगमनं कुक्षौ सञ्चरणं च [11] ... पुरीषमाटोपं कुक्षौ शूलं च [15] — Bhishagratna: 'The loss absence, suppression or scanty formation of fecal matter is attended with a sensation of pain at the sides and the region of the heart, and the upward coursing of (the incarcerated) wind or flatus, accompanied with a rumbling sound about the region of the liver and the intestines.' ... 'An abnormal increase in the formation of fecal matter is attended with distension of the abdomen and colic pains in the loins and the intestines.'

tr. Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna (English); Sanskrit from siva.sh · https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-1-sutrasthana/d/doc122907.html ; https://www.siva.sh/sushruta-samhita/sutra-sthana/15/11-15

Sushruta's purīṣa-kṣaya and -vṛddhi signs. 'liver' is Bhishagratna's addition (Sanskrit: kukṣi).

### Ashtanga Hridaya Sutrasthana 11:5 (GRETIL numbering), checked against the source

> avaṣṭambhaḥ purīṣasya mūtrasya kleda-vāhanam | svedasya kleda-vidhṛtir vṛddhas tu kurute 'nilaḥ || 5 ||

tr. none (no public-domain English exists) · http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/1_sanskr/6_sastra/7_ayur/vagaah_u.htm

Vāgbhaṭa reduces the function of faeces to avaṣṭambha (support).

### Ashtanga Hridaya Sharirasthana 3:61 (GRETIL numbering), checked against the source

> tatrācchaṃ kiṭṭam annasya mūtraṃ vidyād ghanam śakṛt || 61 ||

tr. none (no public-domain English exists) · http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/1_sanskr/6_sastra/7_ayur/vagaah_u.htm

Faeces (śakṛt) is the solid kiṭṭa of food.

## Not to be confused with

- **śakṛt / viṭ / varcas.** Attested synonyms used interchangeably by Charaka himself (purīṣa Su 28/4; śakṛt Su 17/70; viṭ Chi 15/18; varcas Vi 5/21). WHO codes all under ITA-2.4.3; NAMASTE gives śakṛt (SAT-B.461) and viṭ (SAT-B.463) their own codes, with viṭ glossed more broadly as 'excreta'.
- **mala (narrow sense).** In clinical Sanskrit and ICD-11 TM2 index terms (mala-apravṛtiḥ under SM7Y) 'mala' means stool; in Su 28/4 it is the whole class. Entries must say which.
- **purīṣavaha srotas.** The channel (Ca.Vi.5/8); separate record.
- **vibandha / mala-apravṛtti / ānāha.** Retention or constipation diseases; not the same as purīṣa-kṣaya (reduced formation) or purīṣa-vṛddhi (AH 11/25 derives vṛddhi from retention).
- **purīṣa-parīkṣā.** Stool examination (one of the aṣṭasthāna parīkṣā; NAMASTE SAT-C.154 'examination of the excreta (mala)'); a diagnostic act, not the substance.

## Renderings that do not hold

- 'indispensably necessary for the preservation of the body' (Bhishagratna) read as doctrine. The Sanskrit says upastambha (support); the emphatic phrasing is Bhishagratna's. Quote it as his rendering.
- excreta = purīṣa only. Bhishagratna uses 'excreta' for faeces here but 'excretions/excrements' for mala as a class elsewhere in the same chapter; NAMASTE uses 'excreta' for viṭ. The English word floats between the narrow and broad senses.
- 'waste'/'toxin' implying no function. Su.Su.15/5 and AH Su 11/5 assign faeces a supportive function (upastambha, vāyv-agni-dhāraṇa) and both WHO and NAMASTE copy that clause.

## Open questions

Recorded rather than resolved.

- Charaka's own statement of purīṣa's FUNCTION (as opposed to origin and kṣaya) was not located; the standards' function clause traces to Sushruta/Vāgbhaṭa. Check Ca.Su.28 commentary and Ca.Chi.15.
- Whether purīṣa and śakṛt are ever distinguished by any commentator (e.g. formed vs unformed) was not checked.

## Citation

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