purīṣa: what the term means and how it is translated
purīṣa पुरीष 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 | 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 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.
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. It is deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is offered under CC BY 4.0 and invites the modification a NoDerivs licence forbids.
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. It is deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is offered under CC BY 4.0 and invites the modification a NoDerivs licence forbids.
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. It is deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is offered under CC BY 4.0 and invites the modification a NoDerivs licence forbids.
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. It is deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is offered under CC BY 4.0 and invites the modification a NoDerivs licence forbids.
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. It is deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is offered under CC BY 4.0 and invites the modification a NoDerivs licence forbids.
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
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) · checked against the source
किट्टात् स्वेदमूत्रपुरीषवातपित्तश्लेष्माणः ... पुष्यन्ति| / kiṭṭāt svēdamūtrapurīṣavātaPittaślēṣmāṇaḥ ... puṣyanti| — Kaviratna: 'From the Refuse arise urine, sweat, faeces* wind, bile, and phlegm'
Purīṣa is nourished from kiṭṭa.
Charaka SamhitaChikitsasthana 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'
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 SamhitaSutrasthana 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.'
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 SamhitaSutrasthana 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).'
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 SamhitaSutrasthana 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.'
Sushruta's purīṣa-kṣaya and -vṛddhi signs. 'liver' is Bhishagratna's addition (Sanskrit: kukṣi).
Ashtanga HridayaSutrasthana 11:5 (GRETIL numbering) · checked against the source
avaṣṭambhaḥ purīṣasya mūtrasya kleda-vāhanam | svedasya kleda-vidhṛtir vṛddhas tu kurute 'nilaḥ || 5 ||
Vāgbhaṭa reduces the function of faeces to avaṣṭambha (support).
Ashtanga HridayaSharirasthana 3:61 (GRETIL numbering) · checked against the source
tatrācchaṃ kiṭṭam annasya mūtraṃ vidyād ghanam śakṛt || 61 ||
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. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- 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.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, purīṣa
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/purisha/, 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.