raktavaha srotas: what the term means and how it is translated
raktavaha srotas रक्तवहस्रोतस् is an Ayurvedic technical term. It is rendered into English in 7 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 | raktavaha srotas |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | रक्तवहस्रोतस् |
| Also written | śoṇitavaha srotas (शोणितवहस्रोतस्), Caraka's own term at Vi.5/8, raktavāhīni srotāṃsi (Ca.Vi.5/14), asṛgvahā (WHO ITA-2.5.12, for blood vessels) |
| Category, as gathered | srotas (body channel) — anatomy/physiology |
| Grouped here under | Body: tissues, wastes and channels |
| Classical citations | 3 |
| Citations checked | 2026-10-08 |
How it is translated, and whether the translation holds
Each rendering is given with the source that uses it. The assessment is ours.
Channel carrying blood
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-2.5.11 · standards-body comparator
WHO description: 'The pathway which carries blood. Entities related to this channel are the liver and spleen.'
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.
Blood vessels
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-2.5.12 asṛgvahā · standards-body comparator (separate term)
WHO keeps asṛgvahā ('blood vessels') as a SEPARATE entry from raktavahasrotaḥ, evidence that the standard does not equate the channel with the vasculature.
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.
Vitiation of channels carrying blood
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-5.5.6 raktavahasrotoduṣṭiḥ · standards-body comparator (disorder term)
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.
channels carrying blood tissue
NAMASTE Portal, Standardised Ayurveda Terminologies · SAT-B.480 · national terminology comparator
NAMASTE's 'blood tissue' preserves the dhātu sense that WHO's bare 'blood' loses.
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.
derangement of raktavahasrotas
NAMASTE National Ayurveda Morbidity Codes · NAMC ED-1, referenced to Ca.Vi.5/8; Su.Sa.9/12 · morbidity-code comparator
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.
The blood-carrying Srotas (channels)
Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna, Sushruta Samhita (1911) · Śārīrasthāna IX.11–12 · public-domain translation
rakta dhatu or red blood
carakasamhitaonline.com (CSRTSL), 2020 · Sroto Vimana 5/6-7 commentary · modern translation (in copyright; rendering recorded as comparator only)
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.
Caraka SaṃhitāVimāna Sthāna 5:5/8 · checked against the source
शोणितवहानां स्रोतसां यकृन्मूलं प्लीहा च|
Root = yakṛt (liver) and plīhā (spleen). Crucially, Caraka's word here is śoṇita-vaha, NOT rakta-vaha, the head-term of the modern lexicon is not the term of the locus classicus.
Caraka SaṃhitāVimāna Sthāna 5:5/14 · checked against the source
विदाहीन्यन्नपानानि स्निग्धोष्णानि द्रवाणि च| रक्तवाहीनि दुष्यन्ति भजतां चातपानलौ||१४||
Caraka uses rakta-vāhīni in the metrical section, confirming rakta- and śoṇita- as interchangeable stems within one chapter.
Suśruta SaṃhitāŚārīra Sthāna 9:11–12 (Bhishagratna); cited as 9/12 elsewhere · checked against the source
The blood-carrying Srotas (channels) are two in number and have their roots in the spleen and the liver, and the blood-carrying Dhamanis (capillaries in general). An injury to any of these channels is attended with pallor, bluishness of complexion, fever, burning sensations, excessive hemorrhage, and redness of the eyes.
Suśruta agrees with Caraka on liver+spleen and adds the blood-carrying dhamanīs. One of the clearest Caraka/Suśruta agreements in the set.
Not to be confused with
- asṛgvahā / sirā / dhamanī
- WHO codes asṛgvahā ('blood vessels') separately at ITA-2.5.12. Caraka at Vi.5/9 lists sirā and dhamanī among the NAMES for body spaces generally, so 'srotas = blood vessel' is a category error even where they overlap.
- rakta dhātu
- The tissue versus its conduit.
- raktapitta
- A disease of bleeding, listed by NAMASTE among the diseases involving this srotas; not the channel itself.
- rasavaha srotas
- Consecutive in the dhātu chain but with different roots (heart/dhamanīs vs liver/spleen).
Renderings that do not hold
- the circulatory system. Neither text names heart or vessels as the root, the roots are liver and spleen, i.e. haematopoietic/haemolytic organs. WHO keeps 'blood vessels' as a separate term precisely to avoid this.
- capillaries. Bhishagratna's 1911 gloss on 'blood-carrying Dhamanis'. An imported histological category with no basis in the Sanskrit.
- 'rakta' as red blood cells. rakta is a dhātu, the whole blood tissue including its formative and nutritive role, not a cell type.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Is the śoṇita/rakta alternation purely metrical convenience, or do commentators read a distinction?
- Why do both texts root a blood channel in liver and spleen rather than the heart, when the heart is the root of rasavaha in both?
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, raktavaha srotas
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/raktavaha-srotas/, 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.