# rūkṣa (रूक्ष)

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

An Ayurvedic technical term, rendered into English in 6 different ways.
The renderings do not agree, and the difference between them changes what the term is taken
to mean.

## Identification

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Transliteration | rūkṣa |
| Devanagari | रूक्ष |
| Also written | ruksa, ruksha guna, rūkṣaḥ, raukshya (रौक्ष्य, the abstract noun), rukshana (रूक्षण, the therapy) |
| Category, as gathered | dravyaguna-3 |
| Grouped under | Pharmacology and the action of substances |
| Classical citations | 5 |
| 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.

### Dryness

WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022), PDF mirror · ITA-1.9.4.2.9 'Dryness' description 'The quality of a substance which is responsible for dryness and absorbs moisture.' rūkṣaḥ · comparator

Single-word rendering; definition by effect.

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.

### dry

Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.1 his 58 vata 'dry'; Su.22 his 10 langhana 'dry', his 12 rukshana 'dry'; Su.26 his 11 Varyovida 'dry'; Su.26 his 24/26 fire and wind objects 'dry' · public-domain translation

Consistent. His Su.22 footnote adds: ''Ruksha' is productive of dryness in the whole system.' (translator's note). His Su.26 footnote: ''Ruksha' is dry, being the reverse of oily.' (translator's note).

### dryness, and roughness and paleness (for raukṣya, kharatva, vaiśadya)

Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.22 his 7-9 (definition of Rukshana) · public-domain translation

'paleness' for vaiśadya (non-sliminess/clearness) is an odd Edwardian choice.

### dry; Parchedness

Sushruta Samhita tr. K. L. Bhishagratna, public domain · Su.Su.42 'the pungent, astringent and bitter ones are dry and light' (wisdomlib); Su.Su.46 guna-karma passage 'Parchedness is the opposite of oleaginousness' (archive.org OCR vol. 1 pp. 567-568); Su.Su.46 'a condition of parchedness (Ruksha) in the organism' (wisdomlib) · public-domain translation

Bhishagratna alternates 'dry' and 'parchedness'; 'parchifying' also appears in his Su.46 food lists.

### Ruksa (dry)

Mishra, Dwivedi & Ravishankar, AYU 2011 (PMID 22408303) · title 'Snigdha and Ruksa Guna' · modern literature

Research usage; the paper treats ruksa as the therapeutic opposite of snigdha.

### Ruksha (dry)

Mithun & Singh, IJHSR 2026 review (DOI 10.52403/ijhsr.20260119) · abstract: 'Snigdha (unctuous) and Ruksha (dry)' · modern literature

Textbook rendering carried into a review.

## The classical passages

### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 1:Standard 1.59; Kaviratna prints 58, checked against the source

> Wind, which may be dry, cold, light, subtile, unstable, clear, keen, is cured by objects which have adverse attributes.

tr. A. C. Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

Rūkṣa heads the list of Vata's qualities. Sanskrit as retrieved: रूक्षः शीतो लघुः सूक्ष्मश्चलोऽथ विशदः खरः| विपरीतगुणैर्द्रव्यैर्मारुतः सम्प्रशाम्यति||५९|| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Deerghanjiviteeya_Adhyaya). 'keen' here is Kaviratna's khara.

### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 22:Standard 22.10 (second half); Kaviratna prints 7-9 for the block of six definitions, checked against the source

> That which brings about dryness, and roughness and paleness is said to be Rukshana.

tr. A. C. Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

Rūkṣaṇa (the therapy) is defined by producing raukṣya, kharatva and vaiśadya; shows that rūkṣa is defined by what it does to the body. Sanskrit as retrieved: रौक्ष्यं खरत्वं वैशद्यं यत् कुर्यात्तद्धि रूक्षणम्||१०|| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Langhanabrimhaniya_Adhyaya).

### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 22:Standard 22.14 (second half) to 22.15 (first half); Kaviratna prints 12, checked against the source

> Such things as are dry, productive of lightness, pungent, warm, stable, not slimy, and hard, are generally Rukshana.

tr. A. C. Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

Rūkṣa leads the list of rūkṣaṇa qualities. Sanskrit as retrieved: रूक्षं लघु खरं तीक्ष्णमुष्णं स्थिरमपिच्छिलम्||१४|| प्रायशः कठिनं चैव यद्द्रव्यं तद्धि रूक्षणम्| Note the Sanskrit has eight qualities (incl. khara); Kaviratna's English has seven, khara dropped.

### Sushruta Samhita Sutrasthana 46:Sanskrit 46.516 per the numbered text on easyayurveda.com; Bhishagratna prints no verse number (vol. 1 pp. 567-568, 'Specific properties of matter'), checked against the source

> Parchedness is the opposite of oleaginousness ; it produces stypsis and makes a thing rough to tactual perception.

tr. K. L. Bhishagratna · https://archive.org/download/englishtranslati01susruoft/englishtranslati01susruoft_djvu.txt

Sushruta's karma of rūkṣa: opposite of snigdha, stambhana, khara. Sanskrit as retrieved: स्नेहमार्दवकृत् स्निग्धो बलवर्णकरस्तथा| रूक्षस्तद्विपरीतः स्याद्विशेषात् स्तम्भनः खरः||५१६|| (https://www.easyayurveda.com/sushruta-samhitha-sutrasthana-46-annapana-vidhi-adhyaya-regimen-of-food-and-drinks/).

### Sushruta Samhita Sutrasthana 42:Sanskrit verse number not established; Bhishagratna prints no verse numbers, checked against the source

> The tastes such as sweet, acid and saline are heavy and emollient in their character, while the pungent, astringent and bitter ones are dry and light.

tr. K. L. Bhishagratna · https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-1-sutrasthana/d/doc141672.html

Rūkṣa assigned to katu, kashaya and tikta rasas.

## Not to be confused with

- **snigdha.** The paired opposite; Kaviratna's Su.22 footnote 'Ruksha in Snigdha', Su.Su.46.516 'tadviparītaḥ'.
- **khara (rough).** A separate guna (opposite of ślakṣṇa). Rūkṣa produces kharatva (Ca.Su.22.10) but is not identical with it; Kaviratna's Su.26 footnote glosses khara 'sharp or, rather, rough'.
- **viśada (non-slimy, clear).** Another separate guna that rūkṣaṇa produces (vaiśadya, Ca.Su.22.10); Kaviratna renders it 'paleness' there and 'clear' elsewhere.
- **rūkṣaṇa (the therapy).** Ca.Su.22 treats rūkṣaṇa as one of six treatment courses; WHO has separate rūkṣaṇa-apacāraḥ / rūkṣaṇa-atiyogaḥ entries.
- **laghu (light).** Co-occurs with rūkṣa in Vata and in langhana lists but is a different pair (guru/laghu).

## Renderings that do not hold

- rough. Conflates rūkṣa with khara; the texts keep them as distinct members of the twenty.
- paleness (for vaiśadya in the rūkṣaṇa definition). Kaviratna's word at Su.22 his 7-9; vaiśadya is non-sliminess/clearness, not pallor.
- dehydrating. A modern biomedical gloss; the texts define rūkṣa by the opposite of sneha (unctuousness), with moisture-absorption as one consequence (WHO's own wording).

## Open questions

Recorded rather than resolved.

- Why Kaviratna's Su.22 his 12 drops khara: variant reading or omission?
- Verse-number the Su.Su.42 passage in a Sanskrit edition.

## Citation

Age Ayurveda Nighantu, "rūkṣa", https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/ruksha/, 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.