sadvṛtta: what the term means and how it is translated
sadvṛtta सद्वृत्त is an Ayurvedic technical term. It is rendered into English in 5 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 | sadvṛtta |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | सद्वृत्त |
| Category, as gathered | swasthavritta |
| Grouped here under | Regimen and constitution |
| Classical citations | 4 |
| 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.
the practices of the good; 'good or righteous conduct'; 'that course of good conduct'
Charaka Samhita tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna, Lesson VIII · archive.org BIUSante_47357 OCR ~lines 7140-7162 and 7716-7723 (printed p. 90 ff.) · public-domain translation
Kaviratna reads sad-vṛtta as 'practices of the good (people)'; in the chapter summary he uses 'good or righteous conduct'.
The rules of hygiene and general conduct (Anagata-vadha-Prati-shedhaniya)
Sushruta Samhita tr. Bhishagratna, Chikitsasthana XXIV heading · wisdomlib doc142934 · public-domain translation
Sushruta's chapter is not titled sadvṛtta; Bhishagratna's 'general conduct' covers the same material.
The good conduct/behaviour of man. It can be expressed as right conducts or good conducts or moral conducts which are followed to lead healthy life. Conducts which are good at physical, good at mental and good at verbal are called as Sadvritta.
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022), SV0229 · PDF p.271 (mirror copy) · comparator
WHO adds the kāya/vāk/manas triad.
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.
ethical code of conduct ... in the form of Sadvritta
PubMed usage (PMID 26195897 abstract) · textbook
Bioethics framing; common textbook rendering is 'code of (right) conduct'.
sadvratam (not sadvṛttam)
Ashtanga Hridaya Su. 2/46 (Sanskrit, as transcribed on easyayurveda.com) · Sanskrit text
Vagbhata's term in the closing verse is सद्व्रतम् ('good vow'), a near-synonym that modern writers assimilate to sadvṛtta.
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 8 (Indriyopakramaniya):Standard 8/18 (section spans 8/18-29 per carakasamhitaonline.com); Kaviratna prints his number 12 after this passage (his 11 ends the preceding one) · checked against the source
By observing such practices one simultaneously accomplishes two objects, viz., the preservation of health and the subjugation of the senses. I shall, therefore, O Agniveśa, inculcate to thee in full what the practices of the good are. They are as follows: one should worship the deities, kine, Brahmanas, seniors, aged men, persons crowned with (ascetic) success, and preceptors. One should tend one's sacrificial fires
The two aims of sadvṛtta (ārogya + indriyavijaya) and the opening rules. Sanskrit seen: तद्ध्यनुतिष्ठन् युगपत् सम्पादयत्यर्थद्वयमारोग्यमिन्द्रियविजयं चेति; तत् सद्वृत्तमखिलेनोपदेक्ष्यामोऽग्निवेश ! [18]. Note the correct OCR URL is BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt (see other entries); 'Agniveśa' is restored from OCR 'Agnive^a'.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 8:Standard 8/31; Kaviratna prints '2' after it (his closing summary block restarts numbering at 1) · checked against the source
That man who duly practises that course of good conduct which has been indicated (in this Lesson) remains hale for a hundred years and is never cut off before the allotted period of human life runs out.
The result of following the conduct; the Sanskrit here calls it svasthavṛttam, not sadvṛttam: स्वस्थवृत्तं यथोद्दिष्टं यः सम्यगनुतिष्ठति| स समाः शतमव्याधिरायुषा न वियुज्यते|| [31] (carakasamhitaonline.com, whose transcription has a typo 'सवस्थवृत्तं').
Sushruta SamhitaChikitsasthana XXIV:Cikitsāsthāna 24.93 (the 'never suppress the urges / do not void in public' prose sūtra = Bhishagratna's section 70) and 24.111-112a (the 'sexual excess' verses = Bhishagratna's section 89-A). Numbers read in the printed Trikamji/Dalhaṇa edition, 2nd edn 1931, pp. 434 and 435; agreed by sa.wikisource and siva.sh. · checked against the source
A man should never repress any natural urging of his body, nor should he pass water or evacuate excrements in an open or public place [...] All sexual excesses should be studiously abstained inasmuch as they are sure to produce Shula (colic), cough, asthma, fever, emaciation, phthisis, jaundice, epilepsy, convulsions, etc.
Sushruta's conduct rules in the Cikitsasthana hygiene chapter (Bhishagratna's title 'The rules of hygiene and general conduct'; the text does not use the label sadvṛtta): never suppress natural urges, and avoid sexual excess, which Sushruta says produces colic, cough, asthma, fever, emaciation, phthisis, jaundice, epilepsy and convulsions. Sanskrit addresses: Su.Ci.24.93 and 24.111-112a.
Ashtanga HridayaSutrasthana 2 (Dinacharya):2/19-48 per easyayurveda.com chapter page; closing verse 2/46 ends पर्याप्तमिति सद्व्रतम् · address only, nothing quoted to check
Vagbhata places conduct rules inside the Dinacharya chapter and calls them sadvrata.
Not to be confused with
- ācāra rasāyana
- Charaka Chikitsa 1 lists behavioural rasāyana; overlapping content but framed as rejuvenation, not as the hygiene of the senses.
- svasthavṛtta
- Cha.Su.8/31 itself names the whole chapter's teaching svasthavṛtta; sadvṛtta (8/18-29) is the conduct subset within it.
- sadvrata (Vagbhata)
- AH Su.2/46 uses sadvrata ('good vow'); treated as equivalent in textbooks but is a different word.
- vaidyavṛtti / Charaka's oath (Vimana 8)
- Physician's professional ethics; sadvṛtta is for every healthy person.
Renderings that do not hold
- 'code of ethics' / 'bioethics'. Imports a professional-ethics frame; Cha.Su.8/18 states the purpose as health and mastery of the senses, and the list includes hygiene (bathing, nail-paring) alongside morals.
- 'the practices of the good' (Kaviratna). Reads sat as 'good people'; sad-vṛtta can equally be 'good conduct'. Not wrong, but a translator's parse.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Whether the sadvṛtta section begins at 8/17 or 8/18 in the Trikamji numbering: the retrieved carakasamhitaonline page put the introductory prose at 18; a search snippet said 17-29. Check a printed Trikamji edition.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, sadvṛtta
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/sadvritta/, 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.