sāmānya: what the term means and how it is translated
sāmānya सामान्य is an Ayurvedic technical term. It is rendered into English in 6 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 | sāmānya |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | सामान्य |
| Also written | sāmānyam, dravya-sāmānya / guṇa-sāmānya / karma-sāmānya (WHO subtypes), sāmānya-viśeṣa siddhānta (the paired doctrine) |
| Category, as gathered | padartha |
| Grouped here under | Foundations and categories |
| 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.
Generality, shared feature
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-1.9.1.1 'sāmānyam': 'Denotes the universal or class-essence. The principle of similarity may identify a commonality among different substances, qualities and actions.'; also 'generality (samanyam)' in ITA-1.9.1; ITA-1.9.1.2 dravya-sāmānyam 'Similarity at the level of substance ... e.g. flesh to replenish and nourish muscle tissue.'; ITA-1.9.1.3 guṇa-sāmānyam 'Similarity at the level of qualities or properties ... e.g. semen and milk.'; ITA-1.9.1.4 karma-sāmānyam 'Similarity at the level of action ... e.g. sleep increasing kapha.' · comparator
WHO's headword 'Generality' is the Vaiśeṣika (universal) reading; its subtypes switch to 'Similarity', the Ayurvedic therapeutic reading. The two readings sit side by side without comment.
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.
Similar: similarity which is found in many substances and leads to their categorization in one group. Samanya leads to increase of similar; Similarity; denotes similarity between two substances, properties or actions; one of the fundamental concepts in āyurvedic pharmacology that states that substances can potentially lead to an increase or positive impact in the similar substances or attributes in the living system, when engaged in an effective interaction.
National Institute of Ayurveda, WHO-APW 'Standardization of Non-Clinical Terminologies of Ayurveda' · DG0262 'sāmānya'; BP0241 'sāmānya-viśeṣa siddhānta': 'An applied principle of āyurveda which is used for maintaining the equilibrium of the body constituent; Doctrine of similar and Opposites'; DG0263 'sāmānya guṇa': 'Common property; properties that are common to more than one mahābhūta like guru (heaviness) attributed to Pṛthvī & Jala mahābhūta.' · comparator
Two definitions concatenated in one entry (classificatory similarity, then the increase principle).
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.
similarities (in the list); similarity (in the definitions): 'similarity is the cause of increase'; 'Similarity is that which produces oneness'; 'similarity is identity of substance'
Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.1 his printed 27, 43, 44 · public-domain translation
Kaviratna reads sāmānya throughout as similarity (the Ayurvedic sense), never as 'universal'. His 'identity of substance' for tulyārthatā is a stretch: tulyārthatā is 'having the same purpose/effect'.
Samanya (similarity)
Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Vi.8 his printed 28 (= standard 8.29) · public-domain translation
Consistent.
Genus (as one of the 'Predicables')
Vaiśeṣika Sūtra 1.1.4 tr. Nandalal Sinha (1923), as presented on wisdomlib.org · https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/vaisheshika-sutra-commentary/d/doc427557.html · comparator (non-Ayurvedic philosophical text)
The logical-universal reading; 'genus/species' is Aristotelian vocabulary imposed on sāmānya/viśeṣa.
similarity
PubMed abstract, PMID 30401500 (J Ayurveda Integr Med 2018) · 'the principle of Samanya (similarity) and Vishesha (difference)' · modern paper
Modern Ayurvedic academic default.
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 1:Standard 1.44 (carakasamhitaonline numbering); Kaviratna prints 43 · checked against the source
Of all things, at all times, similarity is the cause of increase; and dissimilarity is the cause of decrease. A tendency exists towards both.
The therapeutic principle: sāmānya causes vṛddhi, viśeṣa causes hrāsa. Sanskrit as retrieved from https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Deerghanjiviteeya_Adhyaya&action=raw : सर्वदा सर्वभावानां सामान्यं वृद्धिकारणम्| ह्रासहेतुर्विशेषश्च, प्रवृत्तिरुभयस्य तु||४४||. 'A tendency exists towards both' renders 'pravṛttir ubhayasya tu' (the activity/operation belongs to both). Kaviratna's footnote (translator's note) adds the water/heat illustration and calls this 'almost the basis of the Science of Life'.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 1:Standard 1.45; Kaviratna prints 44 · checked against the source
Similarity is that which produces oneness; and dissimilarity is that which produces diversity. Therefore, similarity is identity of substance, and dissimilarity is the reverse of this.
The definition: sāmānya is ekatvakara (produces oneness) and tulyārthatā. Sanskrit: सामान्यमेकत्वकरं, विशेषस्तु पृथक्त्वकृत्| तुल्यार्थता हि सामान्यं, विशेषस्तु विपर्ययः||४५||. Kaviratna's 'identity of substance' for tulyārthatā is a translator's interpretation; the Sanskrit says 'sameness of artha (purpose/effect/object)'.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 1:Standard 1.28; Kaviratna prints 27 · checked against the source
Those great Rishis (then) beheld duly, with the eye of knowledge, similarities, dissimilarities, properties, objects, and operations, as also compositions.
Sāmānya listed first among the six. Sanskrit: सामान्यं च विशेषं च गुणान् द्रव्याणि कर्म च||२८||.
Charaka SamhitaVimanasthana 8:Standard Vimanasthana 8.27 (carakasamhitaonline Rogabhishagjitiya_Vimana raw, unit closing ||२७||); Kaviratna prints 26 (page image p. 565 of archive.org BIUSante_47357, leaf 730: '44. Nigrahasthana. ?*26'); his 27 is the following aphorism, the Vada definition ending 'in a spirit of contradiction' = standard 28. His terms are left untranslated per his footnote on the same page. · checked against the source
इमानि तु खलु पदानि भिषग्वादमार्गज्ञानार्थमधिगम्यानि भवन्ति; तद्यथा- वादः, द्रव्यं, गुणाः, कर्म, सामान्यं, विशेषः, समवायः, प्रतिज्ञा, ...||२७||
Sāmānya among the 44 terms a physician must know for debate. The wikitext runs words together without spaces; spaces restored here, text otherwise as retrieved.
Where this term does work in the theory
One concept record names this term as one of its components, and glosses it there as follows.
- Vriddhi and Kshaya: What the Body Has Too Much and Too Little Of as Samanya
- Similarity. The principle that substances resembling a bodily constituent increase it. The operative rule for replenishment therapy.
Not to be confused with
- viśeṣa
- Ca.Su.1.44-45: the paired opposite; sāmānya increases and unifies, viśeṣa decreases and separates.
- sāmānya as universal (jāti) in Vaiśeṣika
- Sinha renders Vaiśeṣika Sūtra 1.1.4's sāmānya as 'Genus'; WHO ITA-1.9.1.1 as 'Generality ... the universal or class-essence'. Charaka's definition (Su.1.44-45) is functional: whatever causes increase and oneness. Same word, two doctrines.
- sādṛśya (resemblance)
- Ordinary likeness; Charaka's sāmānya is defined by its effect (vṛddhi), not by resemblance as such, though Kaviratna's 'similarity' makes them sound identical.
- sāmānya guṇa
- NIA DG0263: a property shared by more than one mahābhūta (guru in pṛthvī and jala). A compound, not the category.
- sāmānya as 'ordinary/general' (e.g. sāmānya-pūrvarūpa, sāmānyaja-vikāra)
- WHO ITA entries 'sāmānyapūrvarūpam' and 'sāmānyajavikāraḥ' use sāmānya in the everyday sense 'general, common', not the category.
Renderings that do not hold
- generality / universal (as the Ayurvedic definition). WHO's headword imports Vaiśeṣika; Charaka Su.1.44 defines sāmānya by its causing increase. The Ayurvedic texts do not discuss class-essences.
- identity of substance. Kaviratna's rendering of tulyārthatā (Su.1.45); the Sanskrit says sameness of artha (purpose/effect), not identity of substance.
- 'like cures like' (homoeopathic reading). Ca.Su.1.44 says like INCREASES like; treatment of excess is by viśeṣa (the dissimilar). The homoeopathic slogan inverts the therapeutic direction.
- similarity (unqualified). Correct for the Ayurvedic sense but hides the fact that Charaka also places sāmānya among six ontological terms (Su.1.28, Vi.8.27), where 'similarity' is an odd member of a list of categories.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Chakrapāṇi's threefold sāmānya (dravya/guṇa/karma) that WHO ITA-1.9.1.2-4 and NIA presuppose was not retrieved from the commentary; only the WHO/NIA statements were read.
- Whether Kaviratna's 'identity of substance' reflects a commentarial gloss on tulyārthatā was not checked.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, sāmānya
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/samanya/, 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.