samavāya: what the term means and how it is translated
samavāya समवाय 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 | samavāya |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | समवाय |
| Also written | samavāyaḥ, samavāyi (adj., inherent), samavāyi-kāraṇa (inherent cause), apṛthagbhāva (Charaka's defining phrase) |
| 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.
Inherence
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-1.9.6.1 'samavāyaḥ': 'Coexistence or concomitance, an intimate and constant relation between the whole and its parts or the basic elements (mahabhuta) and their qualities.'; also 'inherence (samavayaḥ)' in ITA-1.9.1; ITA-1.8.2.30 samavāyikāraṇam 'Inherent cause' · comparator
WHO's description mixes the Vaiśeṣika whole/part relation with Charaka's bhūta/guṇa relation (Su.1.50 names only the latter).
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.
Coexistence/ concomitant relation; the eternal and inseparable relationship which subsist between earth and other proto-element and their qualities.
National Institute of Ayurveda, WHO-APW 'Standardization of Non-Clinical Terminologies of Ayurveda' · BP0243 'samavāyaḥ'; DG0277 'samavāyi kāraṇa': 'inherent cause;' · comparator
Tracks Ca.Su.1.50 (bhūmyādīnāṁ guṇaiḥ, nityaḥ) closely; 'proto-element' for mahābhūta.
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.
compositions (in the list); co-existence (in the definition): 'The co-existence of objects such as earth, &c., with their corresponding properties (of scent and the like) is styled samavaya'
Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.1 his printed 28 ('compositions') and 49 ('co-existence') · public-domain translation
'Compositions' in the verse list is idiosyncratic; 'co-existence' in the definition is the word WHO and NIA later adopt.
Samavaya (combination)
Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Vi.8 his printed 28 (= standard 8.29) · public-domain translation
A third rendering by the same translator.
inseparable inherence ... by way of cause and effect (Samavayi-Karana)
Sushruta Samhita tr. K. L. Bhishagratna, public domain (wisdomlib.org) · Su.Su.40 (Bhishagratna's chapter XL): 'these attributes have an inseparable inherence in and are intimately associated with the substance by way of cause and effect (Samavayi-Karana)' · public-domain translation
Bhishagratna glosses the adjective samavāyi rather than the noun.
Combination (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)
Sinha's 'Combination' matches Kaviratna's Vi.8 choice; modern Indology prefers 'inherence'.
inherence; 'the eternal, intimate relation of Dravya and Guna'
PubMed abstract, PMID 22408303 (Ayu 2011) · 'Samavaya is the eternal, intimate relation of Dravya and Guna' · modern paper
Current Ayurvedic academic usage.
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 1.50 (carakasamhitaonline numbering); Kaviratna prints 49 · checked against the source
The co-existence of objects such as earth, &c., with their corresponding properties (of scent and the like) is styled samavaya. That is permanent, since wherever the substance is, it cannot be that the property is not.
The definition: samavāya is the non-separateness (apṛthagbhāva) of earth etc. from their gunas, and it is nitya because wherever the dravya is, the guna is not absent. Sanskrit as retrieved from https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Deerghanjiviteeya_Adhyaya&action=raw : समवायोऽपृथग्भावो भूम्यादीनां गुणैर्मतः| स नित्यो यत्र हि द्रव्यं न तत्रानियतो गुणः||५०||. '(of scent and the like)' is Kaviratna's gloss (gandha being the characteristic guna of pṛthvī).
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 1:Standard 1.51; Kaviratna prints 50 · checked against the source
That in which actions and attributes inhere, and that which is the cause, is called substance. That, on the other hand, which is inherent, and which is the passive cause, is called attribute.
Samavāya as the relation presupposed by the definitions of dravya (samavāyi-kāraṇa) and guna (samavāyī). Sanskrit: यत्राश्रिताः कर्मगुणाः कारणं समवायि यत्| तद्द्रव्यं समवायी तु निश्चेष्टः कारणं गुणः||५१||. Kaviratna renders 'samavāyi' once as 'inhere' and once as 'inherent' and drops it from 'the cause' for dravya.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 1:Standard 1.29; Kaviratna prints 28 · checked against the source
...as also compositions. Knowing these, and conforming to the ordinances of that Science, they obtained great felicity and even immortal life.
Samavāya ('compositions') closing the list of six. Sanskrit: समवायं च तज्ज्ञात्वा तन्त्रोक्तं विधिमास्थिताः| लेभिरे परमं शर्म जीवितं चाप्यनित्वरम्||२९||.
Sushruta SamhitaSutrasthana 40 (Bhishagratna's chapter XL):Standard 40.3 region per siva.sh; Bhishagratna prints no verse numbers
Quotation withheld: nobody has yet read this quotation against its printed source, and an unchecked quotation is not published here. The passage is at this address.
Sushruta's use of samavāyi-kāraṇa for the dravya-guna relation. The Sanskrit retrieved from siva.sh for 40.3 contains 'आश्रयत्वाच्च, द्रव्यमाश्रिता रसादयः' (because of being the substratum; rasa etc. depend on dravya); the compound samavāyi-kāraṇa itself was not located in the siva.sh Sanskrit of 40.3 and may be Bhishagratna's expansion or sit in an adjacent sentence; a human should check.
Not to be confused with
- saṁyoga (conjunction)
- Saṁyoga is a guna in the parādi series (Kaviratna's 'union' at Su.1.49) and is separable; samavāya is nitya and apṛthagbhāva (Su.1.50). Kaviratna's 'combination' (Vi.8) and 'compositions' (Su.1.28) both sound like saṁyoga.
- samavāyi-kāraṇa
- The adjective applied to dravya (Ca.Su.1.51; Bhishagratna Su.40): the substratum-cause. Samavāya is the relation; samavāyi-kāraṇa is the relatum.
- Vaiśeṣika samavāya
- Vaiśeṣika extends the relation to whole/part, universal/particular, action/substance (WHO ITA-1.9.6.1 includes 'the whole and its parts'); Charaka Su.1.50 names only bhūta/guna.
- saṁsarga / sannipāta (dosha combinations)
- Kaviratna uses 'co-existence' for these in the dosha context too (e.g. 'Co-existence must be in the form of ... Sannipata'); a different notion of two doshas being deranged together.
- anubandha (co-existence of diseases)
- Kaviratna renders anubandha as 'co-existence of diseases' in Nidanasthana; same English word, unrelated concept.
Renderings that do not hold
- compositions / combination. Kaviratna's words at Su.1.28 and Vi.8.29; Sinha's 'Combination'. Both suggest things put together (saṁyoga), whereas samavāya is the inseparable relation.
- co-existence (unqualified). Kaviratna, WHO and NIA all use it, but unqualified it covers saṁyoga too. Ca.Su.1.50's apṛthagbhāva and nitya are the distinguishing content.
- concomitance. WHO ITA-1.9.6.1; in logic 'concomitance' translates vyāpti (invariable accompaniment), a different technical term.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Whether Bhishagratna's '(Samavayi-Karana)' corresponds to an explicit compound in the Sanskrit of Su.Su.40 was not resolved.
- Chakrapāṇi on 'apṛthagbhāva' not retrieved.
- Whether Charaka elsewhere applies samavāya to relations other than bhūta/guna was not checked.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, samavāya
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/samavaya/, 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.