sattvāvajaya: what the term means and how it is translated
sattvāvajaya सत्त्वावजय 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 | sattvāvajaya |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | सत्त्वावजय |
| Also written | satvāvajaya, satvavajaya, sattvāvajaya-cikitsā, satwavajaya |
| Category, as gathered | chikitsa |
| Grouped here under | Examination and treatment |
| Classical citations | 2 |
| 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.
Counselling and self-empowerment
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-9.3.1 satvāvajayacikitsā: 'Psychotherapy and counselling treatment by means of which the mind is supported to restrain itself from wrong preoccupations; treatment by which the mind and mental health are supported through talking therapy.' Section 9.3 is headed 'Psychotherapy and counselling'. ITA-9.3.2 ahitebhyoarthebhyomanonigraha: 'Restraining the mind from unwholesome desires: The key method of satvavajaya-cikitsā is to restrain the mind from unwholesome desires and unnecessary engagement with sensory objects.' · comparator-standard
WHO spells it satvāvajaya (single t) and glosses with 'talking therapy', which is an interpretive addition absent from Charaka.
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.
those that appertain to the subjugation of the mind
Kaviratna, Charaka Samhita, Sutrasthana Lesson XI · archive.org OCR; his printed number 56 (standard Su. 11.54 per carakasamhitaonline) · public-domain-translation
'subjugation of the mind' is literal for sattva-avajaya; his footnote adds 'otherwise called penances or asceticism', which is the translator's view.
satwavajaya (psychotherapy); 'withdrawal of mind from harmful objects'
carakasamhitaonline.com (2020), Tistraishaniya Adhyaya · verse 54 · modern-translation (in copyright; term rendering only)
Standard modern equation with psychotherapy.
Satvavajaya (psychotherapy)
Murthy & Singh, Anc Sci Life 1987 (PMID 22557578) abstract · peer-reviewed-usage
The 1987 BHU paper that fixed 'psychotherapy' as the standard English in Indian academic Ayurveda.
Trance therapy
Title of PMID 23049189 (Ayu 2012) · peer-reviewed-usage
Idiosyncratic; not supported by the Sanskrit.
treatment by Self Control; mind controlling therapy
Amin & Sharma, Int J Yoga 2015 (PMID 26170589) abstract · peer-reviewed-usage
Closer to manonigraha.
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 11 (Tisraiṣaṇīya):54 (carakasamhitaonline, Trikamji numbering). Kaviratna prints 56 after the corresponding passage. Both recorded; no conversion. · checked against the source
त्रिविधमौषधमिति- दैवव्यपाश्रयं, युक्तिव्यपाश्रयं, सत्त्वावजयश्च| [...] sattvāvajayaḥ- punarahitēbhyō'rthēbhyō manōnigrahaḥ
The threefold auṣadha and the definition of sattvāvajaya as restraint of the mind from unwholesome objects. Verifies the Devanagari सत्त्वावजय.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana Lesson XI:Kaviratna's printed 56 (standard 54) · checked against the source
Medicines are of three kinds; those that depend for their action upon the deities and invisible influences; those that depend for their application and action upon knowledge and reason; and those that appertain to the subjugation of the mind. [...] The subjugation of the mind by withdrawing it from every kind of injurious or harmful acts and objects of the senses, constitutes medicine of the third kind.*56
Kaviratna's rendering of Su. 11.54 including the definition; note 'acts and' is his expansion of arthebhyaḥ (objects).
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.
- Manas and the triguna: mind, sattva, rajas and tamas in health as Sattvavajaya
- The third of the three classes of therapy: restraint or subjugation of the mind, withdrawing it from harmful objects (Su. 11.54). Treated in modern Ayurveda as its psychotherapy; what that identification does and does not carry over is in contested, question 3.
Not to be confused with
- daivavyapāśraya cikitsā
- First of the three auṣadha (mantra, gems, rites, fasting, pilgrimage); WHO ITA-9.1.14 'Therapeutic rituals'. Kaviratna: medicines that 'depend upon the deities and invisible influences'.
- yuktivyapāśraya cikitsā
- Rational therapy by diet and drugs; WHO ITA-9.1.26 'Structured therapy'. Kaviratna: 'knowledge and reason'.
- manonigraha
- The method (restraint of mind) by which sattvāvajaya is defined in Su. 11.54, not a synonym for the category.
- yoga / dhyāna
- Modern trials operationalize sattvāvajaya as yogic practice or relaxation; Charaka's definition does not name these.
- psychotherapy (biomedical)
- The standard gloss since 1987, but Western psychotherapy is a dialogic professional practice; the Sanskrit defines a self-directed restraint of mind from unwholesome objects.
- sattva (guṇa / mind)
- sattva here means mind (manas), not the Sāṁkhya guṇa; avajaya = conquest/subjugation.
Renderings that do not hold
- trance therapy / hypnosis. No textual basis; the definition is restraint from unwholesome objects, not induced altered states.
- talking therapy (WHO 2022 gloss). Interpretive addition; Charaka's one-line definition says nothing about speech or a therapist.
- penances or asceticism (Kaviratna footnote). Translator's equation, not the text.
- victory of the mind. Literal but inverts the sense: it is conquest OF the mind (mind as object), not by the mind.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Whether Charaka elaborates sattvāvajaya methods elsewhere (Vimāna/Śārīra); commonly cited passages (jñāna, vijñāna, dhairya, smṛti, samādhi) were not verified here.
- Spelling policy: WHO uses satvāvajaya; Charaka Su. 11.54 reads सत्त्वावजय with double t.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, sattvāvajaya
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/sattvavajaya/, 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.