śabdaparīkṣā: what the term means and how it is translated
śabdaparīkṣā शब्दपरीक्षा is an Ayurvedic technical term. It is rendered into English in 4 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 | śabdaparīkṣā |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | शब्दपरीक्षा |
| Also written | shabda pariksha, sabda pariksha, svara pariksha |
| Category, as gathered | pariksha |
| Grouped here under | Examination and treatment |
| Classical citations | 3 |
| 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.
voice and other body-sounds such as breathing and heart (item 5 of aṣṭasthānaparīkṣā)
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-4.7.4 · comparator-standard
No standalone śabdaparīkṣā headword found in my grep; śabda appears as ITA-1.9.4.1.6 'Sound: Trait of space element' and in śabdavahasrotas / śabdavahādhamanī (channels of hearing).
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.
Noise of the bowels, cracking of joints, as also of the finger-joints, the peculiarities of voice, all other sounds pertaining to the body, should all be examined by the ear.
Kaviratna, Charaka Samhita Vi 4, his aphorism 7 (= standard 4/7) · p. 497 · public-domain-translation
Charaka has no noun 'śabdaparīkṣā'; he lists sounds examined by the ear (śrotra).
Shabda Pariksha (Voice Examination)
Yadav & Singh, JAIMS 2022;7(8) · ashtasthana list · journal-review
Narrows śabda to voice; Charaka's list and WHO's description are broader (bowel sounds, joint cracking, breathing, heart).
शब्दं (as a site of examination; no English)
Yogaratnakara ASS 1889 · aṣṭasthāna verse 1 · sanskrit-edition
Fifth of the eight sites.
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 SamhitaVimanasthana 4:standard 4/7; Kaviratna 7 · checked against the source
Noise of the bowels, cracking of joints, as also of the finger-joints, the peculiarities of voice, all other sounds pertaining to the body, should all be examined by the ear.
Auditory examination content. Sanskrit (siva.sh 4/7): 'अन्त्रकूजनं, सन्धिस्फुटनमङ्गुलीपर्वणां च, स्वरविशेषांश्च, ये चान्येऽपि केचिच्छरीरोपगताः शब्दाः स्युस्ताञ्छ्रोत्रेण परीक्षेत' at https://www.siva.sh/caraka-samhita/vimana-sthana/4/6-10
Sushruta SamhitaSutrasthana 10:Sanskrit verse number not established · checked against the source
The wind (Vayu), making the blood ebullient, forces it up with a distinctly audible report and thus affects the sense of hearing.
Sushruta's example of what the sense of hearing contributes to examination.
YogaratnakaraPūrvārdha अथ रोगिणां अष्टस्थानानि लक्षयेत्:1 (ASS 1889 leaf n40; verse marker printed १, the OCR's ९ is a misread) · checked against the source
रोगाक्रान्तशरीरस्य स्थानान्यष्टौ निरीक्षयेत् । नाडीं मूत्रं मलं जिह्वां शब्दं स्पर्शं दृगाकृती ॥ १ ॥
śabda as the fifth of the eight sites of examination (nāḍī, mūtra, mala, jihvā, śabda, sparśa, dṛk, ākṛti).
Not to be confused with
- śabda pramāṇa
- Verbal testimony as a means of knowledge (Nyaya); in Charaka this role is āptopadeśa, not śabdaparīkṣā.
- śabda as guṇa of ākāśa (WHO ITA-1.9.4.1.6)
- Ontological quality 'sound', not an examination.
- śabdavahasrotas / śabdavahā dhamanī
- Channels of hearing (anatomy), not examination.
- svara-parīkṣā (voice)
- Voice is one item; Charaka's śabda includes bowel sounds and joint crepitus.
- auscultation
- Instrument-mediated listening to internal sounds; the classical act is unaided hearing.
Renderings that do not hold
- voice examination. Too narrow (see Charaka Vi 4/7 and WHO description).
- auscultation. Implies stethoscope and specific technique.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, śabdaparīkṣā
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/shabda-pariksha/, 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.