# śīta (शीत) > Canonical version of this page: https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/shita/ An Ayurvedic technical term, rendered into English in 6 different ways. The renderings do not agree, and the difference between them changes what the term is taken to mean. ## Identification | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Transliteration | śīta | | Devanagari | शीत | | Also written | sheeta, shita, sita, śītaḥ, hima (हिम, synonym in Ca.Su.25.36 variant lists and WHO ITA-7.1.9), śītala (शीतल, Ca.Su.22.15), sheeta virya (the potency sense) | | Category, as gathered | dravyaguna-3 | | Grouped under | Pharmacology and the action of substances | | 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. ### Coldness WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022), PDF mirror · ITA-1.9.4.2.6 description 'The quality of a substance which is responsible for promoting coldness and stiffness (staṃbhana).' śītaḥ · comparator Defines by effect (stambhana), matching Su.Su.46.515. Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda, which is what that licence permits, and deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is CC BY 4.0. ### Cold infusion WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-7.1.9 'Cold infusion' himakaṣāyaḥ, śītakaṣāyaḥ, himaḥ, śītaḥ · comparator Second WHO sense: śīta as a dosage form (śīta-kaṣāya). Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda, which is what that licence permits, and deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is CC BY 4.0. ### cold; cooling Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.1 his 58 vata 'cold', his 60 kapha 'cold'; Su.22 his 11 bṛṁhaṇa 'cooling', his 13 snehana 'cooling'; Su.26 his 11 Varyovida 'cold', his 23 water objects 'cold' · public-domain translation Stable. But at Su.1 his 59 he also writes 'Bile, which may be cold, hot, keen, soft...' where the Sanskrit has sasneha (unctuous), not śīta; see snigdha record. ### such things as produce the sensation of cold (stambhana list) Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.22 his 30 · public-domain translation Paraphrase of śīta in the stambhana drug list. ### cold; Coldness Sushruta Samhita tr. K. L. Bhishagratna, public domain · Su.Su.42 'sweet, bitter and astringent are cold in their properties'; 'The watery (Saumya) tastes are cold'; Su.Su.46 guna-karma 'Coldness — is pleasurable, exercises styptic virtues...' (archive.org OCR vol. 1 p. 567); Su.Su.41 āpya 'cold, moist, glossy' · public-domain translation Consistent; 'cooling in its potency' is his usual phrase for śīta-vīrya in food lists. ### Sheeta (cold) Mane et al., AYU 2010 (PMID 22131702); Nair et al., AYU 2021 (PMID 37347083) · titles: 'Ushna and Sheeta Gunas'; abstract 'Sheeta Guna (cool property)' · modern literature Research transliteration 'Sheeta' dominates; 'cool property' also used. ## The classical passages ### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 1:Standard 1.59 and 1.61; Kaviratna prints 58 and 60, checked against the source > Wind, which may be dry, cold, light, subtile, unstable, clear, keen, is cured by objects which have adverse attributes. [...] Heavy, cold, mild, watery, sweet, stable, and slimy, these attributes of phlegm are cured by objects having adverse attributes. tr. A. C. Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt Śīta is a quality of both Vata and Kapha (and absent from Pitta). Sanskrit as retrieved: रूक्षः शीतो लघुः सूक्ष्मश्चलोऽथ विशदः खरः|...||५९|| and गुरुशीतमृदुस्निग्धमधुरस्थिरपिच्छिलाः| श्लेष्मणः प्रशमं यान्ति विपरीतगुणैर्गुणाः||६१|| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Deerghanjiviteeya_Adhyaya). The bracket marks the omitted Pitta verse (1.60). ### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 22:Standard 22.13 (second half) to 22.14 (first half); Kaviratna prints 11, checked against the source > Such things as are heavy, cooling, soft, exceedingly oily, gross, slimy, mild stable, and smooth, are generally said to be Vringhana. tr. A. C. Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt Śīta ('cooling') as a bṛṁhaṇa quality. Sanskrit as retrieved: गुरु शीतं मृदु स्निग्धं बहलं स्थूलपिच्छिलम्||१३|| प्रायो मन्दं स्थिरं श्लक्ष्णं द्रव्यं बृंहणमुच्यते| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Langhanabrimhaniya_Adhyaya). 'Vringhana' is OCR of Vrimhana. ### Sushruta Samhita Sutrasthana 46:Sanskrit 46.515 per the numbered text on easyayurveda.com; Bhishagratna prints no verse number (vol. 1 p. 567, 'Specific properties of matter'), checked against the source > Coldness — is pleasurable, exercises styptic virtues, alleviates epileptic fits, thirst and a burning sensation of the body, and arrests perspiration. Heat is the reverse in its action to coldness. tr. K. L. Bhishagratna · https://archive.org/download/englishtranslati01susruoft/englishtranslati01susruoft_djvu.txt Sushruta's karma of śīta per the Sanskrit of Su Su 46.515: hlādana (pleasing), stambhana (styptic), and relieving mūrcchā (fainting), tṛṭ (thirst), sveda (sweating) and dāha (burning); uṣṇa is the reverse and especially pācana. Sanskrit as retrieved: ह्लादनः स्तम्भनः शीतो मूर्च्छातृट्स्वेददाहजित्| उष्णस्तद्विपरीतः स्यात्पाचनश्च विशेषतः||५१५|| (siva.sh 46/515; easyayurveda Su 46). The quoted English is Bhishagratna's rendering: his 'epileptic fits' stands where the Sanskrit has mūrcchā (fainting), and his 'suppuration in boils' is not in the verse, which says uṣṇa is pācana. The English is evidence of how Bhishagratna read the verse, not of a Sushruta claim about epilepsy. ### Sushruta Samhita Sutrasthana 42:Sūtrasthāna 42.7, printed ॥ ७ ॥ in Suśrutasaṃhitā with Dalhaṇa's Nibandhasaṅgraha, ed. Jādavji Trikamji Ācārya, 2nd edn 1931, p. 166; Bhishagratna vol. 1 ch. XLII prints the same passage as an unnumbered paragraph beginning 'According to certain authorities'., checked against the source > According to certain authorities, there are only two kinds of tastes, owing to the two-fold (hot and cold) nature of the temperament of the world. Of these the tastes such as sweet, bitter and astringent are cold in their properties, while the pungent, acid and saline ones exercise fiery or heat making virtues. tr. K. L. Bhishagratna · https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.327618 A view Sushruta reports (kecid āhuḥ, 'some say'), not his own statement: that rasas are two-fold by the agnīṣomīya nature of the world, with madhura, tikta and kaṣāya saumya and therefore śīta, and kaṭu, amla and lavaṇa āgneya and therefore uṣṇa. Sanskrit: केचिदाहुः- अग्नीषोमीयत्वाज्जगतो रसा द्विविधाः- सौम्या आग्नेयाश्च । मधुरतिक्तकषायाः सौम्याः; कट्वम्ललवणा आग्नेयाः । ... सौम्याः शीताः, आग्नेया उष्णाः ॥७॥ (siva.sh Su Su 42.7). ## Not to be confused with - **uṣṇa.** Paired opposite; Su.Su.46.515 'tadviparītaḥ'. - **śīta-vīrya (cold potency).** The dvividha-vīrya doctrine uses the same word for a drug's overall potency; the guna is one of twenty, the vīrya is a verdict on the whole drug. - **hima.** Synonym used for the guna in some lists and for the cold infusion (WHO ITA-7.1.9 himaḥ). - **śīta-kaṣāya / hima-kaṣāya.** A dosage form (cold infusion), WHO ITA-7.1.9, not the quality. - **stambhana.** The therapeutic action śīta produces (Ca.Su.22.17 stambhana list begins शीतं; WHO's definition cites staṃbhana); not identical with the quality. - **śītapitta, śītapūtanā, śītameha.** Disease names (WHO ITA-5.x) where śīta describes a symptom or urine character. - **'cold' Pitta in Kaviratna Su.1 his 59.** A mistranslation of sasneha; Pitta is uṣṇa (see snigdha record). ## Renderings that do not hold - cold temperature (thermometric). The texts define śīta by action (hlādana, stambhana, relief of thirst and burning); ice-cold food and a śīta-vīrya herb at room temperature are both śīta. - cool / cooling (as a mild synonym). Not wrong, but 'cooling' is also used for śīta-vīrya; the lexicon should keep guna and vīrya apart. - epileptic fits (for mūrcchā in the śīta karma). Bhishagratna's Su.Su.46 wording; mūrcchā is fainting/syncope. ## Open questions Recorded rather than resolved. - Verse-number the Su.Su.42 passage. - Whether Kaviratna's Su.22 his 30 stambhana list corresponds exactly to standard 22.17 (not checked word by word). ## Citation Age Ayurveda Nighantu, "śīta", https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/shita/, CC BY 4.0. Whole lexicon: https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon.json and https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon.csv. Educational reference only. A term entry explains what a word means and how it has been translated. Nothing here is advice.