stambhana: what the term means and how it is translated

stambhana स्तम्भन 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.

Identification
Transliteration	stambhana
Devanagari	स्तम्भन
Also written	stambhanam, stambhana-karma, sthambhana, stambhaniya (drug class)
Category, as gathered	chikitsa-3
Grouped here under	Examination and treatment
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.

Astringent therapy

WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-9.1.45 stambhanam/stambhanakarma, PDF p.433; description: 'One of the six types of treatment modalities: a procedure or medicine causing arrest of secretion or allowing control of bleeding.' · comparator

Comparator. 'Astringent' imports a taste/pharmacology word for a therapeutic aim (arrest of flow).

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.

Inhibition of excess flow or secretions

WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-6.2.6.19 stambhanam (drug action), PDF p.390; description: 'The action of a dry, cold, and astringent substance is to increase vata and check its flow through or out of the body; it therefore has a styptic action.' · comparator

WHO gives two entries: a drug-action sense (6.2.6.19) and a therapy sense (9.1.45). Useful split.

substances used to check any flow through or out of the body

NIA/WHO-APW draft 'Standardization of Non-Clinical Terminologies of Ayurveda' (rvpganagpur.com PDF) · DG0324 stambhanaṁ · comparator (draft)

Draft, drug-class sense only.

Stambhana (untranslated); defined in text as 'That which constipates or stops the motion of such constituents of the body as are liquid, restless, and endued with motion'

Kaviratna, Charaka-Samhita · Lesson XXII, printed p.244 (his vv.7-9) · public-domain translator

'Constipates' is a narrowing; the Sanskrit stambhayati = arrests/holds.

'Stambhana or constipators are medicines which, from their drying, astringent, and cooling qualities, and from their easy digestibility, increase the air and retain the secretions.' (quoted by Kaviratna from U. C. Dutt, Materia Medica of the Hindus)

Kaviratna footnote citing U. C. Dutt · Sutrasthana Lesson XXVI/XXVII region, printed pp.315 and 348 · public-domain translator (footnote)

A footnote quoting a 19th-century materia medica; records the Victorian rendering 'constipators'. Not the Samhita's wording.

astringent/styptic

carakasamhitaonline.com section headings (Su.22) · 'Signs of adequate and excess stambhana (astringent/styptic) therapy' · textbook

Modern Indian academic usage; translation body is copyrighted and not quoted.

Stambhana (astringent therapy)

PubMed PMID 23723649 (Ayu 2012) · abstract listing the six Charaka therapies · modern literature

Follows the WHO/textbook rendering.

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 22:Standard 22.12 first half; Kaviratna prints '7-9' after the six-definition block · checked against the source

Kaviratna: "That which constipates or stops the motion of such constituents of the body as are liquid, restless, and endued with motion, is said to be Stamhhana.7-9" [sic: 'Stamhhana' is an OCR artefact of 'Stambhana']. Sanskrit: "स्तम्भनं स्तम्भयति यद्गतिमन्तं चलं ध्रुवम्|"

tr. Kaviratna; Sanskrit carakasamhitaonline · source

Charaka's definition: stambhana arrests what is mobile, moving and (ordinarily) steady-flowing. Both numbering systems recorded.

Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 22:Standard 22.17; Kaviratna's printed number read as '16' in OCR (uncertain; may be 15) · checked against the source

Kaviratna: "Such things as are regarded to be cooling, mild, soft, smooth, dry, subtile, liquid, unstable, and light, are generally said to be Stambhana." Sanskrit: "शीतं मन्दं मृदु श्लक्ष्णं रूक्षं सूक्ष्मं द्रवं स्थिरम्| यद्द्रव्यं लघु चोद्दिष्टं प्रायस्तत् स्तम्भनं स्मृतम्||१७||"

tr. Kaviratna · source

Qualities of stambhana substances. Note Kaviratna renders sthira as 'unstable' here (and 'stable' elsewhere); the Sanskrit has sthira (stable). Translator's inconsistency, not doctrine.

Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 22:Standard 22.32; Kaviratna prints '30' · checked against the source

Kaviratna: "Such things as are liquid, minute, unstable (moving), such things as produce the sensation of cold, and such as are agreeable or bitter or astringent to the taste, are all called Stambharra.f30" [sic OCR]. Sanskrit: "द्रवं तन्वसरं यावच्छीतीकरणमौषधम्| स्वादु तिक्तं कषायं च स्तम्भनं सर्वमेव तत्||३२||"

tr. Kaviratna · source

Sweet, bitter and astringent tastes are all stambhana; Kaviratna's 'unstable (moving)' for asara (non-flowing) is a mistranslation to flag.

Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 22:Standard 22.40 (excess signs); Kaviratna prints '38' · checked against the source

Kaviratna: "Paleness of complexion, paralytic state of the limbs, lockjaw, suppression of stools and of the free action of the heart, are the indications of one who has undergone excessive Stambhana;38" Sanskrit second half: "हृद्वर्चोनिग्रहश्च स्यादतिस्तम्भितलक्षणम्||४०||"

tr. Kaviratna · source

Signs of over-stambhana. The preceding sentence (his '37', standard 39) gives the adequate-stambhana sign of regained strength.

Not to be confused with

grahi: WHO ITA-6.2.6.18 'Absorptive action': hot, appetising, absorbent. Stambhana (6.2.6.19) is cold and checks flow; textbooks keep them apart by virya.
kashaya rasa (astringent taste): A taste; Charaka Su.22.32 says sweet, bitter AND astringent are all stambhana, so 'astringent therapy' is narrower than the concept.
rukshana: Drying therapy; a separate upakrama in Su.22 though both are cold/dry-leaning.
raktastambhana / sangrahi: Haemostasis or anti-diarrhoeal action is one application; stambhana in Su.22 is the general arrest of any mobile fluid including sweat (used after excess svedana).
stambha (as a symptom): Stiffness/rigidity as a morbidity term (WHO AF2151 'stambha: Fixedness, stiffness...'); stambhana is the therapy, and svedana is defined as stambha-destroying (Su.22.11).

Renderings that do not hold

astringent therapy. Confuses a taste/pharmacological quality with the therapeutic aim; Charaka explicitly includes sweet and bitter stambhana substances (Su.22.32).
constipating / constipators. Victorian materia-medica English (U. C. Dutt via Kaviratna); the Sanskrit covers arresting any flow (bleeding, diarrhoea, vomiting, sweating), not only stool.
styptic. Narrows to bleeding; acceptable only for raktastambhana.

Open questions

Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.

Kaviratna's printed number for the quality verse (OCR '16') should be checked against the scan image; standard is 17.
Whether Sushruta uses stambhana as an upakrama term at all was not checked.

How to cite this entry

Age Ayurveda Nighantu, stambhana, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/stambhana/, 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.