sthira: what the term means and how it is translated

sthira स्थिर 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	sthira
Devanagari	स्थिर
Also written	sthira guna, sthiraḥ, sthairya (स्थैर्य, the abstract noun), Sthira = śālaparṇī / Desmodium gangeticum (plant-name homonym)
Category, as gathered	dravyaguna-3
Grouped here 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.

Stability, immobility

WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022), PDF mirror · ITA-1.9.4.2.18 description 'The quality of a substance which is responsible for maintaining stability and position.' sthiraḥ; opposite ITA-1.9.4.2.19 'Instability, mobility' saraḥ · comparator

WHO pairs sthira with sara (not cala).

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.

stable

Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.1 his 60 Kapha 'stable'; Su.22 his 11 bṛṁhaṇa 'mild stable', his 12 rūkṣaṇa 'stable', his 14 svedana 'stable'; Su.22 footnote 'Sara in Sthira' (translator's note) · public-domain translation

Consistent 'stable'; but at Su.22 his 13 (snehana) he prints 'stable' where the retrieved Sanskrit has saram.

immobile

Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.26 his 22 pārthiva list 'heavy, sharp or pungent, hard, mild, immobile, clear, thick, gross' · public-domain translation

Positional match to स्थिर in गुरुखरकठिनमन्दस्थिरविशदसान्द्रस्थूल.

unstable (for cala, Vata verse)

Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.1 his 58 'dry, cold, light, subtile, unstable, clear, keen' · public-domain translation

Shows his 'stable/unstable' axis covers both sthira/cala (Su.1.59) and sthira/sara (Su.22).

immobile (Parthiva list)

Sushruta Samhita tr. K. L. Bhishagratna, public domain, via wisdomlib · Su.Su.41: 'thick, pithy, compact, dull, immobile, rough, heavy (hard to digest)' · public-domain translation

Word-to-word mapping to a Sanskrit Su.41 not established; Sushruta's own twenty (Su.Su.46.514-525) do not include sthira at all.

Sthira (stable)

Mithun & Singh, IJHSR 2026 review (DOI 10.52403/ijhsr.20260119) · 'Sthira-Sara (stable-mobile)'; 'diffusion coefficients for Sthira (stable) versus Sara (mobile)' · modern literature

Textbook rendering.

Sthira (Hedysarum Gangeticum)

Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · many drug lists, e.g. OCR lines 69341, 76489 'Sthira (otherwise called Salaparni, Desmodium Gangeticum)' · public-domain translation

The plant-name homonym, far more frequent in Kaviratna than the guna.

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 1.61; Kaviratna prints 60 · checked against the source

Heavy, cold, mild, watery, sweet, stable, and slimy, these attributes of phlegm are cured by objects having adverse attributes.

tr. A. C. Kaviratna · source

Sthira ('stable') as a Kapha quality. Sanskrit as retrieved: गुरुशीतमृदुस्निग्धमधुरस्थिरपिच्छिलाः| श्लेष्मणः प्रशमं यान्ति विपरीतगुणैर्गुणाः||६१|| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Deerghanjiviteeya_Adhyaya). Vata's opposite quality in 1.59 is cala (Kaviratna 'unstable').

Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 22:Standard 22.13-14 (bṛṁhaṇa) and 22.14-15 (rūkṣaṇa); Kaviratna prints 11 and 12 · 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. Such things as are dry, productive of lightness, pungent, warm, stable, not slimy, and hard, are generally Rukshana.

tr. A. C. Kaviratna · source

Sthira belongs to BOTH the bṛṁhaṇa and the rūkṣaṇa quality lists, so it is not simply a Kapha-building quality. Sanskrit as retrieved: ...प्रायो मन्दं स्थिरं श्लक्ष्णं द्रव्यं बृंहणमुच्यते| रूक्षं लघु खरं तीक्ष्णमुष्णं स्थिरमपिच्छिलम्||१४|| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Langhanabrimhaniya_Adhyaya).

Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 26:Standard 26.11 (pārthiva clause); Kaviratna prints 22 · checked against the source

Amongst objects those that are principally heavy, sharp or pungent, hard, mild, immobile, clear, thick, gross, and possessed of scent, are regarded as appertaining to Earth. These objects promote the growth, hardness, heaviness, and consistency of the body.

tr. A. C. Kaviratna · source

Sthira ('immobile') as an earth-dominant quality; the karma list ends in sthairya ('consistency' in Kaviratna). Sanskrit as retrieved: तत्र द्रव्याणि गुरुखरकठिनमन्दस्थिरविशदसान्द्रस्थूलगन्धगुणबहुलानि पार्थिवानि (within ||११||, https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Atreyabhadrakapyiya_Adhyaya).

Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 25:Standard 25.36 (prose) · checked against the source

विंशतिगुणः, गुरुलघुशीतोष्णस्निग्धरूक्षमन्दतीक्ष्णस्थिरसरमृदुकठिनविशदपिच्छिलश्लक्ष्णखरसूक्ष्मस्थूलसान्द्रद्रवानुगमात्

tr. none (Sanskrit only) · source

Charaka pairs sthira with sara in the twenty (स्थिरसर), whereas the Vata verse 1.59 uses cala as Vata's mobility quality.

Not to be confused with

sara: Paired opposite in Charaka's twenty (Ca.Su.25.36) and WHO (ITA-1.9.4.2.19 'Instability, mobility'); Kaviratna 'unstable'.
cala: Vata's mobility quality in Ca.Su.1.59 (चल); textbooks treat cala and sara as interchangeable opposites of sthira, but Charaka uses different words in the two places.
sthairya: The abstract noun and karma ('consistency' in Kaviratna at Su.26 his 22); the effect sthira produces.
kaṭhina (hard): Separate guna, co-listed in the pārthiva set; firmness vs immobility.
guru (heavy): Co-listed with sthira in Kapha and pārthiva lists; different pair (guru/laghu).
Sthira = śālaparṇī (Desmodium gangeticum): A plant name that dominates Kaviratna's uses of the word; WHO lists the plant under its own synonyms, not as sthira.
sthira in Sushruta's twenty: Sushruta's enumeration at Su.Su.46.514-525 (as retrieved) lists drava, sāndra, ślakṣṇa, karkaśa, sugandha, durgandha, sara, manda, vyavāyī, vikāsī, āśukārī, sūkṣma in the second ten and names no sthira, a real inter-text difference to flag.

Renderings that do not hold

static / inert. Sthira sits in the rūkṣaṇa and svedana lists as well as bṛṁhaṇa (Ca.Su.22.14-16); it is not 'inert' or 'no action'.
stable (as chemically stable / shelf-stable). Modern pharmacy sense; the texts mean position-keeping, firmness, resistance to movement (WHO 'maintaining stability and position').
'stable' for saram (Kaviratna Su.22 his 13). Where the retrieved Sanskrit of 22.15 reads सरं, Kaviratna prints 'stable'; sthira and sara are opposites, so this is either a variant reading or an error and must not be cited as the text calling snehana dravyas sthira.

Open questions

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

Confirm from a Sanskrit Sushruta that sthira is genuinely absent from Su.Su.46.514-525 (my reading of the easyayurveda Devanagari).
Whether Bhishagratna's 'immobile' in Su.Su.41 corresponds to sthira or to another word (needs a Sanskrit Su.41).
Kaviratna's 'stable' at Su.22 his 13 vs saram: check Gangadhara's reading.

How to cite this entry

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