# svāsthya (स्वास्थ्य)

> Canonical version of this page: https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/swasthya/

An Ayurvedic technical term, rendered into English in 4 different ways.
The renderings do not agree, and the difference between them changes what the term is taken
to mean.

## Identification

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Transliteration | svāsthya |
| Devanagari | स्वास्थ्य |
| Category, as gathered | swasthavritta |
| Grouped under | Regimen and constitution |
| 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.

### health ('protection of the health of the hale')

Charaka Samhita tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna, Lesson XXX · archive.org BIUSante_47357 OCR ~line 27981 · public-domain translation

Plain 'health'.

### Health; sound state of body/soul health, ease, comfort, contentment, satisfaction. State of well being.

WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022), SV0272 · PDF p.319 (mirror copy); contrast AF0355 asvāsthya 'Discomfort, Disease' p.? (line 1524 of extraction) · comparator

WHO's gloss adds 'ease, comfort, contentment' which echoes the dictionary sense of svāsthya (self-abiding ease).

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.

### no separate rendering seen; Su.Su.15 defines the healthy person (svastha) rather than the abstract noun

Sushruta Samhita tr. Bhishagratna · public-domain translation · our paraphrase of the source, not its words

See swastha record.

### health; positive health

Common textbook usage · textbook · our paraphrase of the source, not its words

Often paired with the WHO 1948 health definition in Indian textbooks; that pairing is a modern comparison, not a classical statement.

## The classical passages

### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 30 (Arthedashamahamuliya):Standard 30/26; Kaviratna's printed number OCRs as '®1' and was not established, checked against the source

> The purpose of the Science of Life is protection of the health of the hale and alleviation of disease of one that is ailing.

tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

svāsthya-rakṣaṇa as the first prayojana of Ayurveda. Sanskrit seen at carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Arthedashmahamooliya_Adhyaya: प्रयोजनं चास्य स्वस्थस्य स्वास्थ्यरक्षणमातुरस्य विकारप्रशमनं च||२६||.

### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 5 (Matrashitiya):Standard 5/13 contains स्वास्थ्यं per carakasamhitaonline.com's report; the verse itself was not displayed to me, address only, nothing quoted to check

A second Sutrasthana occurrence of the noun svāsthya; verse text not verified.

### Sushruta Samhita Sutrasthana XV:Sanskrit 15/41 (easyayurveda numbering), checked against the source

> A person with an uniformly healthy digestion, and whose bodily humours are in a state of equilibrium, and in whom the fundamental vital fluids course in their normal state and quantity, accompanied by the normal processes of secretion, organic function, and intellection, is said to be a healthy person.

tr. Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna · https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-1-sutrasthana/d/doc122907.html

The operative classical description of the state of health, stated through the person (svastha) rather than the abstract noun.

## The concept record for this term

A term entry answers what the word means. It does not answer whether the thing the word
names is settled, and often it is not. That is what the concept record is for: it sets out
the questions on which the sources disagree about this term, with each position attributed,
and states what is not established.

- [Swasthya: the Ayurvedic definition of health](https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/concept/swasthya-definition/)

## Not to be confused with

- **svastha.** Adjective/person 'healthy one'; svāsthya is the abstract noun 'health' (Cha.Su.30/26 uses both: svasthasya svāsthya-rakṣaṇam).
- **ārogya.** 'Absence of disease' (Cha.Su.8/18 ārogyam as one aim of sadvṛtta); svāsthya in WHO's gloss carries the positive sense of ease and contentment.
- **asvāsthya.** WHO AF0355 'Discomfort, Disease', the negation.
- **WHO 1948 'health' definition.** Routinely juxtaposed with Su.Su.15/41 in textbooks; the Sushruta verse has no social dimension.

## Renderings that do not hold

- 'well-being' (alone). Acceptable as a gloss but hides that the classical definition (Su.Su.15/41) is a list of physiological equilibria plus prasanna ātman/indriya/manas.

## Open questions

Recorded rather than resolved.

- Kaviratna's printed aphorism number for Cha.Su.30/26 (OCR '®1'); read from the scan.
- Verify Cha.Su.5/13 wording containing svāsthyam.

## Citation

Age Ayurveda Nighantu, "svāsthya", https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/swasthya/, 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.