tīkṣṇa: what the term means and how it is translated
tīkṣṇa तीक्ष्ण is an Ayurvedic technical term. It is rendered into English in 7 different ways across 8 sources, 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 | tīkṣṇa |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | तीक्ष्ण |
| Also written | teekshna, tikshna guna, tikshna virya, taikshnya, sharp, keen |
| Category, as gathered | dravyaguna-4 |
| 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.
Sharpness/fast; one of the 20 gurvadi gunas; caused due activated agni; denotes physiological & pharmacological quickening of processes; instrumental for eliminative therapy; pacifies kapha & vāta, increases pitta; causes irritation, burning & excretion. An attribute of Pitta.
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · code DG0350 · comparator
Fullest comparator entry.
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.
the property of the substance which causes sharpness and quick penetration
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · code BP0288 · comparator
Second WHO entry (basic principles).
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.
higher potency
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · code DG0351 'tīkṣṇa vīrya'; cf. DG0174 'mṛdu vīrya' = 'Mild Potency', DG0163 'madhya vīrya' = 'Moderate Potency' · comparator
Shows tīkṣṇa used as a degree-of-potency grade, a distinct sense from the guna.
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.
Tīkṣṇa (intense, due to the dominance of Pitta)
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · agni entry (four states of agni); also AF2265 'tīkṣṇāgni' = 'Excessive digestive power' · comparator
Third sense: a state of agni.
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.
keen
Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.1 his 59 (pitta 'hot, keen'); Su.26 his 24 (agneya 'hot, keen'); Su.26 saline taste 'It is keen'; Su.26 his 20 eight energies 'mild and keen'; footnote to Su.22 his 10: ''Tikshna' is pungent' · public-domain translation
Mostly 'keen', but 'pungent' in the Su.22 langhana list, where 'pungent' elsewhere means kaṭu rasa; a real ambiguity in his usage.
keen
Sushruta Samhita tr. K. L. Bhishagratna, public domain, via wisdomlib · Su.40 ('mild or keen' among eight potencies); Su.41 (taijasa 'pungent and keen'; 'keenness of a drug from the fact of its producing pain in the mouth'; apya 'devoid of keenness') · public-domain translation
Consistent 'keen/keenness'.
Teekshna Guna means 'sharpness' quality
easyayurveda.com 'Gurvadi Gunas' (Hebbar), modern · https://www.easyayurveda.com/2019/06/12/gurvadi-gunas/ · modern web textbook
Typical textbook; opposite manda, fire element.
Teekshna virya – sharp/quick acting potency
easyayurveda.com 'Veerya, Potency Of Herbs And Doshas' (Hebbar), modern · https://www.easyayurveda.com/2019/03/09/veerya-herb-potency/ · modern web textbook
Textbook rendering in the eight-vīrya list.
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 1.60; Kaviratna prints 59 · checked against the source
Bile, which may be cold, hot, keen, soft, sour, liquid, and bitter, is speedily cured by objects having adverse attributes.
Tīkṣṇa ('keen') as a quality of Pitta. Sanskrit as retrieved: सस्नेहमुष्णं तीक्ष्णं च द्रवमम्लं सरं कटु| विपरीतगुणैः पित्तं द्रव्यैराशु प्रशाम्यति||६०|| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Deerghanjiviteeya_Adhyaya). WARNING: Kaviratna's 'cold ... soft ... bitter' do not correspond to the Sanskrit (sasneha, sara, kaṭu); only 'hot, keen, sour, liquid' are sound. Use for the rendering of tīkṣṇa only.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 22:Standard 22.12 (plus first line after ||12||); Kaviratna prints 10 · checked against the source
Such things as are light, warm, pungent, not slimy, dry, subtile, rough, unstable, and hard, are generally Langhana.
Tīkṣṇa as a laṅghana quality; Kaviratna renders it 'pungent' here and says so in his footnote (''Tikshna' is pungent'). Sanskrit as retrieved: लघूष्णतीक्ष्णविशदं रूक्षं सूक्ष्मं खरं सरम्||१२|| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Langhanabrimhaniya_Adhyaya).
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 26:Standard 26.64-65; Kaviratna prints 20-21 (his numbering restarts at 1 part-way through Lesson XXVI, at the 'Here occur some verses' block) · checked against the source
Some say that mild and keen, heavy and light, oily and dry, and hot and cooling, are the eight kinds of Energy which objects may have. Others are of opinion that objects have only two kinds of Energy, viz., cooling and hot.
Tīkṣṇa as one of the eight vīryas (Kaviratna's 'Energy'). Sanskrit as retrieved: मृदुतीक्ष्णगुरुलघुस्निग्धरूक्षोष्णशीतलम्| वीर्यमष्टविधं केचित्, केचिद्द्विविधमास्थिताः||६४|| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Atreyabhadrakapyiya_Adhyaya).
Sushruta SamhitaSutrasthana 41:Suśruta Sūtrasthāna 40.5 — 'केचिदष्टविधमाहुः — शीतमुष्णं स्निग्धं रूक्षं विशदं पिच्छिलं मृदु तीक्ष्णं ... एतानि खलु वीर्याणि स्वबलगुणोत्कर्षाद्रसमभिभूयात्मकर्म कुर्वन्ति ... तदेतन्निदर्शनमात्रमुक्तम् ॥५॥' (Trikamji/Dalhaṇa ed. 1938, pp. 175-176). This closes the Su.40 half of the openQuestion 'Sanskrit verse numbers for Sushruta Su.40-41 eight-virya passages'; the Su.41 half was already at 41.11. · checked against the source
तत्र य इमे गुणा वीर्यसंज्ञकाः शीतोष्णस्निग्धरूक्षमृदुतीक्ष्णपिच्छिलविशदास्तेषां तीक्ष्णोष्णावाग्नेयौ, शीतपिच्छिलौ अम्बुगुणभूयिष्ठौ, पृथिव्यम्बुगुणभूयिष्ठः स्नेहः, तोयाकाशगुणभूयिष्ठं मृदुत्वं, वायुगुणभूयिष्ठं रौक्ष्यं, क्षितिसमीरणगुणभूयिष्ठं वैशद्यं; विपाकाद्गुरुलघुगुणौ ॥११॥ — Suśruta Sū. 41.11, mūla as printed in the Dalhaṇa edition (Trikamji, Pandurang Jawaji 1938), p. 183. Variant recorded there: 'गुरुलघुमृदुतीक्ष्णा' (Hāraṇacandra).
A variant reading placing guru (with laghu, displacing picchila and viśada) in Suśruta's eight-vīrya list at Su.Su. 41.11 is attested: Jadavji Trikamji's apparatus to Dalhaṇa's edition records it as Hāraṇacandra's pāṭha, both in the list itself (fn. 2) and in the dosha-action clause of the same sūtra (fn. 6). Dalhaṇa's own gloss supports the printed list without guru. Bhishagratna's 'heavy' is therefore consistent with an attested variant tradition and should not be recorded as an error, though his exact eight-item sequence reproduces neither the printed text nor that variant. Separately, the Su.40 eight-vīrya passage is Su.Su. 40.5.
Not to be confused with
- manda
- Opposite member (Kaviratna's note 'Tikshna in Manda'; WHO 'opposite to dullness').
- kaṭu (pungent rasa)
- A taste, not a guna; Kaviratna's 'pungent' for tīkṣṇa in Su.22 collides with his 'pungent' for kaṭu.
- uṣṇa
- Hot; co-listed with tīkṣṇa in fire-dominant lists and in Pitta, but a separate pair (uṣṇa/śīta).
- khara
- Rough; Kaviratna renders khara 'keen' (Su.1.59) and 'sharp' (Su.26.11, Wind list), so his 'sharp/keen' is not always tīkṣṇa.
- tīkṣṇāgni
- A state of digestive fire (WHO AF2265), not the drug guna.
- tīkṣṇa vīrya (degree)
- WHO DG0351 uses it as 'higher potency', a grading of strength rather than the sharpness quality.
Renderings that do not hold
- pungent. Kaviratna's Su.22 choice; 'pungent' is the standard English for kaṭu rasa, so it conflates a taste with a guna.
- spicy / hot (in the culinary sense). Tīkṣṇa is speed and penetration of action; the texts pair it with manda (slow), not with cold.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Sanskrit verse numbers for Sushruta Su.40-41 eight-vīrya passages.
- Whether Chakrapani's gloss on tīkṣṇa supports WHO's 'quick penetration'.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, tīkṣṇa
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/tikshna/, 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.