tikta: what the term means and how it is translated
tikta तिक्त is an Ayurvedic technical term. It is rendered into English in 4 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.
| Transliteration | tikta |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | तिक्त |
| Also written | tikta rasa, tiktaka, bitter |
| Category, as gathered | dravyaguna-4 |
| Grouped here under | Pharmacology and the action of substances |
| Classical citations | 6 |
| 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.
Bitter; one among the six rasa. Synonym of one of the medicinal plant Parpaṭa.
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · code DG0352; also SK0199 'tiktarasa' = 'Bitter Taste.', AF2268 'tiktaṁ' = 'Bitter taste', DG0353 'tikta skandha' = 'Group of plants having bitter taste.', DG0215 'pañcatikta' · comparator
Uncontroversial rendering; the Parpaṭa synonym sense is worth keeping.
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.
Bitter
Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.26 'arises the taste called Bitter' (his 54); 'The Bitter taste' (his 65, OCR '85'); 'the Bitter taste is inferior/foremost' (his 11-12, second run); 'Of the Pungent, the Bitter, and the Astringent' (his 14) · public-domain translation
Stable.
bitter (Tikta)
Sushruta Samhita tr. K. L. Bhishagratna, public domain, via wisdomlib · Su.42 'is called bitter (Tikta)'; Su.40 'transformed into a bitter one' · public-domain translation
Stable.
tikta rasa (bitter taste)
Pushpan and Nishteswar, Ancient Science of Life 2014 (PMID 25538356) · abstract · modern literature
Research usage; the paper operationalises rasa identification by volunteer-reported lakṣaṇas.
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 26:Standard 26.40; Kaviratna prints 54 · checked against the source
From a preponderance of the attributes of Wind and Ether arises the taste called Bitter.
Mahābhūta composition of tikta (vāyu + ākāśa). Sanskrit as retrieved: ...वाय्वाकाशातिरिक्तत्वात्तिक्तः... ||४०|| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Atreyabhadrakapyiya_Adhyaya).
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 26:Standard 26.43 sub-section 5 per carakasamhitaonline (which prints '(५)' after this paragraph and ||४३|| after the whole six-rasa block; Trikamji may number the block 26.42, not checked); Kaviratna's printed number is OCR'd as '85', but the preceding aphorism reads '84' (for katu, where 64 is expected) and the following kashaya aphorism reads '67', so his print is most likely 65 (unverified against the page image) · checked against the source
The Bitter taste is so disagreeable as to produce a disgust for itself, but nevertheless it cures disgust for food. It destroys the action of poisons. It is anthelmintic. It alleviates swoons, burning sensation of the skin, itching, leprosy, and thirst. It causes the skin and the flesh to become tough. It is destructive of fevers. It promotes or sharpens the appetite. It assists the digestion of undigested food. It improves the qualities of the milk in the breast. It removes bad humours and altered constituents of the body by thinning them gradually and thus clearing the system of them. It dries up phlegmonous secretions, fat, serum (or marrow of the flesh), marrow of the bones, saliva, puss, sweat, urine, stools, bile, and phlegm. Its attributes are dry, cool, and light.
The karma and gunas of tikta rasa (rūkṣa, śīta, laghu). Sanskrit as retrieved: तिक्तो रसः स्वयमरोचिष्णुरप्यरोचकघ्नो विषघ्नः क्रिमिघ्नो मूर्च्छादाहकण्डूकुष्ठतृष्णाप्रशमनस्त्वङ्मांसयोः स्थिरीकरणो ज्वरघ्नो दीपनः पाचनः स्तन्यशोधनो लेखनः क्लेदमेदोवसामज्जलसीकापूयस्वेदमूत्रपुरीषपित्तश्लेष्मोपशोषणो रूक्षः शीतो लघुश्च| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Atreyabhadrakapyiya_Adhyaya). 'leprosy' is Kaviratna's rendering of kuṣṭha; 'puss' is OCR.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 26:Standard 26.58; Kaviratna prints 14 (second numbering run) · checked against the source
Of the Pungent, the Bitter, and the Astringent, the change, upon assimilation, is generally Pungent. The Sour taste changes into the Sour. The Sweet and the Saline change into the Sweet.
Tikta has kaṭu vipāka. Sanskrit as retrieved: कटुतिक्तकषायाणां विपाकः प्रायशः कटुः| अम्लोऽम्लं पच्यते स्वादुर्मधुरं लवणस्तथा||५८|| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Atreyabhadrakapyiya_Adhyaya).
Sushruta SamhitaSutrasthana 42:Sanskrit verse number not established (Bhishagratna prints none) · checked against the source
A taste, which gives rise to a sort of sucking sensation at the throat, removes the slimy character of the cavity of the mouth, gives rise to the appearance of goose-flesh on the skin, and increases the relish for food, is called bitter (Tikta).
Sushruta's perceptual definition (lakṣaṇa) of tikta; the same chapter states 'The specific attributes of air and sky predominate in a bitter taste', 'The tastes such as sweet, bitter and astringent are cold in their properties' and 'The pungent, astringent and bitter ones are dry and light', agreeing with Charaka on bhūta composition and gunas.
Sushruta SamhitaSutrasthana 42:Sanskrit verse number not established · checked against the source
A bitter taste serves to restore the natural relish of a person for food and brings on a sense of general languor. It is a good appetiser, and acts as a good purifying agent (in respect of ulcers, etc.), and proves curative in itches and urticaria. It removes thirst, swoon and fever, purifies mother's milk, and is possessed of the virtue of drying up urine, ordure, mucous, fat and pus, etc.
Sushruta's karma of tikta, closely parallel to Charaka's; 'brings on a sense of general languor' has no obvious counterpart in Charaka and may reflect a variant reading or translator's gloss.
Ashtanga HridayaSutrasthana 1:15-16 (GRETIL, Das and Emmerick numbering) · checked against the source
tatrādyā mārutaṃ ghnanti trayas tiktādayaḥ kapham || 15 || kaṣāya-tikta-madhurāḥ pittam anye tu kurvate |
Tikta heads the three rasas that subdue Kapha and is among the three that subdue Pitta. Reference only.
Not to be confused with
- kaṭu
- Pungent; shares kaṭu vipāka and vāyu composition with tikta but is uṣṇa, whereas tikta is śīta.
- kaṣāya
- Astringent; also rūkṣa and śīta with kaṭu vipāka, and Sushruta Su.40 shows a kaṣāya taste 'transformed into a bitter one', so the two are routinely confused in secondary drug lists.
- tiktāsyatā / tiktamukharasatva
- Bitter taste in the mouth as a symptom (WHO AF2267, AF2269), not the rasa of a substance.
- Tikta as a plant synonym
- WHO DG0352 sense 2 (Parpaṭa); also Tiktaka ghrita etc.
Renderings that do not hold
- bitter = detoxifying / 'cleansing' as a definition. Lifts one karma (viṣaghna, lekhana) into the definition; classically tikta is defined by taste perception and elemental composition.
- leprosy (for kuṣṭha in the tikta karma list). Kaviratna's Edwardian nosology; kuṣṭha covers skin disease broadly.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Trikamji's numbering of the six-rasa karma prose (26.42 vs carakasamhitaonline's 43).
- Kaviratna's true printed number for the tikta aphorism (65 inferred; OCR reads 85).
- Sanskrit source for Bhishagratna's 'general languor'.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, tikta
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/tikta/, 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.