udakavaha srotas: what the term means and how it is translated
udakavaha srotas उदकवहस्रोतस् 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.
| Transliteration | udakavaha srotas |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | उदकवहस्रोतस् |
| Also written | ambuvaha srotas (अम्बुवहस्रोतस्), ambumārga (अम्बुमार्गः), ambuvāhīni srotāṃsi (Ca.Vi.5/11), udakavahāni srotāṃsi |
| Category, as gathered | srotas (body channel) — anatomy/physiology |
| Grouped here under | Body: tissues, wastes and channels |
| Classical citations | 3 |
| Citations checked | 2026-10-08 |
How it is translated, and whether the translation holds
Each rendering is given with the source that uses it. The assessment is ours.
Channel, pathway for fluid circulation
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-2.5.8 (Udakavahasrotaḥ, ambuvahasrotaḥ, ambumārgaḥ) · standards-body comparator
WHO description: 'Pathways which refer to water balance in the body.' WHO treats udakavaha, ambuvaha and ambumārga as one term with three Sanskrit forms.
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.
Vitiation of channels carrying water
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-5.5.3 udakavahasrotoduṣṭiḥ · standards-body comparator (disorder term)
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.
channels/pathways for fluid circulation
NAMASTE Portal, Standardised Ayurveda Terminologies · SAT-B.475 · national terminology comparator
Definition: 'pathways which originate from the tālu or kloma through which fluids circulate throughout the body', NAMASTE keeps the classical roots rather than a biomedical system name.
Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the Government of India NAMASTE terminology, 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.
derangement of udakavahasrotas
NAMASTE National Ayurveda Morbidity Codes · NAMC EK-1 (ambuvahasrotoduṣṭiḥ/udakavahasrotoduṣṭiḥ), referenced to Ca.Vi.5/8; Su.Sa.9/12 · morbidity-code comparator
Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the Government of India NAMASTE terminology, 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.
water-carrying (Udaka-vaha) ducts or channels
Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna, Sushruta Samhita (1911) · Śārīrasthāna IX.11–12 · public-domain translation
udakavaha (carrying body water)
carakasamhitaonline.com (CSRTSL), 2020 · Sroto Vimana, abstract · modern translation (in copyright; rendering recorded as comparator only)
Root organ of water-carrying conduits
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA.3.11.8 kloma, tilakam, tilam · standards-body comparator (for the root organ kloma, not the channel)
WHO's description of kloma: 'Usually commensurate with the gallbladder, pancreas and right lung.' This is the single most contested identification attached to this channel.
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 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.
Caraka SaṃhitāVimāna Sthāna 5:5/8 · checked against the source
उदकवहानां स्रोतसां तालुमूलं क्लोम च, प्रदुष्टानां तु खल्वेषामिदं विशेषविज्ञानं भवति; तद्यथा- जिह्वाताल्वोष्ठकण्ठक्लोमशोषं पिपासां चातिप्रवृद्धां दृष्ट्वोदकवहान्यस्य स्रोतांसि प्रदुष्टानीति विद्यात्|
Root = tālu (palate) and kloma; vitiation signs = dryness of tongue, palate, lips, throat and kloma, and greatly increased thirst.
Caraka SaṃhitāVimāna Sthāna 5:5/11 · checked against the source
औष्ण्यादामाद्भयात् पानादतिशुष्कान्नसेवनात्| अम्बुवाहीनि दुष्यन्ति तृष्णायाश्चातिपीडनात्||११||
Caraka himself switches to ambu-vāhīni in the metrical section, direct textual warrant that udakavaha and ambuvaha are the same channel.
Suśruta SaṃhitāŚārīra Sthāna 9:11–12 (Bhishagratna); cited as 9/12 elsewhere · checked against the source
There are two water-carrying (Udaka-vaha) ducts or channels which have their roots in the palate and the Kloma, and a pieicing of any of these makes the patient thirsty and ends in his instantaneous death (z. e , within seven days).
Suśruta's roots are identical to Caraka's (palate + kloma), a rare full agreement between the two texts. ('pieicing' is an OCR artefact of the retrieved page for 'piercing'.)
Not to be confused with
- kloma
- kloma is the root organ, not the channel. Its identification is itself unsettled: WHO says 'usually commensurate with the gallbladder, pancreas and right lung'; Bhishagratna leaves it untranslated; other authors read it as lung, pancreas, or trachea (WHO separately codes klomanāḍī as 'Trachea', ITA.3.11.7).
- rasavaha srotas
- Both are fluid channels; udakavaha governs water/thirst homeostasis and is rooted in palate+kloma, while rasavaha carries the nutrient fluid and is rooted in the heart.
- mūtravaha srotas
- Modern writers mapping udakavaha to 'fluid balance' slide into renal physiology; mūtravaha is separately enumerated with basti and vaṅkṣaṇa as roots.
- ambhovaha / ambuvaha
- Not a different channel, an attested synonym, used by Caraka himself at Vi.5/11 and recorded by WHO and NAMASTE as an alternative Sanskrit form.
Renderings that do not hold
- the lymphatic system. A common modern equation with no classical warrant; the roots given are palate and kloma and the cardinal sign is thirst, not oedema or lymph stasis.
- kloma = pancreas (stated flatly). WHO itself hedges ('usually commensurate with the gallbladder, pancreas and right lung'). Stating a single organ presents an unresolved identification as settled.
- 'instantaneous death'. Bhishagratna's own English is internally contradictory, he immediately glosses it '(z. e, within seven days)'. Quoting 'instantaneous death' without the gloss misreports the source.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- What is kloma? Until this is settled the channel cannot be mapped to any biomedical system.
- Why does Suśruta rate piercing of this channel as rapidly fatal when the vitiation signs in Caraka are merely dryness and thirst?
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, udakavaha srotas
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/udakavaha-srotas/, 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.