vājīkaraṇa: what the term means and how it is translated
vājīkaraṇa वाजीकरण is an Ayurvedic technical term. It is rendered into English in 6 different ways across 7 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 | vājīkaraṇa |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | वाजीकरण |
| Also written | vājīkaraṇam, vajikarana, vajeekarana, vaji-karana, vrishya chikitsa |
| Category, as gathered | chikitsa-3 |
| Grouped here under | Examination and treatment |
| 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.
Potency and fertility therapy
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-9.1.36 vājīkaraṇam, PDF p.432; description: 'One of the eight clinical branches of Ayurveda concerned with aphrodisiac use.' · comparator
Comparator; the branch (ashtanga) sense.
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.
Aphrodisiac or virility treatment
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-9.9.1 vājīkaraṇacikitsā, PDF p.482; description: 'A treatment for improvement of male and female fertility and virility which promotes śukra secretion.' · comparator
Comparator; the therapy sense. Notably includes female fertility.
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.
'Vajikarana' (or aphrodisiac); 'use of aphrodisiacs'; footnote: "'Vajikarana' Implies the administration of aphrodisiacs or medicines which increase semen and enhance sexual power."
Kaviratna, Charaka-Samhita · Chikitsasthana Lesson I (Rasayana) his vv.9-12; Lesson II (Vajikarana) opening and footnote, printed p.1071 · public-domain translator
Kaviratna consistently uses 'aphrodisiac'; chapter heading 'LESSON II. VAJIKARANA.' left untranslated.
'Vajikarana' or bringing an enemy under control or subjection (Atharvan sense, translator's note)
Kaviratna, footnote on the Atharva Veda (Sutrasthana Lesson XXX region) · printed p.~820 of the archive scan · public-domain translator (footnote)
A homonymous Atharvanic ritual sense noted by the translator; not the medical term.
'The medical treatment for increasing virility'; 'Vaji-Karana (aphrodisiac) remedy'
Bhishagratna, Sushruta Samhita Chikitsasthana ch. XXVI · chapter title and section 2-A · public-domain translator
Bhishagratna uses 'virility' for the title and 'aphrodisiac' in text.
PubMed PMID 23858267 (Indian J Psychiatry 2013) · abstract · modern literature
The source's rendering runs to a full definition and is not reproduced here, because this project has not cleared that source for quotation.
Modern review rendering; adds the progeny dimension.
virilification
carakasamhitaonline.com (Chi.2 heading 'Importance of Vajikarana and woman as the best for virilification') · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Vajikarana_Adhyaya · textbook
Indian academic coinage; translation body is copyrighted and not quoted.
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 SamhitaChikitsasthana 1.1 (Abhayamalakiya Rasayana pada):Standard 1.1/9-12 (first verse begins 'अपत्यसन्तानकरं', last ends 'वाजीकरणमेव तत्||१२||' - both ends verified); Kaviratna prints '9-12' after the passage · checked against the source
Kaviratna (closing part of the passage): "that by which one, obtaining a large progeny, becomes respected and worshipped by all men, that by which one becomes the source of a mumerous progeny here and by which one enjoys everlasting bliss hereafter, and that by which one wins fame and prosperity and strength and growth, is called 'Vajikarana' (or aphrodisiac). 9-12" [sic 'mumerous' OCR]. Sanskrit 9 and 12: "अपत्यसन्तानकरं यत् सद्यः सम्प्रहर्षणम्| वाजीवातिबलो येनयात्यप्रतिहतः स्त्रियः||९||" ... "सन्तानमूलं येनेह प्रेत्य चानन्त्यमश्नुते| यशः श्रियं बलं पुष्टिं वाजीकरणमेव तत्||१२||"
Charaka's definition of vajikarana: progeny, immediate exhilaration, horse-like vigour with women, fame, prosperity, strength and nourishment. Rare case where Kaviratna's range matches the standard numbering exactly (verified at both ends).
Charaka SamhitaChikitsasthana 2.4 (Pumanjatabaladika Vajikarana pada):Standard 2.4/51; Kaviratna prints '50' after the sentence · checked against the source
Kaviratna: "That by which a man acquires the power of sexual congress like a stallion, as also that by which one succeeds in indulging repeatedly in sexual pleasure, is said to be an aphrodisiac. 50" Sanskrit: "येन नारीषु सामर्थ्यं वाजीवल्लभते नरः| व्रजेच्चाभ्यधिकं येन वाजीकरणमेव तत्||५१||"
The etymological definition (vaji = horse/stallion) in Charaka. Kaviratna here translates the term as 'aphrodisiac' rather than transliterating.
Charaka SamhitaChikitsasthana 2.1 (Samyogasharamuliya Vajikarana pada):Standard 2.1/3 (Sanskrit 'वाजीकरणमन्विच्छेत् पुरुषो नित्यमात्मवान्| तदायत्तौ हि धर्मार्थौ प्रीतिश्च यश एव च||३||'); Kaviratna prints '2' · checked against the source
Kaviratna: "A person who has his self under control, should seek for 'Vajikarana' (use of aphrodisiacs), since piety and wealth, and enjoyment and fame, depend upon it. 2"
The injunction that the self-controlled man should seek vajikarana; dharma, artha, priti and yashas depend on it.
Sushruta SamhitaChikitsasthana 26 (Kshinabaliya Vajikarana):Bhishagratna sections 1, 2-A, 2-B; Sanskrit 26.1, 26.3-5, 26.6 per siva.sh edition · checked against the source
Bhishagratna: "Now we shall discourse on the medical treatment for increasing the strength and virile power of weak persons (Kshma-Valiyam Vaji-Karana). 1." ... "If duly taken, the Vaji-karana remedies make a man sexually as strong as a horse (Vaji), and enable him to cheerfully satisfy the heat and amorous ardours of young maidens, a fact which has determined the nomenclature of this class of (medicinal) remedies. 2-B." Sanskrit 26.6: "सेवमानो यदौचित्याद्वाजीवात्यर्थवेगवान् । नारीस्तर्पयते तेन वाजीकरणमुच्यते ॥६॥"
Sushruta's etymology (horse-like vigour) and the target population (the weak, the old, the over-indulgent).
Where this term does work in the theory
One concept record names this term as one of its components, and glosses it there as follows.
- Rasayana theory as Vajikarana
- The paired eighth branch, directed at reproductive capacity. Not merely adjacent to rasayana: Charaka defines both inside the rasayana lesson as the two kinds of medicine that increase the ojas of a healthy person, and announces at aphorism 14 that rasayana will be laid down first and vajikarana after. Sushruta gives it its own chapter at Chikitsasthana 26, immediately before the three rasayana chapters.
Not to be confused with
- rasayana
- Charaka Chi.1 pairs them as the two urjaskara (vitalising) therapies for the healthy, but rasayana aims at longevity/tissue quality and vajikarana at shukra and progeny; Kaviratna's note that vrishya drugs 'are also called Rasayana' is a translator's conflation.
- vrishya
- Drug-class adjective (aphrodisiac/semen-promoting); PMID 23858267 treats 'Vrishya chikitsa' as a synonym of the branch, which is loose.
- shukrajanana / shukrala
- WHO ITA-6.2.6.20-21 drug actions (semen-producing, increasing semen); vajikarana is the branch/therapy, of which these are pharmacological components (cf. Bhishagratna's three-kind note).
- Atharvanic vajikarana
- Kaviratna's footnote records a ritual sense 'bringing an enemy under control'; unrelated to the medical branch.
- aphrodisiac (modern pharmacology)
- Modern usage means libido enhancement; Charaka Chi.1.1/9-12 defines the aim as progeny, strength and social standing as much as sexual capacity.
Renderings that do not hold
- aphrodisiac therapy (alone). Drops the progeny/fertility and strength components explicit in Charaka Chi.1.1/9-12 and WHO 9.9.1 ('male and female fertility').
- sex therapy / sexology. Imports a psychotherapeutic discipline; vajikarana is primarily dietary-pharmacological with conduct rules.
- virilification. Non-standard English coinage; also male-only, whereas WHO 9.9.1 includes female fertility.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Whether Sushruta's own text (as opposed to Bhishagratna's note) contains the threefold shukra classification was not checked in Sanskrit.
- NAMASTE and ICD-11 TM2 coverage not verified.
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, vājīkaraṇa
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/vajikarana/, 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.