vipāka: what the term means and how it is translated
vipāka विपाक 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 | vipāka |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | विपाक |
| Also written | vipak, nishthapaka, post-digestive effect, assimilation (Kaviratna) |
| Category, as gathered | dravyaguna-4 |
| Grouped here under | Pharmacology and the action of substances |
| Classical citations | 7 |
| 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.
principle that indicates the pharmacological behavior of a substance post digestion & metabolism; expressed in terms of rasa; 3 in number - Madhura, Amla & Kaṭu; it is ascertained based upon the action of the substance.
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · code DG0404; cf. SK0039 'avipāka' = 'Impairment of digestion or metabolism', AT0048 'avipākī' = 'Indigestible.' · comparator
Adopts Charaka's three-vipāka model without noting Sushruta's two.
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.
Assimilation
Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.26 throughout the second numbering run (his 1, 13-19, 22, 28); his footnote to his 22: 'Instead of digestion, which is a common word, I have adopted the word assimilation as more consistent with scientific dignity'; Vimana 3 footnote: 'by 'Vipaka' is meant what may be called assimilable virtue' · public-domain translation
Idiosyncratic and now misleading ('assimilation' has a fixed biochemical meaning); the translator himself explains it as a stylistic choice over 'digestion'.
digestion; digestive (chemical) reaction; chemical actions / chemical transformation
Sushruta Samhita tr. K. L. Bhishagratna, public domain, via wisdomlib · Su.40 title 'flavours, virtues, potencies and chemical actions'; 'process of digestive (chemical) reaction (Vipaka)'; 'Only two kinds of digestion (digestive reactionary tastes)'; Su.41 'heavy and light digestion' · public-domain translation
Several renderings in one chapter; 'digestion' alone collides with pāka/jaraṇa.
postdigestive effect
Ranade et al., AYU 2019 (PMID 32398906); Gilca and Dragos, Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2017 (PMID 28642799) · abstracts · modern literature
The dominant modern gloss.
post-digestive effect
Jadoun and Dwivedi, AYU 2013 (PMID 24696574) · abstract · modern literature
Hyphenated variant of the same gloss.
effect of biotransformation
Pushpan and Nishteswar, Ancient Science of Life 2014 (PMID 25538356) · abstract: 'vipāka (effect of biotransformation)' · modern literature
Biomedical analogy, not a translation.
easyayurveda.com 'Vipaka: Taste Conversion During And After Digestion' (Hebbar), modern · https://www.easyayurveda.com/2016/04/20/vipaka-taste-conversion/ · modern web textbook
The source's rendering runs to a full definition and is not reproduced here, because this project has not cleared that source for quotation.
Textbook; 'taste conversion' is a common classroom gloss; notes Sushruta's two vs Charaka's three.
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 26.66; Kaviratna prints 22 (second numbering run) · checked against the source
That is called the Taste of objects which is perceived as soon as the objects are brought into contact (with the tongue.) That is called Assimilation which is ascertained from the completion of the action. That is called Energy which is ascertained from the retention of the object within the body and its first contact with the tongue.
The definitional verse distinguishing rasa, vipāka ('Assimilation') and vīrya ('Energy') by when each is known. Sanskrit as retrieved: रसो निपाते द्रव्याणां, विपाकः कर्मनिष्ठया| वीर्यं यावदधीवासान्निपाताच्चोपलभ्यते||६६|| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Atreyabhadrakapyiya_Adhyaya).
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 26:Standard 26.58; Kaviratna prints 14 (second 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.
Charaka's three vipākas and their mapping from the six rasas. Sanskrit as retrieved: कटुतिक्तकषायाणां विपाकः प्रायशः कटुः| अम्लोऽम्लं पच्यते स्वादुर्मधुरं लवणस्तथा||५८||.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 26:Standard 26.61; Kaviratna prints 17 (second run; his OCR'd '17' follows 'increases phlegm and semen') · checked against the source
The Pungent taste, in respect of its after effects, is destructive of the semen ; leads to retention of faeces and urine, and to increase of wind. The Sweet tate, in respect of its after effects, leads to easy and copious discharges of urine and stools, and increases phlegm and semen.
The karma of kaṭu and madhura vipāka (the observable signs Jadoun 2013 later used as endpoints). Sanskrit as retrieved: शुक्रहा बद्धविण्मूत्रो विपाको वातलः कटुः| मधुरः सृष्टविण्मूत्रो विपाकः कफशुक्रलः||६१||. Here Kaviratna switches to 'after effects' for vipāka; 'tate' is OCR of taste.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 26:Standard 26.72; Kaviratna prints 28 (second run) · checked against the source
In cases where there is uniformity of attributes in Taste and the others (viz., in Energy, Assimilation, and Potency), Taste is subjugated by Assimilation ; both of them, again, are subjugated by Energy ; and all three are subjugated by Potency. Even such is the natural force of each of these.
The hierarchy rasa < vipāka < vīrya < prabhāva. Sanskrit as retrieved: द्रव्यं गुणेन पाकेन प्रभावेण च किञ्चन| रसं विपाकस्तौ वीर्यं प्रभावस्तानपोहति||७२||. Note Kaviratna's 'Potency' = prabhāva.
Sushruta SamhitaSutrasthana 40:Sanskrit verse number not established (Bhishagratna prints none) · checked against the source
Only two kinds of digestion (digestive reactionary tastes) have been noticed in the Shastras, such as, the sweet and the pungent, the first being heavy and the second light.
Sushruta's two-vipāka doctrine (madhura/guru and kaṭu/laghu), explicitly rejecting the three-vipāka view earlier on the same page ('the theory that only three tastes, such as sweet, acid, and pungent are developed through digestive reaction, appears to be untenable'). A primary inter-text disagreement.
Sushruta SamhitaSutrasthana 40:Sanskrit verse number not established · checked against the source
Of substances under the process of digestion, those, which are characterised by attributes, specifically belonging to earth and water, are called substances of sweet (heavy) digestion; while those which are permeated with the specific properties of air, fire and sky are called substances of pungent (light) digestion (easily digestible articles of food).
Sushruta grounds the two vipākas in mahābhūta composition; introduced on the page as 'Authoritative verses on the subject'.
Ashtanga HridayaSutrasthana 1:17 (GRETIL, Das and Emmerick numbering) · checked against the source
tri-dhā vipāko dravyasya svādv-amla-kaṭukātmakaḥ || 17 ||
Vāgbhaṭa follows Charaka's three vipākas (sweet, sour, pungent). Reference only.
Not to be confused with
- vīrya
- Ca.Su.26.66: vīrya is known from administration to excretion, vipāka from the completed action; Ca.Su.26.72 ranks vīrya above vipāka.
- prabhāva
- The unaccountable specific effect (Ca.Su.26.67); Kaviratna's 'Potency' is prabhāva, which readers may confuse with vipāka/vīrya.
- avasthā-pāka / jaraṇa (digestion proper)
- Vipāka is the final (niṣṭhā) state after digestion, not the digestive process; Bhishagratna's bare 'digestion' blurs this.
- anurasa
- A secondary taste perceived at the end of tasting, not after digestion.
- avipāka
- Clinical indigestion (WHO SK0039), a different word-sense.
Renderings that do not hold
- assimilation. Kaviratna's choice, by his own footnote made for 'scientific dignity'; in modern English it names nutrient uptake, not a post-digestive taste-category.
- digestion. Bhishagratna; conflates the process (pāka) with its resulting classification (vipāka).
- sweet things become sour on digestion. Kaviratna's Vimana 3 footnote; contradicts Ca.Su.26.58.
- metabolism / biotransformation (as definition). Analogies offered in modern papers; not what the Samhitas say, and vipāka is classified by rasa not by chemistry.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Sanskrit verse numbers for the Sushruta Su.40 vipāka passages.
- Whether Chakrapani's gloss on 26.66 (karmaniṣṭhā) supports 'ascertained from the completion of the action' or 'from the final action'.
- Any controlled study of vipāka beyond PMID 24696574 (none found with the searches run).
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, vipāka
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/vipaka/, 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.