# virecana (विरेचन)

> Canonical version of this page: https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/virechana/

An Ayurvedic technical term, rendered into English in 6 different ways.
The renderings do not agree, and the difference between them changes what the term is taken
to mean.

## Identification

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Transliteration | virecana |
| Devanagari | विरेचन |
| Also written | virechana, virecana-karma, recana-karma, vireka, adhobhāgahara, therapeutic purgation |
| Category, as gathered | chikitsa-3 |
| Grouped under | Examination and treatment |
| Classical citations | 5 |
| 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.

### Therapeutic purgation

WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-6.2.6.14 virecana-karma, recana-karma, PDF p.390; description: 'A therapeutic purgation to eliminate vitiated dosha which are drawn to the stomach by preparatory panchakarma procedures.' · comparator

Comparator. WHO's description says 'stomach' for virechana too, which is anatomically odd (purgatives act on the intestine); treat as WHO's wording, not doctrine.

Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda, which is what that
licence permits, and deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is CC BY 4.0.

### Condition caused by purgation therapy administered to person in delicate health (virecanamithyāyogaḥ / mithyāvirecanam, morbidity entry)

WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-5.76.55-56 region, PDF p.~348 · comparator

WHO also codes the complications (vyapat) of virechana as morbidity terms.

Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda, which is what that
licence permits, and deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is CC BY 4.0.

### 'therapeutic purgation.' (vireka, AT0365); 'substances inducing purgation' (virecana dravya, DG0405); 'adjuvant of purgation' (virecanopaga, DG0406); 'Six hundred virecana preparations' (ṣaḍ virecanaśatāni)

NIA/WHO-APW draft 'Standardization of Non-Clinical Terminologies of Ayurveda' (rvpganagpur.com PDF) · AT0365, DG0405, DG0406 · comparator (draft)

Draft; records 'vireka' as the therapy noun.

Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda, which is what that
licence permits, and deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is CC BY 4.0.

### 'Virechana (administration of purgatives)'; 'virechyas (purgatives)'; 'Ciro-virechana (administration of errhines)'

Kaviratna, Charaka-Samhita · footnote on the five karmas (Vimanasthana region); Vimanasthana Lesson VIII p.405 · public-domain translator

Kaviratna transliterates and glosses; note shirovirechana rendered 'errhines' / 'cerebral purgatives'.

### purgatives / purgation; oils that 'act as purgatives'

Bhishagratna, Sushruta Samhita Chikitsasthana ch. XXXI and XXXIII · Su.Chi.31 section 5; Su.Chi.33 title, sections 2 and 19 · public-domain translator

Standard pharmacological English.

### 'Virechana (therapeutic purgation)'; 'Virechana Karma (therapeutic purgation)'

PubMed PMIDs 31831966, 42748372 · titles/abstracts · modern literature

Research English settled on 'therapeutic purgation'.

## The classical passages

### Charaka Samhita Kalpasthana 1 (Madanakalpa):Standard 1.4 (Sanskrit only), checked against the source

> "तत्र दोषहरणमूर्ध्वभागं वमनसञ्ज्ञकम्, अधोभागं विरेचनसञ्ज्ञकम्; उभयं वा शरीरमलविरेचनाद्विरेचनसञ्ज्ञां लभते||४||"

tr. none (Sanskrit) · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Madanakalpa_Adhyaya

Narrow sense: dosha removal by the downward route is virechana. Wide sense: both routes are 'virechana' because both purge mala. This double sense explains 'ṣaḍ virecanaśatāni' (six hundred virechana formulations) covering emetics too.

### Charaka Samhita Kalpasthana 1:Standard 1.6 (Sanskrit only), checked against the source

> "...विचित्रगन्ध-वर्ण-रस-स्पर्शानामुपयोगसुखार्थमसङ्ख्येयसंयोगानामपि चसतां द्रव्याणां विकल्पमार्गोपदर्शनार्थं षड्विरेचनयोगशतानि व्याख्यास्यामः||६||"

tr. none (Sanskrit) · https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Madanakalpa_Adhyaya

The 'six hundred virechana yogas' are announced in the wide sense (emetic and purgative drugs listed together in the same sentence).

### Sushruta Samhita Chikitsasthana 33:Bhishagratna section 2; Sanskrit 33.4, checked against the source

> Bhishagratna: "Emetics and purgatives are the principal remedies in cleansing the system of all the Doshas (morbific principles)." Sanskrit: "प्राधान्येन वमनविरेचने वर्तेते निर्हरणे दोषाणाम् ॥४॥" (first half)

tr. Bhishagratna · https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-4-cikitsasthana/d/doc142951.html ; https://www.siva.sh/sushruta-samhita/chikitsa-sthana/33/1-5

Virechana ranked with vamana as principal dosha-removing measures.

### Sushruta Samhita Chikitsasthana 33:Bhishagratna section 19 (his numbering); Sanskrit verse not established, checked against the source

> Bhishagratna: "Exhibition of purgatives are prohibited in respect of persons of impaired digestion, or of those treated with an excessive application of any emulsive remedy (Sneha- Karma), or of those who are exceedingly corpulent, too old, fatigued, thirsty or intoxicated, or of those suffering from any ulcer. They are similarly prohibited in respect of frightened persons and Kshata-kshina patients or of those afflicted with hemorrhage from the downward orifices of the body or of persons with any dart or foreign matter (salya) lying imbedded in the organism as well as in respect of infants and enciente. A purgative medicine should not be administered before the digestion of a meal previously taken, neither in the diseases due to an abuse of wine, nor in acute catarrh and acute fever or to a newly parturient woman and persons not previously treated with a Sneha (oil or Ghrita)."

tr. Bhishagratna · https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-4-cikitsasthana/d/doc142951.html

Contraindications to virechana, including the rule that it follows prior snehana. Sanskrit verse number not retrieved for this passage.

### Sushruta Samhita Chikitsasthana 31:Bhishagratna section 5; Sanskrit 31.5, checked against the source

> Bhishagratna: "The expressed oils prepared from (the seeds of) Lodhra, Eranda, Koshamra, Danti, Dravanti, Saptala, Shanikhini, Palasha, Vishanika, Gavakshi, Kampillaka, Sampaka and of Nilini act as purgatives. The oils prepared from (the seeds of) Jimutaka, Kutaja, Kritave-dhana, Ikshvaku (bitter gourd), Dhamargava and of Madana act as emetics. The expressed oils prepared from (the seeds of) Vidanga, Khara manjari, Madhu-shigru, Surya-valli, Pilu, Siddharthaka and of Jyotishmati act as errhines (Shiro-virecana). 5." Sanskrit 31.5 (opening): "...शङ्खिनीपलाशविषाणिकागवाक्षीकम्पिल्लकशम्पाकनीलिनीस्नेहा विरेचयन्ति"

tr. Bhishagratna · https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/sushruta-samhita-volume-4-cikitsasthana/d/doc142947.html ; https://www.siva.sh/sushruta-samhita/chikitsa-sthana/31/1-5

Virechana as a drug action (virecayanti) alongside emetic and errhine actions, with shirovirechana as the nasal analogue.

## 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.

- **[Panchakarma rationale](https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/concept/panchakarma-rationale/)** (as Virechana): Therapeutic purgation; the downward route, principally directed at pitta. Operative passage: Bhishagratna's Sushruta Chikitsa XXXIII, sections 14-20, including the threefold koshtha assessment that sets the dose.

## Not to be confused with

- **vamana.** Upward-route counterpart; Charaka Ka.1.4 defines them by route (urdhva/adho).
- **virechana (wide sense).** Charaka Ka.1.4 and 1.6 use virechana for any purging including emesis ('ṣaḍ virecanaśatāni'); context decides which sense is meant.
- **shirovirechana.** Nasal 'purgation of the head' (errhine), Kaviratna's 'cerebral purgatives'; a distinct procedure within panchakarma.
- **atisara (diarrhoea).** Disease, not therapy; virechana has samyak signs and stops; WHO codes the failure modes (mithyavirecana) as morbidity.
- **anulomana / sramsana / bhedana / rechana.** Graded purgative actions found in later texts (Sharngadhara; not quotable, not verified here); WHO lists anulomanam as 'Normal course of movement' (6.2.6.11) and recana-karma as a synonym of virecana-karma.
- **basti.** Enema; a separate shodhana targeting vata, not a form of virechana.

## Renderings that do not hold

- laxative therapy. Laxative is the mildest grade (anulomana/sramsana); virechana denotes dosha-expelling purgation with samyak signs.
- diarrhoea / inducing diarrhoea. Confuses therapy with disease; atisara is a vyadhi.
- detox / colon cleansing. Non-classical; dosha are not toxins and the colon is not the target concept.
- 'drawn to the stomach' (WHO 6.2.6.14). WHO's wording applies the vamana description to virechana; the classical koshtha/amashaya-pakvashaya distinction is lost. Record as WHO's wording, not Ayurveda's.

## Open questions

Recorded rather than resolved.

- Sanskrit verse number for Bhishagratna's section 19 (purgation contraindications) in Su.Chi.33 not retrieved.
- Charaka Siddhisthana and Kalpasthana samyak-virikta signs not extracted (no public-domain English in this corpus).

## Citation

Age Ayurveda Nighantu, "virecana", https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/virechana/, CC BY 4.0.
Whole lexicon: https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon.json and https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon.csv.

Educational reference only. A term entry explains what a word means and how it has been
translated. Nothing here is advice.