# viruddha-āhāra (viruddhāhāra); also viruddhānna, viruddhānnabhojana, vairodhika (āhāra) (विरुद्धाहारः / विरुद्धान्नम् (NAMASTE SAT-J.84 prints विरुध्दाहारः, a conjunct typo); Charaka Su. 26/104 uses वैरोधिकनिमित्तानां व्याधीनाम्)

> Canonical version of this page: https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/viruddha-ahara/

An Ayurvedic technical term, rendered into English in 7 different ways.
The renderings do not agree, and the difference between them changes what the term is taken
to mean.

## Identification

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Transliteration | viruddha-āhāra (viruddhāhāra); also viruddhānna, viruddhānnabhojana, vairodhika (āhāra) |
| Devanagari | विरुद्धाहारः / विरुद्धान्नम् (NAMASTE SAT-J.84 prints विरुध्दाहारः, a conjunct typo); Charaka Su. 26/104 uses वैरोधिकनिमित्तानां व्याधीनाम् |
| Also written | viruddha ahara, viruddhahara, viruddha anna, viruddhanna, viruddhannabhojana, vairodhika ahara, virudh ahara, virudha ahara, incompatible food, incompatible diet, antagonistic food |
| Category, as gathered | swasthavritta |
| Grouped under | Regimen and constitution |
| 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.

### Disorder due to intake of incompatible foods

WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-5.74.5 viruddhānnabhojanam/viruddhāhāraḥ (morbidity section, p. 323-324 / PDF p. 342). Description lists 'impotence; blindness; spreading cellulitis/erysipelas; signs of dakodara; blisters; insanity; anal fistula; syncope or swooning; insanity; abdominal distension; choking sensation in throat; clinical features of pāṇḍu; āmaviśa; kilāsaḥ; skin disease; grahaṇī dosha; oedema; amlapitta; fever; cold catarrh; congenital anamolies in offsprings; death'. · comparator

WHO lists it as a disorder, paraphrasing the Charaka 26/102-103 disease list; 'insanity' appears twice (unmāda and mada both rendered 'insanity'). No separate WHO entry for the 18 types was found in the extracted text.

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.

### antagonistic food

NAMASTE portal, Standardised Ayurveda Terminology (SAT) Ayurveda · SAT-J.84 virudhdāhāraḥ [sic] 'antagonistic food': 'food which excites the doṣa but do-not eliminate them out of the body and thus becomes inherently antagonistic to the dhātu'. Children SAT-J.85 to SAT-J.102: deśaviruddhaḥ 'place antagonistic', kālaviruddhaḥ 'time antagonistic', agniviruddhaḥ 'agni antagonistic', mātrāviruddhaḥ 'dose antagonistic', sātmyaviruddhaḥ 'habituation antagonistic', doṣaviruddhaḥ 'doṣa antagonistic', saṁskāra-viruddhaḥ 'processing antagonistic', vīrya-viruddhaḥ 'potency antagonistic', koṣṭhaviruddhaḥ 'bowel antagonistic', avasthāviruddhaḥ 'condition antagonistic', kramaviruddhaḥ 'order antagonistic', parihāra-viruddhaḥ 'contra-indication antagonistic', upacāraviruddhaḥ 'indication antagonistic', pākaviruddhaḥ 'cooking antagonistic', saṁyoga-viruddhaḥ 'combination antagonistic', hṛt-viruddhaḥ 'palatability antagonistic', sampat-viruddhaḥ 'richness antagonistic', vidhi-viruddhaḥ 'eating rules antagonistic'. Morbidity code Q-3 viruddhānnabhojanam/viruddhāhāraḥ 'disordered dieting-incompatibility'. · comparator

NAMASTE is the only standard found that codes all 18 Charaka types individually. Its 'antagonistic' tracks Kaviratna's 'hostile' better than the now-dominant 'incompatible'.

Reproduced unaltered and attributed from the Government of India NAMASTE terminology, which is what that
licence permits, and deliberately absent from the downloadable dataset, which is CC BY 4.0.

### incompatible (diet/food); hostile (of specific pairs)

Charaka Samhita tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna (1896-1913), Lesson XXVI · archive.org BIUSante_47357, pp. 322-328 of the fascicule · public-domain translation

Kaviratna uses 'hostile' for individual viruddha pairs ('are hostile to milk') and 'incompatible' for the class ('Diet that is incompatible is said to be the cause of...').

### incompatible to one another as regards their tastes, potencies and digestive transformation

Sushruta Samhita tr. Kunja Lal Bhishagratna (1907-1916), Sutrasthana ch. XX · wisdomlib doc122915 · public-domain translation

Sushruta's Hitāhitīya chapter does not use a single head term in Bhishagratna's English; he speaks of 'incompatible combinations' and 'deadly poisons through incompatible combinations'.

### incompatible food / incompatible diet / Viruddha Anna

Sabnis M, Ayu 2012 (PMID 23723637) and most modern literature · modern literature

Dominant modern rendering. Sabnis defines it functionally: 'diet and its combinations, which interrupts the metabolism of tissue, which inhibits the process of formation of tissue and which have the opposite property to the tissue'.

### mutually contraindicated food

Sirdeshpande & Kashikar, Ayu 2017 (PMID 30254386) · modern literature

Pharmacological framing; 'contraindicated' is also NAMASTE's word for parihāra-viruddha specifically.

### wrong food combinations

Popular/web usage (e.g. ayurvedahub, planetayurveda pages seen in search results) · popular · our paraphrase of the source, not its words

Describes saṁyoga-viruddha only, one of 18 types; see mistranslations.

## The classical passages

### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 26 (Atreyabhadrakapyiya Adhyaya):Standard (Trikamji) 26/85, Devanagari read on carakasamhitaonline.com: 'भवन्ति चात्र श्लोकाः- यत् किञ्चिद्दोषमास्राव्य न निर्हरति कायतः| आहारजातं तत् सर्वमहितायोपपद्यते||८५||'. Kaviratna prints his own number 21 after this verse, having restarted his count at 1 for the prose viruddha block (his footnote: 'This and the following aphorisms are in prose. Hence I number them anew, beginning with 1.— T.'). Both systems recorded; no conversion applied., checked against the source

> (Here occurs a verse.)  Whatever diet excites the faults without being able to dispel or drive them out of the system, becomes a source of affliction or disease.21

tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

Charaka's general definition of viruddha/ahita āhāra: food that provokes the doshas (Kaviratna: 'faults') without expelling them from the body. This is the verse NAMASTE SAT-J.84 paraphrases. Note Kaviratna's 'faults' = doṣa, an Edwardian rendering; not a doctrine of moral fault.

### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 26:Standard (Trikamji) 26/81 for the prose definition ('देहधातुप्रत्यनीकभूतानि द्रव्याणि देहधातुभिर्विरोधमापद्यन्ते; परस्परगुणविरुद्धानि कानिचित्, कानिचित् संयोगात्, संस्कारादपराणि, देशकालमात्रादिभिश्चापराणि, तथा स्वभावादपराणि||८१||'), 26/82 for fish-with-milk, 26/84 for the long list of pairs ending with honey-and-ghee in equal parts. Kaviratna's renumbered prose block: 3 (introduction), 4 (fish and milk), 5-6 (Bhadrakapya exchange), 7-20 (pairs). WARNING: Trikamji 26/84 is a single prose unit that spans Kaviratna's paragraphs 12-20, so there is no one-to-one mapping in this block; do not convert., checked against the source

> Fish should never be taken with milk. Both of these are sweet in taste. They are, again, sweet in assimilation. Being highly emollient, they retain the secretions (without allowing them to escape) and thus cause a heaviness or fulness of the body. One of them (milk) is of cooling energy ; the other (fish) of heating energy ; they are thus of opposite energies. In consequence of their being thus of opposite energies, they corrupt or defile the blood. In consequence, again, of their being highly emollient, they stop the pores and passages through which all impurities escape.4  [...]  Honey and Ghee in equal portions, honey and rain water mingled in equal measures, honey and Pushkara seeds, warm water drink after the taking of honey, Bhallataka and warm water, Kampillaka boiled in whey, stale Kakamachi, the flesh of Bhasa roasted on a spit, are incompatible combinations. (Hence, if these be taken, disease and even death may be produced). We have thus laid down (what kinds of food are incompatible) agreeably to your question.20

tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

The paradigm examples (fish with milk; honey and ghee in equal parts) and Charaka's reasoning by vīrya opposition and abhiṣyandi quality. 'Energy' is Kaviratna's word for vīrya and 'assimilation' for vipāka; both are translator's choices, not Ayurvedic doctrine about 'energy'.

### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 26:Standard (Trikamji) 26/86-87 (list of the 18 types: deśa, kāla, agni, mātrā, sātmya, doṣa/anila-ādi, saṁskāra, vīrya, koṣṭha, avasthā, krama, parihāra, upacāra, pāka, saṁyoga, hṛt, sampad, vidhi) and 26/88-101 (one-line definitions), Devanagari read on carakasamhitaonline.com, e.g. '||८६|| यच्चापि देशकालाग्निमात्रासात्म्यानिलादिभिः| संस्कारतो वीर्यतश्च कोष्ठावस्थाक्रमैरपि', '||८७|| परिहारोपचाराभ्यां पाकात् संयोगतोऽपि च| विरुद्धं तच्च न हितं हृत्सम्पद्विधिभिश्च यत्'. Kaviratna's translation of these verses was not located in the OCR text read (the block between his 21 and 22 appears to omit or compress them); a human should check the scan., address only, nothing quoted to check

The canonical enumeration of 18 types of viruddha that NAMASTE codes as SAT-J.85 to SAT-J.102. Confirmed first (86) and last (101) verses independently.

### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 26:Standard (Trikamji) 26/102-103 (disease list) and 26/104-105 (management), Devanagari read on carakasamhitaonline.com: '||१०२|| षाण्ढ्यान्ध्यवीसर्पदकोदराणां विस्फोटकोन्मादभगन्दराणाम्| मूर्च्छामदाध्मानगलग्रहाणां पाण्ड्वामयस्यामविषस्य चैव', '||१०३|| किलासकुष्ठग्रहणीगदानां शोथाम्लपित्तज्वरपीनसानाम् | सन्तानदोषस्य तथैव मृत्योर्विरुद्धमन्नं प्रवदन्ति हेतुम्'. Kaviratna prints (OCR) 23 after the disease list, almost certainly 22, then 23 after the remedies paragraph and 24 after the summary verse. Both systems recorded; not converted., checked against the source

> Diet that is incompatible is said to be the cause of the following diseases, viz.. Impotence, Blindness, Erysipelas, abdominal dropsy, malignant Boils, Lunacy, Fistula-in-ano, Swoons, Vertigo, Flatulence, choaking of the throat (with suppression of the voice), chlorosis and anaemia, acidity of the stomach (such that no food is capable of being retained), Leprous blotches, Leprosy, diseases that affect the Grahani, Pulmonary consumption, Bilious hemorrhage, Fever, Inflammation of the schneidenian membrane, with loss of the sense of smell, incapacity to beget healthy offspring, as also death itself.  [...]  (Here occurs a verse.)  All diseases that are generated by the taking of incompatible food are destroyed by purging, and vomitting, and neutralising agents, and by the previous administration or use of such articles as are beneficial.24

tr. Avinash Chandra Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

The disease list and the three-fold management (vamana, virecana, śamana/neutralising agents, plus prior habituation to wholesome articles). Kaviratna's English list does not map one-to-one onto the Sanskrit: 'Pulmonary consumption' and 'Bilious hemorrhage' have no obvious counterpart in 26/102-103 (which has śotha and amlapitta), while 'Leprous blotches, Leprosy' = kilāsa, kuṣṭha. Treat his disease names as period English, not identifications. Also 26/106 (unaffected persons: those habituated, taking small amounts, with strong agni, young, unctuous, exercising, strong) was seen in Sanskrit but Kaviratna's rendering of it was not located in the OCR read.

### Sushruta Samhita Sutrasthana 20 (Hitāhitīya Adhyāya; Bhishagratna: 'the salutary and non-salutary effects of regimen'):Sushruta Sutrasthana 20 (Hitahitiya). Bhishagratna prints no Sanskrit verse numbers; the standard numbers are confirmed against the printed Sanskrit edition (Susrutasamhita with Dalhana's Nibandhasangraha, ed. Jadavji Trikamji Acharya, Nirnaya Sagar Press, Bombay 1915, Sutrasthana adhyaya 20, pp. 81-83, page images on archive.org): Valli-fruit list with milk = 20.8; all fish, especially Chilichima, with milk, and plantain with Tala fruit, milk or whey = 20.13; two oils, or honey and an oil, in equal measure (manaviruddha) = 20.15; the rasa / virya / vipaka couples = 20.16; the 'disease, weakness of the sense-organs, death' verse = 20.19. Quoted segments appear here in chapter order. Note that visatulyani occurs twice in this chapter: 20.4 announces the category ('samyogad aparani visatulyani bhavanti') and 20.8 gives the Valli list; Dalhana on 20.4 records a variant 'tesam eva samyogatas tv aparani', which is why the two read so alike., checked against the source

> The Valli fruit, the Karaka, the Karira, the Amla-phala, the salt, the Kulattha, the Pinyaka, curd, oil, Virohi, cakes, the dried pot-herbs, goat's flesh, mutton, wine, the Jamboline fruit, the Chilichima fish, the flesh of the Godha, and the Varaha (wild boar) being eaten simultaneously with milk, furnish an example of articles which may act as deadly poisons through incompatible combinations.  [...]  All fish, specially those of the Chilichimi species, should not be taken with milk, nor the fruit of a plantain tree should be simultaneously eaten with Tala fruit, milk or whey.  [...]  Two oily substances (such as oil and clarified butter) or honey and any of the oily substances, mixed in equal proportions, should not be taken  [...]  By taking substances which are incompatible to one another as regards their tastes, potencies and digestive transformation, a greedy and intemperate person becomes afflicted with disease and weakness of the sense-organs, and ultimately meets with his doom.

tr. Kunja Lal Bhishagratna · https://archive.org/details/SushrutasamhitaOfSushruta

Sushruta's parallel treatment of incompatibilities (notably milk with fish, and oils/honey in equal parts), framed by rasa, vīrya and vipāka ('tastes, potencies and digestive transformation'), and his 'deadly poisons' comparison, which anticipates the Ashtanga Hridaya's viṣa-gara simile.

### Ashtanga Hridaya Sutrasthana 7 (Annaraksha / Annarakshavidhi Adhyaya):7/29 ('विरुद्धमपि चाहारं विद्याद्विषगरोपमम्') through 7/51, with 7/47 for persons unaffected ('व्यायामस्निग्धदीप्ताग्निवयःस्थबलशालिनाम्'), numbers as printed on easyayurveda.com; not checked against a printed Sanskrit edition., address only, nothing quoted to check

Vagbhata treats viruddha āhāra as comparable to viṣa and gara (poison and artificial/slow poison), which is why modern Agada Tantra literature (PMIDs 33773882, 30254386) files it under toxicology.

## Not to be confused with

- **ahita āhāra / apathya.** Generic unwholesome or contraindicated food. Charaka 26/85 defines viruddha by a specific mechanism (provokes doshas without expelling them); not every ahita item is viruddha, though NAMASTE's definition and Kaviratna's 'incompatible' both lean on the 26/85 verse, which in Sanskrit actually says 'ahitāya' (unwholesome).
- **asātmya.** Unsuitability to the individual's habituation. It is one of the 18 types (sātmya-viruddha, SAT-J.89) and also one of the conditions that neutralise viruddha (26/106: the habituated person is unaffected). Confusing the whole with the part is common.
- **saṁyoga-viruddha.** Incompatibility by combination is only one of 18 types (SAT-J.99). Almost all popular 'wrong food combinations' lists describe this type alone and call it viruddha āhāra.
- **gara-viṣa / dūṣī-viṣa.** Ashtanga Hridaya Su. 7/29 compares viruddha to viṣa and gara ('viṣa-garopamam'); it is a simile, not an identification. Modern toxicology papers (PMIDs 33773882, 30254386) build on the simile.
- **food allergy / food intolerance.** Immunological or enzymatic reactions in an individual. Viruddha is defined by the properties of the food and its combination, processing, dose, place, time and sequence, and is said to be neutralised by habituation, exercise and strong agni (26/106), which is not how allergy behaves.
- **vairodhika.** Charaka 26/104 calls the resulting disorders 'vairodhika-nimitta'; vairodhika is sometimes used as the noun for viruddha āhāra itself. Same concept, different grammatical form.

## Renderings that do not hold

- wrong food combinations. Covers only saṁyoga-viruddha; omits the other 17 types (place, time, agni, dose, habituation, dosha, processing, potency, bowel, condition, order, contraindication, treatment sequence, cooking, palatability, quality, rules of eating).
- food allergy / toxic food. Imports an immunological or chemical mechanism absent from the texts; the classical mechanism is dosha provocation without elimination (26/85), neutralised by habituation and strong agni (26/106).
- Leprosy, Pulmonary consumption, Bilious hemorrhage, Lunacy (Kaviratna's disease names). Edwardian disease labels for kuṣṭha, unmāda etc.; two items in his list have no clear counterpart in the Sanskrit of 26/102-103. Use them as evidence of his reading, not as identifications.
- 'faults' / 'energy' / 'assimilation' (Kaviratna for doṣa / vīrya / vipāka). Translator's period vocabulary; 'energy' in particular invites a modern 'energetic' reading that is not in the text.

## Open questions

Recorded rather than resolved.

- Kaviratna's number after the disease list OCR-reads '23' twice (disease list and remedies paragraph); the first is almost certainly '22'. Check the scan (Lesson XXVI, p. 327 of the fascicule).
- Kaviratna's rendering of Trikamji 26/86-101 (the 18 types) and 26/106 (unaffected persons) was not located in the OCR text between his aphorisms 21 and 22; either the OCR dropped a page or he compressed them. A human must read the scan before citing him for the 18 types.
- Standard Sanskrit verse numbers for the Sushruta Su. 20 passages were not established.
- Whether ICD-11 TM2 contains a viruddhāhāra-related code was not checked.

## Citation

Age Ayurveda Nighantu, "viruddha-āhāra (viruddhāhāra); also viruddhānna, viruddhānnabhojana, vairodhika (āhāra)", https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/viruddha-ahara/, 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.