vīrya: what the term means and how it is translated
vīrya वीर्य 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 | vīrya |
|---|---|
| Devanagari | वीर्य |
| Also written | veerya, viryya (Kaviratna), potency, energy (Kaviratna), energetic nature |
| 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.
1. The principle responsible for the therapeutic action of the substance; may be compared with the fraction of a substance containing the active principles; it is ascertained either by contact or duration of its stay in the body. 2. One of the basis of nomenclature of plants.
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · code DG0408 · comparator
Main comparator entry; the 'active principles' comparison is WHO's own analogy. 'Contact or duration of stay' paraphrases Ca.Su.26.66.
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.
1. Strength, power, energy, efficacy 2. Semen.
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · code SK0217; cf. BK0108 'nirvīrya' = 'The material with no potency', SV0318 'vīrya viruddha' = 'Potency Unwholesome', DG0351/DG0174/DG0163 tīkṣṇa/mṛdu/madhya vīrya = 'higher/Mild/Moderate Potency', AT0384 'viṣavīrya' = 'Power of poison.' · comparator
General-sense entry; shows the semen homonym and WHO's use of 'potency' in compounds.
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.
Energy
Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.26 second numbering run throughout (his 1-6, 20-22, 28); Vimana 3 footnote ''Viryya' implies energy' · public-domain translation
Capitalised 'Energy'; he reserves 'Potency' for prabhāva, the reverse of modern usage, so his 'Potency' must never be read as vīrya.
potency (Viryam)
Sushruta Samhita tr. K. L. Bhishagratna, public domain, via wisdomlib · Su.40 ('hold the potency (Viryam) of a drug to be the most important factor'; 'eight kinds of potency (properties)'); Su.41 ('The principle, in virtue of which the action is performed, is called its potency or Viryam'; 'eight-fold potencies') · public-domain translation
The source of the now-standard 'potency'.
potency
Ranade et al., AYU 2019 (PMID 32398906); Pushpan and Nishteswar 2014 (PMID 25538356); Jadoun and Dwivedi 2013 (PMID 24696574) · abstracts ('Virya (potency)', 'vīrya (potency)') · modern literature
Dominant modern gloss.
energetic nature (virya)
Gilca and Dragos, Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2017 (PMID 28642799) · abstract · modern literature
Alternative modern gloss, closer to Kaviratna's 'Energy'.
Virya means potency or active property of a substance.
easyayurveda.com 'Veerya, Potency Of Herbs And Doshas' (Hebbar), modern · https://www.easyayurveda.com/2019/03/09/veerya-herb-potency/ (cites AH Su.1 'उष्णशीतगुणोत्कर्षात्तत्र वीर्यं द्विधा स्मृतम्') · modern web textbook
Textbook; also lists two-type and eight-type vīrya with glosses.
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 26.13 (prose unit ending ||१३||); Kaviratna's corresponding passage sits at his 27-28 and renders vīrya loosely (not quoted here) · checked against the source
न तु केवलं गुणप्रभावादेव द्रव्याणि कार्मुकाणि भवन्ति; द्रव्याणि हि द्रव्यप्रभावाद्गुणप्रभावाद्द्रव्यगुणप्रभावाच्च तस्मिंस्तस्मिन् काले तत्तदधिकरणमासाद्य तां तां च युक्तिमर्थं च तं तमभिप्रेत्य यत् कुर्वन्ति, तत् कर्म; येन कुर्विन्ति, तद्वीर्यं; यत्र कुर्वन्ति, तदधिकरणं; यदा कुर्वन्ति, स कालः; यथा कुर्वन्ति, स उपायः; यत् साधयन्ति, तत् फलम्||१३||
The six-fold analysis of drug action in Ca.Su.26.13: karma is what drugs do (yat kurvanti), vīrya is that by which they act (yena kurvanti), adhikaraṇa is where (yatra), kāla is when (yadā), upāya is how (yathā), phala is what they accomplish (yat sādhayanti). The enumeration is the second half of a single prose unit whose opening clause ('na tu kevalaṃ guṇaprabhāvādeva dravyāṇi kārmukāṇi bhavanti') states its premise: drugs act not by quality alone but by dravyaprabhāva, guṇaprabhāva and dravyaguṇaprabhāva, in a given time and site. 'कुर्विन्ति' is carakasamhitaonline's typo; GRETIL's Trikamji-based text and the printed Sen & Sen 1897 edition both read कुर्वन्ति. Cakrapāṇi's Āyurvedadīpikā on this unit glosses vīrya as śakti, 'and that belongs to a substance or to a quality' (vīryaṃ śaktiḥ sā ca dravyasya guṇasya vā). Sushruta Su.41 (Bhishagratna) defines the same six, kāla first: 'The principle, in virtue of which the action is performed, is called its potency or Viryam.'
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 26:Standard 26.64-65; Kaviratna prints 20-21 (second numbering run) · checked against the source
Some say that mild and keen, heavy and light, oily and dry, and hot and cooling, are the eight kinds of Energy which objects may have. Others are of opinion that objects have only two kinds of Energy, viz., cooling and hot. That is called the Energy of an object in consequence of which the object acts or operates on the system. An object which has no Energy can have no action (upon the system.) Every action proceeds from Energy.
The eight-fold vs two-fold vīrya and the functional definition (yena kriyate yā kriyā). Sanskrit as retrieved: मृदुतीक्ष्णगुरुलघुस्निग्धरूक्षोष्णशीतलम्| वीर्यमष्टविधं केचित्, केचिद्द्विविधमास्थिताः||६४|| शीतोष्णमिति, वीर्यं तु क्रियते येन या क्रिया| नावीर्यं कुरुते किञ्चित् सर्वा वीर्यकृता क्रिया||६५|| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php/Atreyabhadrakapyiya_Adhyaya).
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 26:Standard 26.66; Kaviratna prints 22 (second run) · checked against the source
That is called Energy which is ascertained from the retention of the object within the body and its first contact with the tongue.
How vīrya is known (yāvad adhīvāsāt nipātāc ca). Sanskrit as retrieved: रसो निपाते द्रव्याणां, विपाकः कर्मनिष्ठया| वीर्यं यावदधीवासान्निपाताच्चोपलभ्यते||६६||. Kaviratna's footnote (editorial) adds Chakrapani's gloss of adhivāsa as 'lying of the object within the body'.
Charaka SamhitaSutrasthana 26:Standard 26.45; Kaviratna prints 1 (second run) · checked against the source
That object which is sweet in Taste and Assimilation, should be known as cooling in Energy. That which is sour in Taste and Assimilation, should be known as heating in Energy. So also that object which is pungent in Taste and Assimilation, should be known as heating in energy.
Inference of vīrya from rasa and vipāka, with exceptions following (his 4-6: hot sweets such as Mahat Panchamula; Amalaka sour but not heating). Sanskrit as retrieved: शीतं वीर्येण यद्द्रव्यं मधुरं रसपाकयोः| तयोरम्लं यदुष्णं च यद्द्रव्यं कटुकं तयोः||४५||.
Sushruta SamhitaSutrasthana 40:Sanskrit: Sutrasthana 40, sutra 5 (siva.sh numbering) 'तच्च वीर्यं द्विविधमुष्णं शीतं च, अग्नीषोमीयत्वाज्जगतः । केचिदष्टविधमाहुः- शीतमुष्णं स्निग्धं रूक्षं विशदं पिच्छिलं मृदु तीक्ष्णं चेति'; Bhishagratna (wisdomlib doc141670, Chapter XL) prints no number · checked against the source
The potency of a drug is either cooling or heat-making owing to the twofold (hot and cool) nature of the temperament of the world. According to several authorities the potency of a medicinal drug may be classed as either hot or cool, emollient or dry, expansive or slimy, mild or keen, so as to embrace the eight different attributes in all.
Sushruta's two-fold vīrya (uṣṇa and śīta, 'owing to the agni-soma nature of the world') and the eight-fold view he attributes to 'some' (kecit): śīta, uṣṇa, snigdha, rūkṣa, viśada, picchila, mṛdu, tīkṣṇa (Su.40/5, siva.sh numbering). His eight differ from Charaka's 26.64 by having viśada and picchila where Charaka has guru and laghu. Su.41/11 repeats the identical eight ('य इमे गुणा वीर्यसञ्ज्ञकाः शीतोष्णस्निग्धरूक्षमृदुतीक्ष्णपिच्छिलविशदाः') and treats guru and laghu as pāka, not vīrya ('गुरुपाको वातपित्तघ्नः, लघुपाकः श्लेष्मघ्नः'); the 'heavy' in Bhishagratna's Su.41 rendering ('cooling, thermogenetic, oleaginous, heavy, parchifying, plastive, keen and slimy') is his insertion, not a third Sanskrit variant. 'Expansive' for viśada is also Bhishagratna's gloss.
Sushruta SamhitaSutrasthana 41:Sanskrit verse number not established · checked against the source
The principle, in virtue of which the action is performed, is called its potency or Viryam.
Sushruta's functional definition, parallel to Ca.Su.26.13 yena kurvanti tad vīryam.
Ashtanga HridayaSutrasthana 9:12-14 (GRETIL, Das and Emmerick numbering); the eight-vs-two discussion continues to 9.17; Su.1.17 for the two-fold statement · checked against the source
vīryaṃ punar vadanty eke guru snigdhaṃ himaṃ mṛdu || 12 || laghu rūkṣoṣṇa-tīkṣṇaṃ ca tad evaṃ matam aṣṭa-dhā | carakas tv āha vīryaṃ tat kriyate yena yā kriyā || 13 || nā-vīryaṃ kurute kiñ-cit sarvā vīrya-kṛtā hi sā | gurv-ādiṣv eva vīryākhyā tenānv-artheti varṇyate || 14 ||
Vāgbhaṭa reports the eight-fold vīrya (guru, snigdha, hima, mṛdu, laghu, rūkṣa, uṣṇa, tīkṣṇa) as the view of 'some' (eke) and attributes the functional definition to Caraka by name ('carakas tv āha vīryaṃ tat kriyate yena yā kriyā'), 9.12-14. 9.15-16 then give his reasons for applying the name vīrya to guru and the rest ('vivakṣyate rasādyeṣu vīryaṃ gurv-ādayo hy ataḥ'), and 9.17 reports the two-fold uṣṇa/śīta view as that of others ('uṣṇaṃ śītaṃ dvi-dhaivānye vīryam ācakṣate 'pi ca'). The two-fold vīrya in Vāgbhaṭa's own summary is at Su.1.17 'uṣṇa-śīta-guṇotkarṣāt tatra vīryaṃ dvi-dhā smṛtam'. Reference only.
Not to be confused with
- prabhāva
- Ca.Su.26.67: the specific effect when rasa, vīrya and vipāka are alike; Kaviratna calls prabhāva 'Potency' and vīrya 'Energy', inverting the modern convention.
- vipāka
- Known from the completed action, whereas vīrya is known during the drug's stay in the body (Ca.Su.26.66).
- guna (uṣṇa, śīta, etc.)
- The eight vīryas are themselves gurvadi gunas; AH Su.9.14 says the name vīrya is given to gurvādi qualities when they dominate action ('gurv-ādiṣv eva vīryākhyā').
- vīrya = semen / strength
- WHO SK0217 sense 2; Ca.Su.26 'bala-varṇa-tejo-vīrya' uses it as bodily vigour; Kaviratna's 'sexual potency' passages are this sense.
- śakti / bala (strength of a drug)
- WHO's 'tīkṣṇa/madhya/mṛdu vīrya = higher/moderate/mild potency' grades strength, a derived usage not in Ca.Su.26.
Renderings that do not hold
- potency (read as pharmacological dose-strength). In English pharmacology potency is dose-response position; vīrya is a qualitative mode of action (hot/cold etc.), as Ca.Su.26.64 shows.
- Potency (in Kaviratna) taken as vīrya. Kaviratna's 'Potency' is prabhāva; his vīrya is 'Energy'.
- energy (read as caloric or vitalistic energy). Kaviratna's and Gilca's 'energy/energetic' invite a vitalist reading the texts do not support; the Sanskrit defines vīrya purely by agency.
- active principle / active fraction. WHO DG0408's own analogy; a chemical-constituent reading the Samhitas do not make.
Open questions
Recorded rather than resolved. Each one is something this entry cannot currently settle.
- Sanskrit verse numbers for Sushruta Su.40-41 vīrya passages and reconciliation of Sushruta's two different eight-fold lists (Su.40 vs Su.41 as translated).
- Chakrapani on adhivāsa (Kaviratna's footnote attributes the gloss to him; not verified).
How to cite this entry
Age Ayurveda Nighantu, vīrya
, https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/virya/, 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.