# viśeṣa (विशेष)

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

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 | viśeṣa |
| Devanagari | विशेष |
| Also written | viśeṣaḥ / viśeṣam (WHO prints the neuter), dravya-viśeṣa / guṇa-viśeṣa / karma-viśeṣa (WHO subtypes), sāmānya-viśeṣa siddhānta (the paired doctrine) |
| Category, as gathered | padartha |
| Grouped under | Foundations and categories |
| 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.

### Particularity, distinct feature

WHO International Standard Terminologies on Ayurveda (2022) · ITA-1.9.2.1 'viśeṣam': 'The unique individuality of the substances. An attribute that causes depletion or decrease (hrasahetu), as well as diversity and dissimilarity (pṛthaktva).'; also 'particularity (vishesham)' in ITA-1.9.1; ITA-1.9.2.2 dravya-viśeṣaḥ 'Dissimilarity at the level of substance'; ITA-1.9.2.3 guṇa-viśeṣaḥ 'Dissimilarity at the level of quality ... e.g. the pacification of vata with usage of sesame oil owing to its opposite qualities.'; ITA-1.9.2.4 karma-viśeṣaḥ 'Dissimilarity at the level of action ... e.g. physical exercise reducing kapha' · comparator

As with sāmānya, WHO's headword is the Vaiśeṣika reading ('unique individuality') and its description and subtypes are Charaka's (hrāsahetu, pṛthaktva, dissimilarity). WHO calls viśeṣa 'An attribute', which Charaka does not.

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.

### Specialty; Dissimilarity; opposite of sāmanya; denotes dissimilarity between two substances, properties or actions; one of the fundamental concepts in āyurvedic pharmacology that states that substances can potentially lead to a decrease or negative impact in the dissimilar substances or attributes in the living system, when engaged in an effective interaction.

National Institute of Ayurveda, WHO-APW 'Standardization of Non-Clinical Terminologies of Ayurveda' · DG0412 'viśeṣa'; BP0241 'sāmānya-viśeṣa siddhānta': 'Doctrine of similar and Opposites' · comparator

'Specialty' is a false friend (Sanskrit viśeṣa also means 'special', but the category is dissimilarity). 'Negative impact' is an unfortunate gloss for hrāsa.

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.

### dissimilarities (in the list); dissimilarity (in the definitions): 'dissimilarity is the cause of decrease'; 'dissimilarity is that which produces diversity'; 'dissimilarity is the reverse of this'

Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Su.1 his printed 27, 43, 44 · public-domain translation

Consistent 'dissimilarity' throughout the Sutrasthana.

### Vigesha (dissimilarity) [OCR for Viśesha]

Charaka Samhita tr. A. C. Kaviratna, public domain · Vi.8 his printed 28 (= standard 8.29) · public-domain translation

Consistent. The scan's 'g' is his 'ç/ś'.

### specific properties (of drugs)

Sushruta Samhita tr. K. L. Bhishagratna, public domain (wisdomlib.org) · Su.Su.41 chapter title: 'Now we shall discourse on the Chapter, which treats of the specific properties of drugs (Dravya-Vishesha-Vijnaniya-adhyaya).' · public-domain translation

Here viśeṣa is in the everyday sense 'specific/particular', not the category; shows the same word in a non-technical compound in the same corpus.

### Species (as one of the 'Predicables')

Vaiśeṣika Sūtra 1.1.4 tr. Nandalal Sinha (1923), as presented on wisdomlib.org · https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/vaisheshika-sutra-commentary/d/doc427557.html · comparator (non-Ayurvedic philosophical text)

'Genus/Species' is Aristotelian; in Vaiśeṣika viśeṣa is the ultimate individuator of eternal substances, which 'species' misrepresents too.

### difference

PubMed abstract, PMID 30401500 (J Ayurveda Integr Med 2018) · 'the principle of Samanya (similarity) and Vishesha (difference)' · modern paper

Modern Ayurvedic academic usage.

## The classical passages

### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 1:Standard 1.44 (carakasamhitaonline numbering); Kaviratna prints 43, checked against the source

> Of all things, at all times, similarity is the cause of increase; and dissimilarity is the cause of decrease. A tendency exists towards both.

tr. A. C. Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

Viśeṣa as hrāsahetu (cause of decrease). Sanskrit as retrieved from https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Deerghanjiviteeya_Adhyaya&action=raw : सर्वदा सर्वभावानां सामान्यं वृद्धिकारणम्| ह्रासहेतुर्विशेषश्च, प्रवृत्तिरुभयस्य तु||४४||.

### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 1:Standard 1.45; Kaviratna prints 44, checked against the source

> Similarity is that which produces oneness; and dissimilarity is that which produces diversity. Therefore, similarity is identity of substance, and dissimilarity is the reverse of this.

tr. A. C. Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

Viśeṣa as pṛthaktvakṛt (producing separateness) and the viparyaya (reverse) of sāmānya. Sanskrit: सामान्यमेकत्वकरं, विशेषस्तु पृथक्त्वकृत्| तुल्यार्थता हि सामान्यं, विशेषस्तु विपर्ययः||४५||. Kaviratna's 'diversity' renders pṛthaktva (separateness).

### Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana 1:Standard 1.28; Kaviratna prints 27, checked against the source

> Those great Rishis (then) beheld duly, with the eye of knowledge, similarities, dissimilarities, properties, objects, and operations, as also compositions.

tr. A. C. Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

Viśeṣa second among the six. Sanskrit: सामान्यं च विशेषं च गुणान् द्रव्याणि कर्म च||२८||.

### Charaka Samhita Vimanasthana 8:Standard 8.29; Kaviratna prints 28 (OCR '*23'), checked against the source

> Dravya (substance), Guna (attribute), Samanya (similarity), Vigesha (dissimilarity), and Samavaya (combination), — these have been explained, by means of their respective indications, in the Place of flokas Sutrasthana before.

tr. A. C. Kaviratna · https://archive.org/download/BIUSante_47357/BIUSante_47357_djvu.txt

Viśeṣa referred back to its Sutrasthana definition in the debate chapter. Sanskrit: द्रव्य-गुण-कर्म-सामान्य-विशेष-समवायाः स्वलक्षणैः श्लोकस्थाने पूर्वमुक्ताः||२९|| (https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Rogabhishagjitiya_Vimana&action=raw).

## 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.

- **[Vriddhi and Kshaya: What the Body Has Too Much and Too Little Of](https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/concept/tissue-need-and-lack/)** (as Vishesha): Dissimilarity. The principle that substances unlike a bodily constituent decrease it. The operative rule for reduction therapy.

## Not to be confused with

- **sāmānya.** Ca.Su.1.44-45: the paired opposite; viśeṣa decreases and separates, sāmānya increases and unifies.
- **viśeṣa as ultimate particular (Vaiśeṣika antya-viśeṣa).** Sinha's 'Species' and WHO's 'unique individuality' belong to Vaiśeṣika, where viśeṣa individuates eternal atoms. Charaka's viśeṣa is functional (hrāsahetu). Same word, different doctrine.
- **viśeṣa as 'specific/particular' (ordinary sense).** Su.Su.41 title 'Dravya-Vishesha-Vijnaniya' (Bhishagratna: 'specific properties of drugs'), WHO 'viśeṣapūrvarūpam' (specific prodrome), NIA 'Specialty'. Everyday adjective, not the category.
- **viparīta / pratyanīka (opposite).** Treatment by opposites is the application of viśeṣa, but 'opposite' is stronger than 'dissimilar'; Charaka's term is viśeṣa (difference), and NIA BP0241's 'Doctrine of similar and Opposites' silently upgrades it.
- **prabhāva.** Specific unexplained action of a drug; sometimes loosely called its 'viśeṣa'. Different term.

## Renderings that do not hold

- particularity / individuality (as the Ayurvedic definition). Vaiśeṣika reading; Ca.Su.1.44 defines viśeṣa as the cause of decrease.
- specialty / speciality. NIA DG0412's first gloss; a false friend from the adjective viśeṣa 'special'.
- species. Sinha 1923; Aristotelian taxonomy has no counterpart in Charaka's usage.
- opposite. Charaka says dissimilar (viśeṣa, pṛthaktva), not contrary; 'opposites' is an interpretive strengthening found in NIA BP0241 and WHO ITA-1.9.2.3 ('opposing actions').
- negative impact. NIA DG0412; hrāsa is decrease, which is therapeutic when a dosha is in excess, not 'negative'.

## Open questions

Recorded rather than resolved.

- Chakrapāṇi on viparyaya at Su.1.45 and on the threefold viśeṣa not retrieved.
- Whether Sushruta uses viśeṣa in the categorial sense anywhere (Su.Su.41 uses it adjectivally) was not established.

## Citation

Age Ayurveda Nighantu, "viśeṣa", https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/lexicon/vishesha/, 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.