# Niruha Basti (Decoction Enema)

> Niruha basti is the cleansing decoction enema of pañcakarma: a compounded mixture of kvātha, saindhava, madhu, sneha and kalka, given rectally and expelled within about forty-five minutes. It is usually alternated with anuvāsana basti. The source record marks it vaidya-only, and it is not a home enema.

## Key facts

- **Sanskrit name:** Nirūha Basti

## What it is

Niruha basti, also called āsthāpana, is the cleansing form of basti: a medicated decoction enema, as opposed to anuvāsana basti, the oil-retention enema. The source record glosses it as "medicated decoction enema (cleansing)", files it under pañcakarma with subcategory niruha, and marks it vaidya-only.

Basti is the procedure Ayurveda treats as the most consequential of the five, and this page is a description of it, not a method.

## Where it comes from in the classical literature

Both of the record's citations check out.

- **Caraka Siddhisthāna 1**, Kalpanā Siddhi, is the opening chapter of the Siddhisthāna and gives the overall shape of the pañcakarma procedures, setting out the basic concepts of vamana, virecana, basti and nasya, with niruha described as the evacuative decoction enema used for purification.
- **Suśruta Cikitsāsthāna 35 to 38** is the basti block: 35 on the measures and divisions of enema therapy, 36 on the complications of enema administration, 37 on anuvāsana and uttara basti, and 38, Nirūha Krama Cikitsitam, on the procedure of the decoction enema itself.

That chapter 36 exists at all is worth noting. The classical tradition devotes an entire chapter to what goes wrong with basti, which is the clearest signal in the sources about why this sits with a vaidya.

## What it involves

The record's protocol runs across more than one day.

**Before.** Anuvāsana basti, the oil enema, is given the day before.

**During.** A mixture of medicated kvātha with saindhava, madhu, sneha and kalka, around six hundred millilitres, is administered rectally and expelled within about forty-five minutes.

**After.** A light warm meal of rice and dāl. Anuvāsana basti often follows the next day, the two alternating.

The record gives no total course length, no season and no frequency beyond that alternation, and lists no adverse events.

## What is used

The record names no specific dravyas and no specific oils, only the classes of ingredient that make up the mixture: kvātha (decoction), saindhava (rock salt), madhu (honey), sneha (an oleaginous medium) and kalka (herbal paste). Which decoction and which sneha are chosen is the clinical content of the procedure, and the record does not record it.

## What to ask before booking

Because the record puts this with a vaidya, the reader's part is assessment rather than execution. Worth asking: whether the preparatory anuvāsana basti is included, since the record treats it as part of the protocol; what decoction is being used; how many bastis are planned and over how many days; what the clinic does if the enema is not expelled in the expected time; and what the diet is meant to be on procedure days.

Anyone with rectal bleeding, inflammatory bowel disease, recent abdominal or anorectal surgery, severe haemorrhoids, a bowel obstruction, uncontrolled diarrhoea, or who is pregnant, should be raising it before any enema is discussed.

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Canonical version of this page: https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/practice/niruha-basti/

Published by Age Ayurveda in the Nighantu. Educational reference only, not medical advice.
Incorporates material from the Amidha Ayurveda Herb Database under CC BY 4.0.