# Pada Prakshalana (Foot Bathing)

> Pāda-prakṣālana is washing or soaking the feet, placed in the evening routine before sleep: ten to fifteen minutes in warm water with saindhava lavaṇa, optionally with a Triphalā decoction. The Aṣṭāṅga Hṛdaya's daily-regimen chapter directs that the feet be kept clean but does not describe this soak.

## Key facts

- **Sanskrit name:** Pāda-prakṣālana

## What it is

Pāda-prakṣālana is foot bathing, listed as part of dinacaryā, the daily regimen, and as something a person does for themselves.

## What it involves

A soak of ten to fifteen minutes before sleep, in warm water with saindhava lavaṇa (rock salt). A Triphalā kvātha, decoction, is given as an optional addition.

No water temperature beyond "warm" is specified, and no frequency or length of course is recorded.

## What is used

Saindhava lavaṇa, and optionally Triphalā as a decoction. No oils are part of the recorded procedure.

## Where it comes from in the classical literature

The citation given is Aṣṭāṅga Hṛdaya Sūtrasthāna 2, which is indeed the Dinacaryā chapter, the daily regimen. Its topics run through waking in brāhma muhūrta, danta-dhāvana, añjana for the eyes, abhyaṅga, vyāyāma, udvartana, snāna and the sadvṛtta rules of conduct.

The feet appear there twice: abhyaṅga is to be applied with special attention to the head, the ears and the feet, and the conduct rules include keeping the feet and the bodily orifices clean. What is not in that chapter is the procedure described above, a warm salt-water soak of set length taken before sleep. Caraka Sūtrasthāna 5, the other classical daily-regimen chapter, similarly has pādābhyaṅga, foot massage, at verses 90 to 92, and not foot washing.

So the chapter is the right general home for the practice and does direct that the feet be kept clean, but the specific soak recorded here could not be traced to it.

## Who should take particular care

Anyone with diabetes, peripheral neuropathy, or any reduced sensation in the feet. A published clinical report describes three patients with diabetic neuropathy who sustained full-thickness burns covering four to five per cent of body surface from hot-water foot baths. Because neuropathy blunts pain, the heat exposure continued unnoticed; presentation was delayed, and the series included secondary infection and amputation. The authors advise that thermal foot baths be avoided in this group, and that anyone who uses one anyway measure the water with a thermometer rather than by feel and limit immersion time.

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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.