Sanskrit lexicon with the most important Ayurveda terms
Agni: fire, digestive fire
Ahara: Ayurvedic dietetics
Ama: all undigested matter of the body-mind system, metabolic residues
Asanas: sitting, posture/pose, yoga body exercise
Ayus: Life, period of time
Basti: medical enema
Bhagavad Gita: one of the central scriptures of Hinduism
Caraka Samhita: one of the oldest and most important scriptures of Ayurveda, written by the Ayurvedic practitioner Caraka
Cakra: energy portal, wheel
Dhanvantari: God of Ayurveda
Dhatus: the 7 tissues of the body – plasma, blood, muscle, skin, fat, bone, nerve tissue, bone marrow, reproductive tissue
Dinacarya: Ayurvedic daily routine
Dosha: (literally: error, deviation) the three fundamental regulatory principles Vata, Pitta, Kapha, which determine the physical and mental dispositions, characteristics and functions of a person
Gandusha: Ayurvedic oral hygiene
Ghee: clarified butter
Gunas: also known as Trigunas – Sattva, Rajas and Ramas. They determine our mental/spiritual constitution and determine our temperament, character and disposition
Kapha: Dosha, ‘structural principle’
Karma: action
Mantra: Man = thinking, Tra = leads to liberation
Marma: vital points/energy pressure points
Nadis: subtle energy channels
Nasya: Ayurvedic sinus cleansing
Ojas: life force that determines a person’s charisma, inner peace, health, vitality, resilience and zest for life
Om: representation of the primordial sound
Panchakarma: (literally: five actions) Ayurvedic royal therapy, detox programme traditionally consisting of five treatment stages
Pitta: Dosha, ‘transformative / metabolic principle’
Prakriti: basic constitution, primordial nature
Prana: breath, life energy
Pranayama: conscious regulation and deepening of breathing
Rajas: Guna, stands for activity, passion, restlessness, daring
Rasa: taste
Rasayanas: rejuvanent, rejuvenating agents
Sattva: Guna, stands for clarity, virtue, consciousness, harmony
Srotas: body channels
Surya Namaskara: Sun salutation, a specific sequence of Asanas
Sushruta Samhita: collection of texts by the Indian physician Sushruta
Sutra: mnemonic, rule
Tamas: Guna, stands for inactivity, ignorance, delusion, dullness of mind
Trigunas: Sattva, Rajas and Tamas; they determine our mental/spiritual constitution and our temperament, character and disposition
Vaidya: traditional Ayurvedic practitioner, scholar who received the knowledge from his previous generation
Vastu: Vedic building system
Vata: Dosha, ‘principle of movement’
Veda: pure, complete knowledge, wisdom
Vikriti: deviation of the Doshas from Prakriti, the current Dosha constitution
