Prabhāva
Prabhāva · pra-bhāva, “power, specific potency”
Grammar: masculine noun, from the root bhū (to be, to become) with the prefix pra (forth): “power, might”.
Meaning: in Āyurveda, the specific power of a substance or a herb (oshadhi), by which it does its work beyond what its rasa (taste), vīrya (potency) and vipāka (the effect after digestion) explain.
In the scriptures: the word comes in the Āyurveda which Dhanvantari teaches Suśruta in the Agni Purāṇa.
- Dhanvantari tells how the rasas act on the doshas: madhura, āmla and lavaṇa produce śleshma (kapha) and destroy vāyu; kaṭu, tikta and kashāya increase vāyu and destroy kapha; kaṭu, āmla and lavaṇa increase pitta; tikta, madhura and kashāya destroy pitta. These qualities belong not to the rasas but to their vipāka. Substances of ushṇa-vīrya (hot potency) destroy kapha; those of śīta-vīrya (cold potency) destroy pitta. “O Suśruta, all these do their work by their own prabhāva” (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 280).
- Teaching the marks of rasa and the rest, Dhanvantari says that only the vaidya who knows the rasa, vīrya and vipāka of oshadhis can protect kings and others. The vipāka of substances is of three kinds, kaṭu, āmla and lavaṇa; vīrya is of two kinds, śīta and ushṇa. “O best of dvijas, the prabhāva of oshadhis cannot be told” (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 281).
Related terms: Rasa · Vīrya · Vipāka · Oshadhi · Dosha · Āyurveda
Sources
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 280–281