What the texts say
The passage matches the after-drink (anupana) to the food. Cold water is "good" (hitam) with barley, wheat, curd, wine, poison and honey, and lukewarm water goes with foods made of flour. The one cold-drink warning we found is narrower: Charaka says cold things after drinking ghee are incompatible.[1][2]
The modern view
We found no study that tests this verse in adults eating meals. The nearest is an adjacent study from 1986. Twelve nursing infants were given water through a nasogastric tube, a thin tube through the nose into the stomach. Cold water given five minutes after room-temperature water slowed how fast the stomach emptied, and repeat doses of cold water did not slow it further. This was water alone, in babies, so it cannot speak to adults or to food.[3]
From the classical texts
Questions people ask
Related
Water with meals
Vagbhata links water mid-meal to a moderate build, water first to a lean one and water last to a stout one.
FoodCold water after ghee
Charaka says taking cold things after drinking ghee is incompatible. The rule is about ghee, not about water after every meal.
FoodHoney and hot water (shahad aur garam pani)
Charaka lists hot water after honey as incompatible, and Sushruta makes the same rule. The Ashtanga Hridaya names cold water as honey's after-drink.
FoodFruit after meals
Sushruta puts fruit such as pomegranate at the start of a meal, and praises amla at the start, middle or end.
Sources
- Ashtanga Hridaya, Sutra Sthana 8.47-48, GRETIL e-text.
- Charaka Samhita, Sutra Sthana 26.98 (Atreyabhadrakapyiya Adhyaya).
- Macedo Ada S, Collares EF, Troncon LE, Machado NC. [Gastric emptying in children. VI. Evaluation of the cumulative effect of the water low temperature]. Arquivos de Gastroenterologia. 1986;23:184-188. PMID 3435267.
Updated 4 November 2026