What the texts say
These three words are one entry in Charaka's list of incompatible foods. They sit in a run of honey rules that also bars honey and ghee in equal quantity, honey and rainwater in equal quantity, and honey with lotus seed. Sushruta (Sutra 20.13) makes the same rule, naming hot water as an after-drink for honey. The Ashtanga Hridaya, in its list of after-drinks, names cold water for honey.[1][2][3]
The modern view
We found no study of hot water taken after honey. The nearest is an adjacent rat study that heated honey to 140 C for two minutes and fed it to rats for six weeks; it found no change in food intake, weight gain or organ weights. Heating honey that far is a different question from drinking hot water after it.[4]
From the classical texts
Questions people ask
Is honey stirred into warm water covered by this rule?
Charaka's clause is about hot water drunk after honey. Honey that is itself hot is a separate warning in the same list. The Ashtanga Hridaya names cold water as the drink to take after honey. Where warm water falls between the two is a question for a vaidya.[1][3]
Related
Heated honey (garam shahad)
Charaka says hot honey, and honey for someone suffering from heat, lead to death. Sushruta also warns against honey with hot things.
FoodHoney in hot weather (garmi mein shahad)
Charaka warns against honey for someone suffering from heat. Sushruta, as his commentator Dalhana reads him, extends it to summer and autumn.
FoodCold water after meals (khane ke baad thanda pani)
The Ashtanga Hridaya recommends cold water after some foods, such as barley, wheat, curd and honey, and lukewarm water after foods made of flour.
FoodCurd and honey (dahi aur shahad)
Charaka names honey as one of the things curd should be eaten with, alongside ghee, sugar, green gram soup and amla.
Sources
- Charaka Samhita, Sutra Sthana 26.84 (Atreyabhadrakapyiya Adhyaya).
- Sushruta Samhita, Sutra Sthana 20.13, NIIMH e-text.
- Ashtanga Hridaya, Sutra Sthana 8.47-48, GRETIL e-text.
- Annapoorani A, Anilakumar KR, Khanum F, Murthy NA, Bawa AS. Studies on the physicochemical characteristics of heated honey, honey mixed with ghee and their food consumption pattern by rats. Ayu. 2010;31:141-146. PMID 22131701.
Updated 4 November 2026