THE TWENTY YONIVYAPAD: CLASSICAL CLASSIFICATION AND CORRELATION WITH MODERN GYNAECOLOGICAL DISORDERS — A NARRATIVE REVIEW
Background: Ayurvedic gynaecology (Stri roga) groups the diseases of the female reproductive tract under the heading Yonivyapad, and all the principal classical texts state that there are twenty such disorders. The lists of Charaka and Sushruta, however, differ in names, order and basis of classification, and modern correlations are often presented without comment on their limits. Objective: To describe the classical classifications of the twenty Yonivyapad, to propose cautious correlations with contemporary gynaecological diagnoses, and to summarise published clinical evidence for Ayurvedic management of the main correlated conditions. Methods: Charaka Samhita, Sushruta Samhita and Ashtanga Hridaya were reviewed with their commentaries for the names, causes, features and treatment of Yonivyapad. PubMed was searched up to October 2026 for clinical, experimental and review literature on Yonivyapad and related gynaecological conditions in Ayurveda. Findings were synthesised narratively. Results: Sushruta arranges the twenty disorders strictly by Dosha (five each for Vata, Pitta, Kapha and Sannipata), while Charaka combines four Dosha-named disorders with sixteen others defined by cause, symptom or structural feature. Correlations can be drawn with dysmenorrhoea, infertility, amenorrhoea, abnormal uterine bleeding, recurrent pregnancy loss, vulvovaginitis, cervical lesions, genital prolapse, dyspareunia, vaginal stenosis and congenital anomalies. Clinical evidence is concentrated in a few entities, notably Udavartini (primary dysmenorrhoea), Upapluta (vulvovaginitis in pregnancy) and Kapha-dominant vaginal discharge, and consists mostly of small trials and case reports. Conclusion: The twenty Yonivyapad form a coherent Dosha-based framework that remains clinically useful but should not be read as a one-to-one list of modern diseases. Correlations should be used as working hypotheses, with biomedical diagnosis to exclude serious disease, and outcome-based trials are needed for the commonest entities.