Laghu

Laghu is a Sanskrit term that conveys the sense of light, small, or easy. It appears in several Indian languages with the same root meaning, and is used both as an adjective and as a technical term in various traditions.

In Ayurveda and classical Indian pharmacology, laghu is one of the gunas or qualitative properties used to describe matter, foods, and medicines. Substances deemed laghu are considered light and easy to digest, often associated with quicker absorption and faster onset of effect. Laghu is typically contrasted with guru (heavy). The guna helps practitioners assess how a substance will influence doshas, digestion, and body constitution.

In Hindustani (North Indian) classical music, laghu is a rhythmic unit within the tala system. It represents a count that helps determine the length of a group at the beginning of a tala. The exact value of a laghu can vary depending on the tala being used and the position within the cycle, making it a flexible feature of rhythmic organization rather than a fixed beat count.

Beyond these specialized uses, laghu functions as a general word in Sanskrit and related languages meaning small or light. It appears in classical literature and is still used in modern discourse to convey the idea of lightness, ease, or diminutive size in a wide range of contexts.