The three doshas of Ayurveda, vata, pitta and kapha, are the functional principles whose balance is held to determine constitution and health. They are built from the five elements in pairs: vata from air and ether, pitta from fire and water, kapha from water and earth. The scheme is set out in the classical Ayurvedic compendia, the Charaka and Sushruta Samhitas.
Facts
Overview
What Defines This GroupingThe three functional principles of Ayurveda - vata, pitta and kapha - each compounded from a pair of the five elements. They are the terms in which Ayurvedic constitution and disorder are described. 1 Size of the Traditional Set Attestation
Era of AttestationSet out in the classical Sanskrit medical compendia, the Caraka and Susruta Samhitas, whose surviving redactions belong to the early centuries CE. 1 Status
Status TodayLiving tradition: Ayurveda is practised in South Asia and beyond today. 1 Comparison
Cultural Origin Learn More
The Three Constitutional Principles
The three doshas of Ayurveda, vata, pitta and kapha, are the functional principles whose balance is held to determine constitution and health. They are built from the five elements in pairs: vata from air and ether, pitta from fire and water, kapha from earth and water, and each governs a range of bodily and mental functions.
A person's constitution, or prakriti, is understood as a particular balance of the three, and illness is understood as a disturbance of that balance, to be corrected by diet, regimen and treatment. The doshas are the central diagnostic and therapeutic concept of Ayurvedic medicine.
A traditional medical framework
Ayurveda is a classical Indian system of medicine with roots in the Sanskrit medical texts, and the doshas are its way of relating the elemental cosmology to the living body. The atlas describes the doshas as part of this traditional framework, noting that Ayurvedic diagnostic categories are not equivalent to those of modern biomedicine and are presented here as a cultural and historical system rather than as clinical advice.
The five elements the doshas are built from, and the wider body-map of Indian tradition, are treated under Elements and The Body respectively.
All Doshas
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Sources
1. The Roots of Ayurveda: Selections from Sanskrit Medical Writings
Dominik Wujastyk, Penguin Classics, 2003
2. Wikipedia: Dosha
WikipediaDosha, opening definitionQuote, Dosha, opening definition
Dosha is a central term in Ayurveda originating from Sanskrit, and which refers to three categories or types of substances that are believed to be present conceptually in a persons body and mind.
Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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