Ayurveda The concept of Prakriti

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The concept of Prakriti

A characteristic feature of traditional medicinal systems is that they consider the individual as a whole, rather than just the disease. Treatment is fine-tuned, taking into consideration the individual's constitution, susceptibility to diseases, mental make up, lifestyle and other factors. This has been refined to a very high degree in Ayurveda with its powerful concept of prakriti. This article aims at providing a general introduction to this concept.

The word prakriti means "nature" or natural form of the build and constitution of the human body. Pra means the "beginning", "commencement" or "source of origin" and kruthi means "to perform" or "to form". Put together, prakriti means "natural form" or "original form" or "original source". Disease occurs when there is a change in this original form at the psychological or physiological level.

Ayurveda lays emphasis on examining the prakriti or the natural state of an individual first. The disease vikruthi is examined later. While the expert in modern medicine analyses the disease, the Ayurvedic expert is also interested in the individual who is suffering from the disease.

Prakriti: The three types

All material in the universe, animate or inanimate, is composed of five basic elements or Pancha Mahabhoothas - namely Akaasha, Vaayu, Teja, Jala and Prithvi. Akasha, or space, is omnipresent and all pervading, a substratum to the other four elements and due to its presence one can separate or differentiate material. Vaayu, or air, is responsible for the movement of all types and is vital for the existence of all creatures. Teja, or Agni, is the element of energy or heat. Jala, or Aapa, is the element of water essential for sustenance of life. Prithvi, or earth, is responsible for structure and bulk of the material.

Mental Constitution

Vedic philosophy classifies human temperaments into three basic qualities: satva, rajas and tamas. relative predominance of either satva, rajas, or tamas is responsible for individual psychological constitution.

Satvic Mental Constitutions:

The people in whom satvic qualities predominate are religious, loving, compassionate and pure minded. They have good manners, behavior and conduct. They do not get easily upset or angry. Although they work hard mentally, they do not get mental fatigue. They are creative, humble and respectful of their teachers. Worshipping God and humanity, they love all and care for people.

Rajas Mental Constitutions:

The people in whom rajas qualities predominate are egoistic, ambitious, aggressive, proud, competitive, and have a tendency to control others. They like power, prestige, position, and are perfectionists. They are hard working people, but are lacking in proper planning and direction. Emotionally, they are angry, jealous, ambitious. They have a fear of failure, are subject to stress, and soon lose their mental energy. They are loving, calm and patient only as long as their self interests are served. They are good, loving, friendly and faithful only to those who are helpful to them. Their activities are self- centered.

Tamas Mental Constitutions:

The people in whom tamas qualities predominate are less intelligent. They tend towards depression, laziness, and excess sleep, even during the day. A little mental work tires them easily. They like jobs of less responsibility, and they love to eat, drink, sleep and have sex. They are greedy, possessive, attached, irritable, and do not care for others.

Body Constitution

Every individual has a unique combination of the three doshas- Vata, Pitta and Kapha. To understand individuality is the foundation of Diagnosis and Treatment in Ayurveda.

Vata Qualities:

vata is dry, light, cold, mobile, active, clear, astringent, and it is dispersing. All of these qualities can manifest in an individual. For example, if a person has excess vata in his or her constitution, because of the dry quality, he or she will have dry hair, dry skin, and tendency towards constipation. Because of the light quality, the person will have a light body frame, light muscles, thin and underweight. Because of the cold quality, the person will have cold hands, cold feet and poor circulation. They hate the cold season and love summer. Because of the mobile quality, these people are very active. They like jogging and jumping and don't like sitting in one place. the subtle quality is responsible for the emotions of fear, anxiety, insecurity and nervousness.

Pitta Qualities:

It has hot, sharp, light, liquid, sour, oily and spreading qualities. Because of the hot quality, the pitta person has a strong appetite and warm skin. The body temperature is a little higher than the vata person. The second quality of pitta is sharp, therefore the pitta person has a sharp nose, teeth, eyes, mind and while talking uses sharp words. They also have very sharp memory. Because of the oily quality, they have soft warm oily skin, straight oily hair, and the feces are oily and liquid. They have a tendency to gray prematurely, a sign of early maturity. Pitta girls get earlier menstruation and reach puberty earlier. Because of the light quality, pitta people are moderate in body frame, and they do not like bright light. Because of too much heat in the body, they tend to loose his hair in early youth and have a receding hair line, or bald head. The next quality of pitta is strong smell. When they perspire, under the arm pit there is a typical sulfur smell, and if he doesn't wash his socks, they will have a strong smell. They are often wise, brilliant people, and can have a controlling, dominating personality. They have a tendency towards comparison, competition, ambition, and they have a quality of aggressiveness, so naturally they criticize. Pitta people tend to get inflammatory diseases, while vata predominant people tend to get neurological, muscular and rheumatic problems.

Kapha Qualities:

Kapha will have heavy, slow, cool, oily, liquid, dense, thick, static and cloudy qualities. Because of the heavy quality, these people have heavy bones, muscles and fat. They will have a tendency to put on weight. Because of the slow quality, they have slow metabolism and digestion. They walk slowly and talk slowly. They don't like jogging and jumping. They love eating, sitting and doing nothing. Kapha is cool hencekapha people have cool, clammy skin. Kapha people have thick wavy hair, and big, attractive eyes. They have slow but prolonged, steady memory. Kapha people are forgiving, loving and compassionate. thekapha person has a sweet tooth and loves candy, cookies and chocolate.

Your constitution can be determined by an Ayurvedic physician or in the absence of an Ayurvedic physician; you can diagnose your own tendency towards a particular constitution. You can discover if your constitution leans towards vata (wind), pitta (fire) or kapha (water). This can help you to know how an imbalance is likely to occur in yourself.

Suppose you have a kapha (water) dominant constitution then you may have a tendency to overweight, over-emotional nature or suffer congestion in the chest. So you should modify your diet, life style, daily routine and other activities accordingly, for example, avoid sleeping too much in the day or eating too many sweets, to maintain your health and also to cure the diseases.

However, in terms of the functioning of living beings, Ayurveda sees all actions based on three basic functions called doshas - namely vata, pitta and kapha. Vata is responsible for respiration and control of movement. Pitta is responsible for maintenance of body heat and Kapha is responsible for maintenance of body form and structure. These doshas are the manifestations of the bhootas in the living systems. Kapha dosha consists of Prithvi and Jala, Pitta of Tejas and Vata of Vayu and Akasha.

Before a detailed description of each prakriti type, the qualities of each of the doshas are given. These qualities are manifested in the individual's personality.

Vata is dry, light, mobile, expansible, quick, cold, rough, clear and astringent in taste. So vata prakriti individuals tend to have dry and rough skin, are lightly built, quick in their mental process and initiation of action.

Pitta is hot, penetrating, slightly foul smelling, liquid, sour and pungent in taste. So pitta prakriti individuals tend to sweat a lot and tend to have a higher than normal body temperature.

Kapha is unctuous, smooth, soft, sweet in taste, stable, dense, slow, rigid, cold and clear. Kapha prakriti individuals tend to have soft limbs, slow gait and are slow to understand. The cold quality means that their agni or digestive power is low.

Vata prakriti

The dry quality of vata is manifested in the body as dry skin and thin structure i.e. lean body. The hair, nails, teeth and eyes appear dry. The voice is weak, low, crackling and hoarse. These individuals require little sleep and are hyperactive. The movements of the individuals - especially of the eyebrows, chin, lips, tongue and limbs are quick and unsteady. The expansive nature is manifest in prominent blood vessels. Due to quick action, the individual shows early initiative in work but because of the dry quality he loses strength and becomes tired. Their memory is weak but they have a quick grasp. Due to the cold nature, the body temperature is low and body stiff. The natural desires and craving for food and environment are opposite to the qualities of vata. They have meager seminal fluid and have only a few children. They tend to have a short life span.

Pitta prakriti

Due to the inherent hot quality of pitta, these individuals have a high metabolic rate, a tendency to eat and drink a lot and are often thirsty. They develop moles and skin eruptions. They possess soft and scanty hair and tend to be prematurely grey and bald. They are unable to bear even minimum heat. They are brave and courageous but cannot tolerate exertion. They get easily provoked and upset. The fluid quality makes the body parts, muscles and joints soft and flabby. The high metabolic rate leads to excessive perspiration and excretion. The foul smell of the pitta tends to give them a strong body odour. The quality of heat and pungent taste leads to limited sexual urge, scanty semen and limited progeny. Due to the sharp and quick action, they have a very good intellect, grasping power, memory and are of moderate strength and the life span is medium.

Kapha prakriti

Due to the unctuous nature of kapha, the individuals of kapha prakriti possess unctuous and oily skin. The soft quality of kapha makes the face soft, the looks gentle and clear. The sweet quality gives them a large quantity of semen and they have a strong sexual urge. The stable and steady quality endows them with a well-built and steady body. The dense nature provides fullness to the body and organs. The slow quality of kapha makes the individuals slow in their activities but they have strong perseverance and are emotionally very mild. They have steady and slow body movements. The cold quality results in poor appetite (their agni or digestion is poor) and low body temperature. The steady and dense quality gives them steady joints and ligaments. The clear quality gives rise to a pleasant appearance, colour and voice. All the qualities of kapha endow the individual with strength, wealth and energy and also a long life.

Most people are a combination of two doshas i.e. Dwandvaja prakriti. They possess characteristics of both doshas involved depending on the percentage of the combination. A balanced constitution is ideal and extremely rare in which the balanced state of all the three doshas neutralizes the bad or unwanted qualities, support and bring out good qualities of the other.

Prakriti and diet

Dietary requirement should be modified according to the prakriti (constitution) of the individual. In general, an individual with vata prakriti should take unctuous, warm, and sweet substances. One with pitta prakriti should take cool, heavy, sweet, bitter and astringent food articles and kapha prakriti person should consume food in which dry, warm, light, pungent, bitter and astringent tastes predominate. The diet chart gives the beneficial and non-beneficial food articles.

Susceptibility to diseases

Vata prakriti individuals are prone to diseases of the neurological system especially motor functions. The disease mostly affects the lower limbs since they are the predominant seat of Vata dosha. Also, these diseases are pronounced during the old age which is the period of Vata (vata kala). Some of these diseases are tetany, wasting disorders (muscular atrophy), spasms, hemiplegia, convulsions, headache, insomnia, angina (hridgraha), dysuria, rheumatism (amavatha), osteoporosis (asthisosha), fissures on palm and soles (vipaadika), swelling and stiffness of the thighs (urushthambha), brachial palsy (avabahuka).

Those with pitta prakriti are prone to diseases of the digestive and metabolic systems. The diseases mostly affect the abdomen ie. the area between the breast and umbilicus. Also, pitta disorders are pronounced in the middle aged which is the period of pitta (pitta kala) like intense localized burning sensation, stomatitis, acid regurgitation, jaundice, bleeding disorders, bluish discoloration of the skin.

Individuals with kapha prakriti are prone to disorders of the respiratory system especially phlegmatic disorders. The diseases affect the upper parts of the body ie. chest and above. Also, the disorders are pronounced during the early ages (childhood) which is the period of kapha (kapha kala). For example: Drowsiness, excessive sleep, obesity, swelling of the neck (galaganda), thick skin eruptions, congestion of the chest with phlegm, polyuira.

Prakriti and the seasons

Human beings constantly struggle against the changing environmental conditions to maintain optimum health and vigour throughout the day and in all seasons. The human body depends on the continuous holistic interaction between internal and external factors. When this interaction is in a state of equilibrium, man enjoys health and when this fails, either due to internal deficiency or hostile environmental factors, the balance is disturbed and leads to disease and disharmony. Environmental factors include the nature of the land, water and various atmospheric phenomena such as temperature, humidity, wind, rain and snow.

Effect of seasons on the prakriti types

In summer, due to extreme heat and its dry and rough qualities, the digestive power is very low and the body loses water due to perspiration. These factors aggravate vata dosha which has similar properties and causes accumulation of vata. The excessive heat, which is antagonistic to the cold quality of vata, prevents it from being vitiated.

During the rainy season, which follows the summer, the sudden change from hot to cold weather results in the vitiation of vata thus causing diseases.

The excessive heat in summer leads to increased exhaustion and reduction of body strength. Heat also results in the increase of the pitta dosha. With the advent of rains on the dry and hot earth, the pungent taste of the land becomes sour and this results in the accumulation of pitta dosha. The cool environment does not allow the pitta dosha to be vitiated due to antagonistic action. Autumn, which follows the rainy season, is hotter and this leads to the vitiation of the already accumulated pitta dosha and results in diseases.

The extreme cold of winter leads to accumulation of kapha. But due to extreme cold, the kapha solidifies. Spring is warm, causing liquefaction of the accumulated kapha and vitiates it causing disorders.

How to diagnose your prakriti?

The examination of prakriti is an important subject and is an expert's work. An Ayurvedic expert adopts two broad methods to determine the prakriti of an individual. They are interrogation and physical examination.

Interrogation involves specific questions put to the individual. The physical examination involves looking for specific physical and behavioral aspects.

The Ayurvedic system of diagnosing prakriti offers unique insights into understanding and assessing one's health. It is comprehensive in scope, spanning both physical and mental aspects. It is not merely a diagnostic device but also a guide to action for good health. It provides detailed guidelines to adapt one's food and behavior to suit one's prakriti.

But diagnosing our prakriti should not become a rationalization for poor health. It should be a guide for intelligent action to tell us in which direction we should move and how we should act to improve our physical and mental well-being.

Superficially it may appear that some prakritis are better than others. Each type has its positive and negative aspects. What is required is not regret that one is of the "wrong" prakriti type or aspire to be of a different one. We need to start from wherever we are. This means that we need to understand where we stand and accept it. Then we need to plan intelligently to attain the healthiest state by realizing our potential. The Ayurvedic understanding of prakriti provides a way to do both these - to analyze and assess where we stand and to provide guidance to attain perfect health.

Seasonal variations

Knowledge regarding changes in our digestive power with the varying seasons, has been well understood in society. As per the Ayurvedic view, food is digested by agni within us - just as it is cooked by agni outside. According to Ayurveda, there is a "stimulus-response" relation between the agni within us and the outside agni - namely the sun. When the agni outside is strong (i.e. in summer) the agni inside us (our digestion) is weak and vice-versa. This is reflected in the way in which our food customs have been adapted to seasonal changes.

For Ramnavami, which comes during the summer months, the prasadam is very light and easily digestible. The prasadam for Krishna Jayanthi which comes during winter, is varied and comprises of food articles which are heavy to digest.

For example, during winter, the breakfast taken is more guru i.e. heavy (to digest) than what is consumed in summer; this is in keeping with the greater strength of our inner agni i.e. the power of digestion, in winter. In South India, a variety of sweets are prepared to celebrate Gokulashtami, which is celebrated in winter. In contrast Ramanavami which is celebrated in summer, usually merits only neermoar (diluted buttermilk) and paanakam (a ginger - jaggery lemonade)!

The effect of various seasons on health has also been noted. For example, in Andhra Pradesh, it is a custom to partake of preparations containing neem flowers and leaves at the onset of the Vasantha Rithu (spring season) and to continue taking it during that season. This is indeed a sound practice, since this serves as a corrective measure for kapha dosha, which gets vitiated in this season.