give,’ e.g., to give support). Disturbance of the dhatus’ ̄ equilibrium is co-
extensive with states of compromised health. In disequilibrium the three
are called doÓsasor ‘faults’ (√duÓs, ‘to soil,’ ‘to spoil,’ ‘to impair’).
There are two aspects of the doÓsas, viz., natural and morbid. In the nat-
ural state, pittahelps in living beings’ digestion and metabolism. In its
morbid state, it causes various diseases. Kaphain its natural state pro-
motes strength in the form of ojas. When in morbid condition, it takes
the form of excreta and causes misery. Similarly, vata ̄ in its natural state
is responsible for all activities of the body. When in morbid state, it
causes diseases and death.
CS 1:17.115–18Pharmacist and Åyurvedic researcher Birgit Heyn makes the non-
traditional, but clinically useful distinction that the term dh ̄atuis prop-
erly employed to mean ‘tissue-element,’ while doÓsarefers to the dynamic
bioenergetic principles: “three different forms of energy which govern the
whole energy economy in living organisms.”^40 As regards v ̄ata, pitta, and
kaphaas psychophysical ‘types,’ these are stylized pictures used as a gen-
eral guide in recognizing the characteristics of each person’s nature,
wherein a particular doÓsagenerally predominates.^41
Zimmermann maintains that in ancient Hindu medicine, the hu-
mors were conceived within two superimposed standpoints: First, ac-
cording to an agricultural metaphor, as fluids irrigating the tissues. Sec-
ond, in terms of health and disease, they represent various facets in a
combinative system of humors, savors, and qualities possessed by hu-
mans, animals, plants, and by the soils that infuse plants and animals
with their rasa(‘juice’ or essence) throughout the food chain.^42 Thus the
ancient Åyurvedic practitioner did not consider the three humors wind,
bile, and phlegm in a literal sense, but made a leap of abstraction from
the level of image to the construction of a conceptual system. This is “the
moment when phlegm is no longer simply an image of excessive serosity
or unctuosity, but becomes the abstract principle of elephantiasis.”^43
The several meanings of doÓsaindicate that understanding and ap-
plying Åyurvedic principles requires multileveled analysis. An important
clinical interpretation of doÓsais excess material resulting from the in-
complete digestion of food. The verbal root duÓs gives the word doÓsathe
connotation of ‘spoiling’ or ‘impairment.’ The stomach, and particularly
the gastric ‘fire,’ may be ‘spoiled’ owing to faulty digestion. This results
in the spreading throughout the body of a sticky substance called ̄ama,
‘unripe’ or incompletely digested food-juice. The s ̄ama(‘with ̄ama’)state
of the body is marked by the symptoms of “a feeling of heaviness in the
60 religious therapeutics