Charaka, the ancient physician and teacher, leads his students to a nearby fig tree. The morning breeze stirs its leaves.
Charaka: You have walked the land for a month, through heat and dust, across rain-fed fields, past rivers, and into the shaded groves of the forest. You have seen living beings in their natural habitats- not as you imagined them, but as they truly are. Now tell me: what do you think living creatures need in order to survive?
Rohita: Without food and water I cannot survive, and yes, without fresh air to breathe!
Charaka: But how did you conclude this? How can you say that all life forms need them and that these are enough for survival?
Devadatta: Well, master, we saw many forms of life: trees, plants, people, birds, fish, and animals. Near Mālava, we saw a boy whose scarf had caught on a tree branch while he was running. It tightened around his neck, and he was close to dying. Thankfully, someone reached him in time and released the scarf. Breath is something without which no one can live.
Kumara: We saw something similar in the forest, though from a distance. A cheetah caught a deer by the neck, not anywhere else. By seizing its neck, it stopped the deer’s breath. It struggled for a while, then became still. Life had left the body when the breath ceased.
Charaka: So you observed that breath is essential for animal life. What about plants? Do you think they breathe?
Rohita: Ācārya, I don’t know if plants breathe or not, but they need air for sure. I tried something, though perhaps it was unwise. I placed a young shoot, freshly dug, into a small, old clay pot. I sealed it with a close-fitting lid covered by a clay-laden cloth. Then I left it in my cloth bundle. After five days, when I checked, it was pale and limp, though the soil had not dried. We thought that plants too needed air to survive.
Charaka: You have found out a truth on your own by experimenting. What about fish? Do they breathe?
Rohita: Well, we also wondered about fish. They live in water. But in a pond thickly covered with green algae, many fish were floating dead. A man nearby said it often happened during the hot months. In flowing streams, however, the fish were healthy. We thought that perhaps water holds something from the air, that fish might breathe, but algae blocked it.
Charaka: You have observed carefully. Air is essential for animals and plants alike.
Maitreya: And water, Ācārya. In a drought-struck village, the fields were dry. Many had already left the village in search of water. But near the river, animals were active, and the land was green.
Charaka: Well-said. Water is essential for life.
Rohita: We also traced food backwards. The lion ate goat. The goat drank milk and ate grass. Where the forest was dense and dark, grass did not grow, whereas, in open places, it did. I think the grass grows with sunlight, water and soil. Without the Sun and water nothing seems to survive.
Devadatta: Even the food we eat- grains, pulses, fruit, tubers, animals- seems to ultimately come from water, air and sunlight.
Charaka: Rohita, would you like to change your initial thoughts? You said food, water and air were essential.
Rohita: Yes, I think so. The plants and animals we eat need air, water and sunlight for their growth.
Charaka: You reason well. So, what do you conclude from that?
Rohita: Perhaps all living beings, though different, depend in their own ways on these three.
Charaka: I appreciate your observations and conclusions. These three, common to all life forms that we know, are not merely external substances, they make their way into our being. Sunlight interacts with our body, warming it and influencing vital rhythms, air enters our body through breath, and we drink water.
Rohita: Similarly, we excrete urine and sweat, breathe the air out and eliminate stools.
Charaka: So, what do you make out of this?
Devadatta: In the previous teaching session, you told us that the body is a mirror of the world. This is what you were suggesting, I guess. The external things and the internal ones: are they in a continuum? Are they in balance?
Charaka: How wonderful that you ask this. Yes, the three essentials must also be represented within the body to sustain it: the wind, the Sun, and water. We call them Vāta, Pitta, and Kapha, respectively.
Devadatta: Do you mean that wind, Sun, and water in the world outside exist within the body as Vāta, Pitta, and Kapha?
Charaka: Well, it is more than that. Let us explore this further. Can you come up with the properties of Vāta from what you have seen and felt? From what you observed in nature, you will be able to explain the properties of wind, and therefore of Vāta.
Rohita: I will try. Wind moves invisibly, but we feel it everywhere. It dries up wet clothes, which shows its dryness. It feels weightless. We often say, “as light as air,” so it is light. On cold mornings, it bites the skin, which means it is cold. When strong, it scours and scratches surfaces, so it is rough. It penetrates tiny cracks, which shows it is subtle. And more than anything else, it never rests.
Charaka: Well said! These are indeed the qualities of Vāta: dryness, lightness, coldness, roughness, subtlety, and mobility.
Rohita: What does it do inside our body?
Charaka: It controls all movements, motivation, breathing, heartbeat and all activities. We will be discussing this in coming days. Don’t worry if you do not remember this. You will understand this gradually as you receive further training.
Kumara: So, is Pitta like Sun? Or fire?
Charaka: Yes! Sun is fiery. Now think of fire and try coming up with the properties of Pitta.
Kumara: I will try. Fire cooks, breaks down and transforms food, which shows its sharpness. It is hot. We feel it clearly when we stand near a flame or under the midday sun. Fire is light. Its flames rise upward, not downward. It also spreads quickly, like when a small spark sets dry grass ablaze. That shows its spreading nature.
Charaka: Good effort. Remember, Pitta is like fire. It is fire that acts through fluids, like alkalis or acids. They transform matter without burning it. Its properties are hot, slightly unctuous, sharp, light, and fluid.
Devadatta: What are its functions?
Charaka: Pitta digests, gives colour, warms, produces hunger and thirst, transforms things and helps in vision.
Devadatta: Now I get it. Kapha must be like water!
Charaka: Yes, it gives the body form, cohesion, and stability. Devadatta, can you infer the properties of Kapha? Just think of water and you will be able to do it.
Devadatta: Water holds things together. It binds flour into dough. That must be its cohesive nature. It is cool to the touch, like river water in the early morning. It moves slowly, unless something disturbs it. That shows its slowness. It is heavier than air and fire. It moves downwards.
Charaka: I appreciate your efforts. Please continue.
Devadatta: Water is smooth and soft and makes things slippery. That is its smoothness and moisture. Water also settles and stays unless stirred. That shows its steadiness in comparison to fire or wind. And when it mixes with earth, it becomes thick and dense, like clay. That must explain its density.
Charaka: Well said. Kapha is what holds and nourishes. It is smooth, heavy, cold, slow, dense, moist, clear and stable.
Rohita: Are the three Doṣa made up of pañca mahābhūta?
Charaka: Yes, Vāta arises from ākāśa (space) and vāyu (air), Pitta from agni (fire) and a small measure of ap (water), and Kapha from ap (water) and pṛthvī (earth).
Kumara: Is what we have studied about Vāta, Pitta, and Kapha final because it has been explained by great teachers like yourself?
Charaka: Never assume finality. Even I am not the ultimate authority. Ayurveda honours knowledge, not persons. As new observations and new thoughts arise, knowledge must evolve. That is the path of true inquiry.
Kumara: So, what we take as true today may be shown to be incomplete or incorrect in the future?
Charaka: Certainly. Truth is not frozen. In Ayurveda, we rely on perception, observation, inference, and trustworthy instruction. These should converge. When they diverge, we must examine further.
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