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MahÄ�bhūta is Sanskrit and PÄ�li for „great element.“In Hinduism, the five „great“ or „gross“ elements are ether, air, fire, water and earth. In Buddhism, the „four great elements“ (Pali: cattÄ�ro mahÄ�bhūtÄ�ni) are earth, water, fire and air. Read more: > HERE <

The Principle of Vata, Pitta and Kapha

The Physiology of Âyurveda is the physiology of the all-important trio, Vâta, Pitha and Kapha or Tridosha as they are generally called. Anybody, even faintly acquainted with Ayurveda, must have frequently come across the terms Vâyu, Pitha and Kapha. But very few have any clear idea of what is really meant by the terms. Every grown-up Indian has some vague idea about Vayu, Pitta and Kapha, and the terms are also used in common parlance. But in the majority of instances, the popular conception is quite different from the medical one. We have ample reference in Ayurvedic literature to the properties and different functions of Vatu, Pitta and Kapha, both in their normal and abnormal conditions. But we have no direct evidence by which we can come to a definite conclusion regarding the ultimate nature of these three substances. All that we can do is to make some inference based on reason, by a comparison of the original texts of Charaka, Sushruta and others and supplemented by such evidence as we can get from non-medical sources.

Yet Vâtha, Pitha and Kapha are the three entities on which stands the whole foundation of Ayurveda; we have to deal with them from the beginning to the end. Without their proper knowledge, successful treatment of diseases according to the Ayurvedic System is quite impossible. Before proceeding further, it is necessary that we should know something of the conception of the ancient Hindus regarding the physical world. Charaka and Sushrutha have mainly followed the Nyâya-Vaisheshikha and Sâmkhya-­Yoga systems of Philosophy and occasionally the Vedanta view of the five Bhuta.

The nature and Physical Properties of the Tridosha.

The fundamental principle underlying the Ayurvedic System of Medicine is that of the Tridosha. In a nutshell, this Principle may be stated as follows:

There are three Dosha, Vâyu, Pitta and Kapha, which when in equilibrium keep the body sound, but which when vitiated, either singly or in combination, bring about diseases. The method of treatment would therefore be to bring the vitiated Dosha back to normal state, so that the three Dosha are again in equilibrium. We have seen that Âyurveda developed from the four Vedas; it is also regarded as a supplement of the Atharva Veda. But nowhere in the four Vedas can we find any specific mention of these substances.

It is in the Rig Veda only (1.3.6) that we find what may be regarded as the root idea of Vâyu, Pitta and Kapha :

“Tri-no asvinÄ� divyÄ�ni bhesajÄ� trih pÄ�rthivÄ�ni trirudattamadvyaha;

Om�nam samyor-manma k�yasunave tridh�tu sarma vahatam subhaspat�.

Here “tridhÄ�du sarma vahatam” has been explained thus by the commentator SÄ�yana: That is to say that when the three Dhâtu – Vâyu, Pitta and Kapha – remain normal and undisturbed, the body is at ease and there is no disease.

With the advancement of the knowledge, when the science of medicine was systematically studied, Âyurveda as a separate and special subject evolved out of the Vedas. The Principle of Vâyu Pttha and Kapha, was then fully developed and so we find copious reference to these terms in the Mahâ Bhârata and Upanishads.

Draya explained:

Dravya is defined as „that which contains in it action and quality and is a co-existent cause“. (C. S. I. 1.50 ; V. S. I. 1. 15). Substances exist and have qualities. We have two kinds of qualities, those which reside in a plurality of objects and those which are confined to individuals. The former are the general qualities (sâmânya), while the latter are distinguished as permanent (guna) and transitory (karma). Inherence is a special kind of relation. Relations are of two kinds. external like, conjunction (samyoga), or internal like inherence (samavâya). The first is regarded as a quality and the second is made a separate category.

The Vaisheshika believes that a substance is something over, and above the qualities. It is anxious to assert the existence of something which has qualities without being itself a quality, for we predicate qualities of substances and not qualities of qualities. Nor can it be said that we predicate one quality of a group of qualities. But since a substance cannot be conceived apart from qualities, it is defined as possessing qualities.

Qualities and action exist by combination with substance. Without substance, there were no qualities or action. Similarly, genus and species are correlative and are not absolute, except in the case of the highest genus which is Existence (bhâva) and the lowest species which is vishesha or individual characteristics appertaining to and inhering in the external substances. Genus and species, therefore, exist by combination with substances. Without substances, there were no genus and species. Similarly Samavâya or combination is “the intimate connection in the inseparably connected things“, e.g. parts and wholes of substances and their qualities, of action and the seat of action of genus and species and substances in which they reside, and of external substances and their ultimate differences. Without substance, then, there were no combination. Substance or dravya, therefore, is the fundamental reality.

Dravyas are nine in number, viz. the five Bhutas,

• 1. ­Prthivi (Earth)
• 2. Apah (Water)
• 3. Tejas (Fire)
• 4. Vâyu (Air)
• 5. Âkâsha (Ether

and

• 6. âtman (Soul)
• 7. Manas (Mind)
• 8. Dish or dik (Space) and
• 9. Kâla (Time).

These nine substances are intended to comprise all corporeal (murta) and incorporeal (a-murta) things. Ether, time and space are all-pervading, have the largest dimensions and are the common receptacles of all corporeal things. Soul and mind, Ether, time and space, Air and the ultimate atoms are not ordinarily perceptible, (V. S. VIII. 1.2).

[It must be clearly understood here that whenever we use the terms Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether, we use them only to denote the five bhutas and not in the sense of ordinary earth, water, air, fire or ether]

Charaka says that dravyas are of two varieties, – animate and inanimate. Those endowed with the senses are called animate; those devoid of senses are inanimate,­ (Sendriyam cetanam dravyam, nirindriyam acetanam, C. S. I. 1. 47.)

The Nature Of Citta According To The Yogasutras Of Patanjali

The five Mahâbhutas

The five Mahâbhuta originate from the five Tanmâtra. Of these, the Prthivi helps the other four by being their support. Ap helps the other four by moistening. Tejas helps the others by ripening. Marut helps by drying and Akâsha helps the other four by giving space. Prthivi is possessed of five qualities, – sound, touch, colour, taste and smell. Ap is possessed of four qualities,- sound, touch, colour and taste. Tejas is possessed of three qualities, sound; touch and colour. Vâyu is possessed of two qualities, – sound and touch. Akâsha has only one quality, sound.

We thus get :

Âkâsha/ Aether – (Sound-essence)

Vâyu/ Air – (Sound + touch)

Tejas/ Fire – (Sound + touch + colour)

Ap/ Water – (Sound + touch + colour + taste)

Prthivi/ Earth – (Sound + touch + colour + taste + smell).

Though Earth contains a number of qualities; we yet say that it has smell, on account of the predominance of this quality. If water and other substances besides earth possess smell, it is because particles of Earth are mixed up with them. We cannot think of Earth without smell, though we can so think of air and water. The special quality of Water is taste. Fire has for its special quality luminosity. Air is invisible, though limited in extent and made up of parts. The discrete nature of Air is inferred from the movements in the air, which would not be possible were Air an absolute continuum devoid of parts (V. S. II.1.14). Its existence is inferred from its special quality of touch and it is said to be a substance, since it possesses quality and action.

According to the Vaisheshika, the ultimate constituents of the concrete things of earth, air, fire and water are called paramânu or atoms.

Charaka has pointed out the primary qualities or special physical characters, of the five Bhuta in a different way. He says, „The characteristic of Earth is rough­ness, that of Water liquidity, of Air expansion, of Fire heat and that of Ether non-resistance. All these qualities are perceived through the sense of touch,“ -„Sparshendriya gocharam“, (C. S, IV. 1,27 ).

Bhutas are not elements

The Bhuta has been translated as ‚element‘. This is misleading. Bhutas are not elements and paramânus are not atoms or molecules in the modern sense of the terms. Modern writers laugh at the idea of calling the earth, water, fire, air and ether elements, ignoring the fact that a Bhuta is just an element, in the chemical sense of a substance that cannot be further analysed. „On referring to any Vaisheshika manual, it will be clear that what is ordinarily known as ‚earth‘, is not regarded by the Vaisheshika to be an ‚element‘ – in the technical sense; if it were so regarded, then alone could the Vaisheshika view be stigmatised as primitive and unscientific. The touch of ‚Earth‘ in its pure state is said to be ’neither hot nor cold’ so also the touch of ‚Air‘ and when asked why the ordinary earth and ordinary air are found to be very far from ’neither hot nor cold‘, the Vaisheshika explains that this is due to earth and air being mixed up with particles of Fire or Water, which make them hot or cold. From this, it is clear that what is regarded as ‚element‘ is not the earth etc., as we know and see them, but as they exist in their pristine and pure state, un­mixed with any other substances“. Just as an atom of a chemical element has no free and independent existence, so also the five Bhutas in their pure state are never found in nature. What we find are compounds of the five Bhutas, mixed together in different proportions; that is to say, all gross matter is penta-bhautika.

Psychological explanation of the five Bhutas

The question may be asked, why were only five Bhutas postulated? Now, God has endowed us with only five senses, neither more nor less. The external world can only be apprehended by us through these five senses or Indriya. There is no other source which can give any information about matter which constitutes the physical world. For one particular lndriya, there is only one particular sense-object. The srotarerdriya or the sense of hearing can appreciate only the quality of sound. Sound, touch, colour, taste and smell are the five sense-objects corresponding to the five senses. These are gunas, and as such cannot exist independently by them­selves, but must have some receptacle. In this way, we get five receptacles,- the five Bhutas.

What, for example, is the ‚atom‘ of Earth, but an ultimate material substratum of odour. On the other hand, let us take the case of the coloured gas Chlorine. It can be felt, smelt, tasted and seen. We are cognizant of its existence by at least four different sensory impressions; therefore it is not an element in the Vaisheshika sense of the term; it must be composed of at least four different Bhuta. The Hindu classification of matter into five Bhuta is, therefore, not at all absurd, as is supposed by many scientists who have an altogether different viewpoint.

According to Dr. Ganganath Jha, what the Vaisheshika means by saying that there are five Bhuta, is that there are five states of matter, viz., solid (Earth), liquid (Water), gaseous (Air), luminous (Fire) and etheric (Akâsha). It is better, however, to regard them as the Ashrayas or repositories of the five qualities,. viz. of smell, etc.

The confusion has been introduced by denoting the Bkutas by terms which are also used with reference to external objects of matter, such as earth, etc. But, as Hoffding says, „because language was developed under the influence of attention directed to the external world, we find that expressions for mental phenomena were originally taken from the material world. The inner „World behind is denoted by symbols borrowed from the „outer world of space“.

Contemplation of the elements (dhatu, mahabhuta) as a meditation method taught by the Buddha.

Hindu Medicine and the Vedas:

There is no doubt that the germ of Hindu medicine was laid in the Vedas. Because in all the four Vedas, – Rig, Yajur, Sâma and Athravana, – we find ample reference to medicine, drugs, methods of treatment and descriptions of the different parts and organs of the human body.

For example, reference is made to Dhanvantari in R.V IX. 112. In R.V. 1.117. 13 and V.74.5, we find that Chyavana was rejuvenated by the Ashvini Kumâras. ln 1. 23. 19, the medicinal properties of water are described. Reference is made to phthisis in R. V. X. 163 and to the organs of the body in R. V. III. 36.8, III. 50. 6, VI. 53. 8, VIII. 1. 26, X. 1. 84, X. 163 and X. 186. Similarly in the Sâma Veda II. 10. 70. 184 and in the White Yajur Veda XII.74. 75 and the 16 hymns that follow, we have reference to the medicinal properties of drugs.

But it is the Atharvana Veda which deals more fully with medicine. Here we have reference not only to mineral and vegetable drugs but also the causes of diseases (A. V. I. 23, 24, 36 ). „This work in its tenth book contains“, as Dr. Hroernle notes, „a hymn (the second) on the creation of man, in which the several parts of the skeleton are carefully and orderly enumerated in, striking agreement more specially with the system of Atreya as contained in Charaka’s Compendium“.

It is for this reason that the Ayurveda is generally included in the Atharvana Veda. This is also distinctly indicated by both Charaka and Sushruta. Sushruta (1. 1) calls it the Upânga of Atharvana Veda; and in Charaka ­Samhiaf (1. 30), we find that Atreya’s advice to his pupils was to have faith in the Atharvana Veda, because the latter deals with the treatment of diseases in the form of religious rites, sacrifices, oblations, expiation, fasts, the chanting of hymns, etc.

If we take the time of the Vedas to be 2000 B. C., we see that as early as this, the practice of medicine was in a very crude form. Nowhere in the four Vedas, can we find any mention of the term ‚Ayurveda‘. So we may take it that when later on the medical side of the Vedas was more fully and systematically developed, it formed a separate subject by itself and came to be known as Ayurveda.

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