by Sheela Rani Chunkath
One of Ayurveda's fundamental principles for maintaining good health is in maintaining a balance of doshas along with a few other precautions. Many of my articles have talked about the vata dosha and the problems created when it is vitiated.
Ashtanga Hridaya and Ashtanga Sangraha have explained in detail about this dosha as well as about the pitta and kapha doshas.
Each dosha according to our acharyas is predominant in certain parts of our body. The seats of vata dosha are the colon (called pakvashyam in Sanskrit), the hips, the lower limbs, the ears, the bones and the skin. The special seat of vata, however, is said to be the colon.
From the above one can appreciate what happens when there is accumulation of gas or vitiation of vata in the body. Normally it is at the hip region that one gets stiffness or pain, again it is in the hip region that one gets a sprain when awkwardly lifting a bucket. Pain begins in the colon area and we feel pain in the bones also. While travelling in a plane when the air balance in your ear is affected, you get a sharp pain. These are all indications of vitiation of vata. Again, when there is cold air, it is your skin that is affected, looking parched and dried out.
Vata first gets vitiated in these areas and if you do nothing to pacify it, it moves or migrates to other areas which are not its own and the disease is said to have progressed to the next stage. When a dosha gets vitiated in its designated seat it is called chaya. When it gets further vitiated it normally moves to other sites and this aggravation is then called prakoba.
An intelligent person atempts to tackle the vitiation at the chaya stage itself. One of the important palliative or shamana therapy for treating vitiation of vata is the use of oil. Oiling the body can restore the dosha back to normalcy if the vitiation is still in its initial stage. However, if the dosha has become very vitiated and has moved to prakoba stage, more aggressive therapies will have to be used called shodanam. One such therapy is vasti or enema with oil and drugs which will expel the dosha out of the system.
Vata is of five types, i.e. prana, udana, vyana, samana and apana. Prana is located in the head and governs the proper functioning of one's intelligence and sense organs. This may be one of the reasons that our grandmothers insisted on oiling ones hair every day and periodically applying oil to the ears, nose, eyes etc.
Udana vata is located in the thoracic cavity and governs our speech and memory. When udana is vitiated, often times we cannot speak well. Many singers keep their throat free from vata by consuming ghee regularly.
Vyana vata is located in the hridya or heart and all motor functions are said to be controlled by this vayu.
Samana vata is located near the jatharagni or digestive fire in the gastro-intestinal tract. If this is vitiated, digestion is adversely affected.
Apana vayu is located near the pelvis and is concerned with secretion of semen and the expulsion of the foetus. A mother-to-be needs this vayu to be not vitiated and in balance to have a normal delivery.
The key to keeping the vata dosha under control and in balance is to rely on the judicious use of oil and fats.
--- The writer is retired Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu. She can be reached at Sheelarani.arogyamantra@gmail. com. Earlier articles can be accessed at http://arogyamantra.blogspot.com/