Theories of tissue nourishment - part2

BLOG BY DR.HEMANGINI WAGHULADE

            DHATUPOSHANA NYAAYAS - PART 2

                               (Different Theories Related To Nourishment Of Tissues)

               KEDARA-KULYA NYAYA (LAW OF TRANSMISSION)

According to this theory, the process of nourishment of tissues can be linked to irrigation of different fields by water from a canal.

         

                 Kedar means paddy fields, Kulya means Canal. This nyaya compares the nourishment of  tissues with irrigation canals in fields. Kedar Kulya Nyaya means nourishment of dhatus by transportation process just as different fields are irrigated from the same canal passing through those fields one after another. The water that flows through canal first irrigate the nearest field and then it goes further to irrigate the next field and this process goes on.Aahara rasa contains nutrients of all    tissues.As rasa dhatu is nearest; it reaches to rasavaha srotas first. According to this law, When aahara rasa reaches rasa dhatu through rasavaha srotas,with the help of rasa dhatvagni,it nourishes     rasa dhatu and some portion of ahara rasa attains the characteristics of rasa dhatu.The remaining part of ahara rasa proceeds to raktavaha srotas and nourishes rakta dhatu. Like this  aahar rasa circulate from tissue to tissue to nourish them one after another.

From this law it is clear that dhatus are nourished by aahara rasa through specific dhatuvaha srotas or channel and with the help of dhatvagni ,a part of aahara rasa or dhatuposhaka amsha nourishes the specific dhatu.This law also indicates that rasa dhatu is nourished earlier than mamsa as it is nearer to channel and mamsa dhatu is farther away.Also it is clear that rakta dhatu is formed after rasa dhatu and so on.By this law, action of milk on shukra can be explained.Also it is clear that medavriddhi cannot necessarily cause asthivriddhi.

  

KHALE KAPOTA NYAYA (LAW OF SELECTION)

According to this theory,  process of nourishment of dhatus takes place by selection.Khala means khalian or field where in the grains are heaped after cutting the crop. Kapota means Dove or pigeon.

Khale Kapota Nyaya means selection of individual items of requirement by individual dhatwagnis from aahar rasa which can contain all the nutrient principles.

As pigeons come from different directions & distances to heap of grains on field or floor and fly away after collecting some part to their own places of dwelling either early or late depending upon distance and direction they require to travel, similarly nourishment of tissues take place. The field indicates aahara rasa.The pigeons are poshaka dhatus..The dwellings or nests are sthayee or stable dhatus . The travelling route of pigeon indicates respective dhatuvaha srotas.

Aahara rasa is a pool of nutrients of all tissues. It is transported to sthayee dhatus through specific channels. The nutrients required for each dhatu is selected by specific channel and thus dhatus get nourished. The nearest channel is of rasa dhatu so rasa dhatu gets nourished first and so on.

From This law, it is clear that sequence of replenishment of dhatus is uniform i.e.after rasa dhatu poshana kala,rakta poshana kala starts and so on. By this law action of milk on shukra can be explained.also it is clear that medavriddhi cannot necessarily cause asthivriddhi.Also it is not necessary that  vitiated rasa dhatu should lead to vitiate further dhatus.

Among all these theories,Kshir-Dadhi nyaya is criticised by most of the commentators.According to Chakradatta,,Kedar-Kulya nyaya and Khale-Kapot nyaya are equally  acceptable.According to Sushruta Commentator Dalhana,Kedar-Kulya nyaya is more relevant.

Concluding all above,all three laws are important and any one law does not satisfy the transformation of nutrients to dhatus.All laws are equivalent to each other.They do not interfere or oppose each other. So it can be stated that  aahara rasa reaches to specific channel according to kedarakulya nyaya.Nutrients in aahara rasa are selected as per tissue requirements according to khale kapot nyaya and finally dhatuposhak amshas i.e. nutrients are transformed into dhatus according to kshira dadhi nyaya.One should therefore accept all these laws together and interpret the transformation and nourishment of seven tissues with application of all these laws.

EKAKALA DHATU POSHAN SIDDHANTA

This Principle was said by Arunadutta, the commentator of Ashtanga hridaya.

Since  aahara rasa percolates into all  dhatuvaha srotas at a time uniformly, it can be presumed that all the dhatus are nourished simultaneously without any time gap. This is known as eka kala dhatu poshana nyaya. This law is universally accepted without any criticism.

This principle can be better explained by the example of sprinklers in the field. With the help of sprinklers, the whole field is irrigated at one time. Similarly with the help of vyana vayu,Aahara rasa nourishes all dhatus at a time without interruption, throughout life.