Humours (Ayurveda)


 * Humours in Ayurveda

Ayurveda uses a different concept of humours than the four humours of traditional Greco-Roman and European medieval medicine. There are some parallels between the two paradigms (for example, bile can be equated to pitta and phlegm to kapha). However, it must be borne in mind that the word humour is an English word, while Ayurveda uses Sanskrit terms exclusively. The Sanskrit term for which humour is sometimes proferred as a translation is Dosha (or, sometimes, Dosa).

Whereas humours were considered fluids, Ayurvedic doshas are the manifestifestions of elemental forces in the physical body and not isolatable physical substances in themselves.


 * For more information, see the main article on Ayurveda.