Sharirposhanam

SHARIRAPOSHANAM.

Annapachanam(Digestion):-

Food or the ahar is the base of the living beings.The living beings die if they don’t get food.The nourishment and the building up of the body tissues as well as the intelligence,voice,complexion,strength, happiness etc. which are the body and mind factors depend upon the food.

The desire to survive is the first and foremost desire of the living beings.The food is of two kinds:-1)Drava-solid and 2)Adrava (liquid).

Milk,water,buttermilk etc. are the liquid foods.Rice,wheat, cereals,fruits,flesh etc. are the solid foodstuffs.Further the foodstuff is divided into cereals(dhanyavarga),fruits(phalavarga),leafy vegetables (shakavarga),flesh,meat,chicken etc(mansavarga) and so on.

Some kind of food is aquired from sea or rivers.External foodstuffs is different from the body tissues;i.e.;the dhatus like ras, rakta,mansa etc.

How does this food gets converted into the dhatus, upadhatus and malas?

The characteristics and qualities of the food have tobe changed completely so that they are assimilated in the body.This change of food to the body tissues is known as  ahar parinama in ayurveda.

The previous constitution of food molecules is destroyed and transformed into ahar ras.The pak kriya;i.e.;digestion is carried out by the jatharagni.Parinati means pachan or digestion.In the ahar parinati process,the foodstuff is supposed tobe upadan cause ;i.e.; inseparable cause.

Characteristics of the ahar (ahar svarupa):-

According to Charak’s classification,there are 3 types of substances (dravyas):-1)Jangam,2)Audbhid,3)Parthiva.

Jangam food is the one which is obtained from animals.For ex:-milk,curd,butter,chicken,mutton etc.

Audbhid is the foodstuff obtained from the earth.For ex:-the cereals,rice,wheat,monocotyledons,dicotyledons,various types of edible oils,vegetables,fruits etc.

The water,salt and other minerals are pathiva foodstuffs and they are inorganic in nature.

A living being always desires to have that food which is suitable for its survival.That food which is suitable for certain habitat and prakruti.

Rasadi gunas:-

In all there are 6 rasas in foodstuffs:-1)Madhura-sweet,

2)Amla-sour,

3)Lavana-salty,

4)Katu-pungent,

5)Tikta-bitter,

6)Kashaya-astringent.

The rasanendriya;i.e.;tongue is the main organ which recognizes the sense of taste.The desired rasa is taken by our body and it stimulates the apetite.The foods like rice,wheat,suger,dates,meat,ghee, milk etc. are sweet in taste.The sweet rasa is supposed tobe Satmya throughout life and hence it makes our dhatus strong and healthy.Ras dhatu,mansa,meda,majja and shukra are the 5 dhatus mainly sweet in taste.Hence the sweet foodstuff is preferably used to build up the body.The curds,lime,buttermilk,timarnd etc. are sour in taste.The common salt and various other salts are salty in taste.The papper, sunthi,pimpali,chillies are pungent in taste.The bitter gourd,feneegreek are bitter in taste.Fanum,papitha,hirda are astringent in taste.All the rasas help our body in one or the another way.Excess of any one rasa may lead to imbalance in the doshas,dhatus and malas.Usually hot food is suitable for us.The ancient sages have recommended to have the food fresh and hot,as it stimulates the agni.Anupan(liquids) shouldbe taken after eating food.

At the room temperature especially in the summer the type and the method of taking anupan differs according to the diseases and the atmosphere.The complexion of our body also depends on our food. Proper food gives luster to the skin,strength to the dhatus and nourish the organs.

The foodstuff which have qualities and panchabhautika constitution same as those of the dhatus in the body helps to increase those dhatus quantitatively as well as qualitatively.Basically,the ahar we eat is of two types:-1)having the same or equal qualities and 2)having excess of equal qualities.The dhatus increase with the foodstuffs having same qualities.For ex:-The mans dhatu increases by eating mutton, chicken etc.The principle canbe applied to all other dhatus.