Dhatus (seven body tissues)

A footnote says vāta, pitta and kapha vitiate the tissues (dhātu) and are therefore called vitiators (dūṣaka).

The introduction says the gross dhātus appear in increasing order as animal bodies become more complex: some creatures have only rasa and rakta, some rasa, rakta and māṁsa, and some rasa, rakta, māṁsa, asthi, majjā and śukra. Whichever of these a body has or lacks, the three dhātus are always present, and bodily activity runs with the help of all three.

Note: The list as printed does not name meda.

The introduction says that without the help of the gross pācaka pitta, kledaka kapha and samāna vāyu mixing with the food, food is not digested, its juice is not absorbed, rasa dhātu is not formed, and from rasa the gross dhātus up to rakta, māṁsa, asthi, majjā, śukra, ojas and param ojas are not formed. After vipāka the food juice (annarasa) is formed; mixed with parts of the three dhātus it is called rasa dhātu. Rasa is digested to form the parts of rakta, which join the blood, and so on to the later dhātus; when a later dhātu forms from an earlier one it takes in and assimilates part of the earlier, and this happens through the three dhātus.

It says the elemental parts (bhūtāṁśa) are digested by the dhātvagni, so the chain from eaten food to the dhātus continues, and the turnover of food and dhātus runs on like a wheel; this is called the order of nourishment of the dhātus (dhātupoṣaṇa-krama). Nourished dhātus nourish the organs, cells and atoms, and vāyu, pitta and kapha are the causes of all this nourishment, helping to nourish rasa, rakta, māṁsa and the other dhātus and nourishing themselves as well.

The text says the food and drink a person takes are digested into rasa, and from rasa arise in turn blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow and semen, the seven dhatus.

The seven dhatus are described as forming with the help of elements (bhuta) of hot and cold nature and of the specific doshas, so the elements and doshas are named as chief auxiliary causes of their formation.

Quoting Ksharapani, the text says rasa becomes two, breast milk and blood; blood becomes menstrual fluid and flesh; flesh becomes vessels and fat; fat becomes sinews and bone; bone becomes marrow-fat (vasa) and marrow; marrow becomes marrow and semen; and from semen the embryo arises. A verse gives the sequence rasa, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow, semen and then offspring, and the text says this formation of the dhatus and upadhatus was taught by the authorities and skilled knowers of rasa.

Asked whether eaten meat increases the body's flesh as meat or through the sequence of rasa and the other dhatus, the translation answers that it does not increase it as meat, there being no augmenting relation between meat and the body (as between a wall and a lump of clay) and the idea being against doctrine; the body grows only through the sequence of rasa and the rest.

Quoting Ksharapani, the translation says rasa divides into breast milk and blood; blood into menstrual blood and flesh; flesh into sinews and bone; bone into vasa and marrow; marrow into marrow and semen; and from semen the embryo arises. A verse gives the sequence rasa, blood, flesh, fat, (bone,) marrow, semen and then offspring, and this formation of dhatus and upadhatus is said to have been taught by physicians who see the truth and by very skilled aptas.