The kinds of dosha

The doshas are counted as ten: three singly (vāta, pitta, kapha), three in pairs (vāta-pitta, vāta-kapha, kapha-pitta) and four in the combination of all three (all together, or one of the three mild with the other two dominant). Blood is counted along with the doshas and called a dosha, and because it is vitiated by vāta and the others it is also called a tissue (dhātu). Footnotes give a variant reading and explain that the three doshas are called vitiators (dūṣaka) because they vitiate the tissues.