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Yoga Dissertations by MSc Students

Part I: A Study on Prakrti with respect to Physical Features of the Body in Ayurveda
Part II: Development of Dhanvantari Personality Inventory (Part I) based on Tridosa with respect to Physical Features of the Body.
By
Mangala S

ABSTRACT

Part I: A Study on Prakrti with respect to Physical Features of the Body in Ayurveda

The word prakåti means nature or natural form of the constitution of the body. This report, about the prakåti with respect to physical features starts with the introduction about prakåti, its formation and the factors responsible for the formation of prakåti. The following chapter tells about the characteristics of the persons with different prakåtis by various authors like Caraka, Suçruta, Vagbhata and laghutrayé’s. This literature survey is an attempt to compile all the information and about the prakåti and its types and the characteristics mentioned in various texts as told by different authors. This would also help to understand the prakåti and try to analyze the prakåti he belongs to.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

The characteristics of all the types of prakriti as described in Ayurveda has been compiled. Sushrutacharya has also mentioned about the 16 kayas relating to trigunas. He has described each and every characteristics of kaya which has been compiled in this study. This would really help in the field of Yoga as it emphasises the mind and the triguna aspect of the mind.
In Bhagavadgita, Sri Krishana in 14th chapter tells about the trigunas arising of prakriti and has also told about the characteristics of each of the three. He also tells that one who has transended of gunas enjoys immortality.
In Ayurveda, a person is said to be healthy only when his dosha, dhatu are in normalcy, malas expelled properly and a happy soul, mind and organs function. Therefore the tridosha and triguna has to be balanced . So by knowing the imbalance in doshas, it can be set right by medicine, diet, Yoga and exercise. Similarly in Yoga, triguna has been emphsised and that can be brought to balance by Yoga, meditation, Bhakti Yoga etc. So Yoga and Ayurveda go hand in hand to make a person healthy.This study would also help to understand the nature of the person and this would help in treating the disease of the person and also selecting the diet of an individual and to select the occupation and also a suitable partner in life by understanding the nature of a person.

 Part II: Development of Dhanvantari Personality Inventory (Part I) based on Tridosa with respect to Physical Features of the Body.

Prakåti is the original nature of the person. There are very few studies to assess the prakåti of an individual. The present study is designed to assess the prakåti of a person with respect to physical features of the body. The inventory was developed according to the äyurvedic scriptures and Ayurvedic texts. A total of 150 questions were framed which included both physical features and the features with respect to ahara vihara and vichara. It was then given to four ayurvedic experts and the study was divided into developing of the physical checklist and the questionnaire with respect to ahara, vihara and vichara. The part1 of dhanvantari personality inventory DPI (part1) which was framed comprised of 23 points with respect to tridosha and was given to ten Ayurvedic experts for their opinion and changed accordingly. Part 2 of this inventory is developed by Dr. Vasudev Vaidya, student of SVYASA. The DPI (part 1) prepared was then administered on the subjects between 10 to 17 years of age including both the sexes. Total of 350 subjects were taken for the test for validation and 100 subjects for retest for reliability after duration of 10 days with the same checklist. 35 students among the 350 students assessed were taken to two äyurvedic experts and the results were cross validated with their evaluation. Data analysis was done using SPSS version and the result showed there is a strong validity for the checklist at r=0.52 at p<0.001 with respect to physician’s evaluation and a reliability co-efficient r  1.000 using both split-half and spearman co-efficient tests were obtained.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The present study is an attempt to develop a DPI (part 1) with respect to physical features of prakriti.
The sample selected were 350 school children from 4 different English Medium schools in Bangalore, comprising of both sexes. The students were in the age group of 10-17 years.
The DPI (part 1) was developed by referring to old questionnaires and Ayurvedic scriptures like Caraka samhita, Sushrutha samhita and Astangahrudaya. The DPI (part 1) prepared was given to 10 ayurvedic expert for content validation and then given for psychologists for standardization. The DPI (part 1) developed was then administered on 350 school students and re administered in 100 of them for test and retest reliability. The DPI (part 1) was cross validated with the DPI (part 1) developed by Dr.Vasudeva vaidya, a student of sVYASA (350 students) and with the Ayurvedic expert’s opinion (35 students). The following are the results obtained.

1. Split half analysis showed a reliability of 1.000 which is highly significant and the cross validation with physician evaluation is .520.
2. Correlation with the DPI (part 2)  developed by Dr Vaidya is

Keywords: Prakrti, Ayurveda,Dhanvantari Personality Inventory, Tridosa.