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Untitled Document
Part I: A Study on Prakrti with respect to Ahara, Vihara and Vicara
Part II: Development of Dhanwantri Personality Inventory Based on Tridosa with respect to Ahara, Vihara and Vicara
By
Vaidya Vasudeva
ABSTRACT
Part I: A Study on Prakrti with respect to Ahara, Vihara and Vicara
Ayurveda presents the personality as “prakåti”, a sanskrit word. The word prakåti means “nature” or natural form of constitution of body.
It consists of two syllables “pra” and “kåti”. “pra” when used as a prefix to verbs means forward, forth , onward, before, in front. With adjectives it may vary excessively and with nouns it means beginning, commencement, source of origin. The syllable kåti means manufacturing, creation, performing and is derived form the root “kå” which means to perform, to form, to arrange etc. Therefore they jointly mean” natural form” or the status, the original source. When a man is in the original state without change in the anatomy or physiological functions, completely in good health he may be said to be in prakåti state. Here an attempt is made to compile all the information about the prakåti as explained in ayurvedic scriptures.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Caraka, Sushruta and Vagbhata explain ahara, vihara and vicara of vata, pitta and kapha as follows.
- Vata prakrti - less sleep, awake most of the time, inconsistent in his action, food and movement, mind is very unstable, talkative, quick in initiating actions, irritated and onset of morbid manifestation, quick in affliction with fear, quick in likes and dislikes, quick in understanding things and forgetting, intolerant for cold things and often gets afflicted with cold, shivering and stiffness.
- Pitta prkrti - intolerant of hot things, having hot face, excessive hunger and thirst, sharp physical strength, strong digestive power, intake of food and drink in large quantities, inability to face difficult situations and glutton habits. One voids the stools and urine in large quantities and even sweats a lot. There is insufficiency of semen, sexual desire and procreation.
- Kapha prkrti - firmness of mind, slow in action, slow in intake of food and movement, low in initiating actions, getting irritated and morbid manifestations. There is lack of intensity of hunger, thirst, heat and perspiration.
- Contribution of study - There are several books in English language by contemporary writers (Subodha, Chopras, Kasture,) about ahara, vihara and vichara according to Ayurveda. All of them have taken references only from one or two traditional texts. The present study has referred all available literature (Major and minor) from traditional texts and hence it is more comprehensive material.
Part II: Development of Dhanwantri Personality Inventory Based on Tridosa with respect to Ahara, Vihara and Vicara
Personality is defined as a deeply ingrained pattern of behavior that includes mode of perception relating to and thinking about once self and the surrounding environment. There are many ways of understanding and interpreting these characteristics and from time to time many scholars tried to define them. Theories, speculations and hypothesis are developed all over the world, defining and assessing human behavior in terms of his unique trails and types. Ayurveda emphasizes the assessment and categorization of prakrti of a person which reflects the functioning of the body, before the examination of any disease condition and it is possible to avoid sickness with promotion of positive well being along with adoption of suitable ways of life and food habits for particular seasons. The present study was aimed at developing a questionnaire for the assessment of prakrti of a person with respect to ähära, vihära and vicära. Even though there are many questionnaires, none of them have been standardized. A systematic study to validate these has not been published. The present questionnaire was developed according to the äyurvedic scriptures and was studied on school students of both the sexes, aged between 10 to 17 years. A total of 350 students were involved for the test validation and 100 students for test retest for reliability after ten days. 35 students were subjected to individual clinical assessment by experienced Ayurveda physicians for validity. The data was analyzed using SPSS version. The results showed a strong cross validity for the questionnaire at r=1.0 at 0.001 level with physician diagnosing criteria and a reliability co-efficient of 0.913 after using both split-half and Spearman co-efficient tests. The results hence have shown that the questionnaire stands valid and reliable under the present boundaries of study.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
The present study is an attempt to develop a personality questionnaire called DPI based on Ayurveda concepts of health consisting of ahara, vihara, vichara of tridosas. The questionnaire was developed by pooling items from available questionnaires in English and Ayurvedic classics including caraka samhita, Sushrutha samhita and Astangahrudaya. The questionnaire then subjected to test and retest reliability on 100 randomly selected students from the pool of 350. Further the validity of the questionnaire was checked by correlating the dosha type of the student obtained on DPI with the clinical evaluation by Ayurveda physician, on 35 students randomly selected out of 350. found by cross validation by physical check list developed by Dr.Mangala, student of Svyasa for 350 students and with the evaluation of prakrti by Ayurvedic experts for 35 students.
The questionnaire was administered to the school students in groups and the data was obtained analysis of result showed that.
1. Questionnaire is reliable since reliability is significant at .9126
2. Questionnaire is valid since correlation between questionnaire and physical checklist developed by Dr. Mangala, is significant at 0.6115 and with prakrti evaluated by doctors is significant at 1.000
3. Correlation between the items not significant which indicates that each items was assessing a specific aspect.
Hence this tool can be used as a basis for developing similar tools to suit people across different sections of the society at large. Such endeavors will go a long way in preventing most of the geriatric problems and counter the effects of the disease thus helping to create a disease free society
Keywords:Prakrti, Ahara, Vihara,Vicara,
Dhanwantri Personality Inventory,Tridosa.
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