Ayurvedic Marman
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The five vata (vayu) subdoshas in Figure 6 are thought to be responsible for the functions of respiration, speech, appetite, circulation and evacuation (Thakkur, 1974). They are believed to represent homeostatic functions in the body and include physiological mechanisms such as cell excitation (Dahanukar and Thatte, 1989). Organ function is thought to be governed by the 15 subdoshas which represent different aspects of prana. This is similar to the Chinese idea of qi; “Qi takes various forms in the body fulfilling a variety of functions” (Macioccia, 1989, p 41). These forms of qi can be described as “gathering qi”, “true qi”, “nutritive qi” and “defensive qi”, each originating from “original qi” and assigned to a particular organ (Macioccia, 1989). A summary of information received from Ayurvedic interview sources regarding the theoretical role of the 15 subdoshas, their body site and their physiological action, is provided in Table 5.