A Comparative study on terminology used in explanations of Pañcamahābhuta and Saptadhātu Siddhānta,

Abstract

Terminology used in Ayurveda medical science has its own peculiar interpretations. These temls cannot be sufficiently comprehended through general dictionary meanings. P!lhivi, ap, reja, •.üyu, äküia are commonly used terminology Of rasa, rakfa, medha. asrhi, maffåand are those of Sapradhä,'usiddhän/a. The objective of this study is to comparatively review this lerminology on the basis of their Ayurvedic interpretations and the usage in current research papers. Twenty research parxrs containg these terms were downloaded from the Google scholar for this study while Carakasamhitä, Susrurasab'hi.'ä, Asrä'jgahrdayasamhitü and their commentaries (Jiküs) were used as reference texts. The results revealed that terminology related to Paicomahäbhfitaprinciple such as Puhivi, up, teja, l@vu, åkåürhave been substituted with common English equivalents: Prihivi as earth, earth principle. etc; ap as water, water principles, etc; teja as fire, heat, energy, etc; väyu as air, air principle, äkä'a as space, ether, etc. Similarly, terminolog_v relating to Sap'adhün,' principle has been replaced with a considerable range of English translation: rasa as skin, chyle. lymph, etc; rakta as blood. må'hsa as muscles. protein, meda as fat. adipose tissues, etc; asrhi as bone, bone tissues. etc: majjé as marrow. nervous system, as semen. reproductive fluid, etc. Some researchers had used the English equivalent within brackets in its first occurrence in the research paper while some others had used the English word in the body of the research paper while the terminology was used within brackets. There were also some research papers where only terminology had been used. The research • further revealed that the common equivalents used as substitutes to terminology do not accurately convey the intended concepts.