Agni

Agni means digestive or metabolic factors. In panchamahabhuta (five fundamental elements), it means fire. It is responsible for transformation or change in form of an element. In human biology, it is responsible factor for digestion and metabolism. It is also a synonym of Pitta dosha.

Agni includes all factors responsible for digestion and metabolism / transformation having predominance of agni mahabhuta.(Code:SAT-B.488)

Classes

• Jatharagni: The factors responsible for digestion and metabolism at gastro-intestinal tract.

• Bhutagni : The factors responsible for digestion and metabolism at organic level. These are five types of agni, those act after jatharagni, but before dhatvagni on the food and its metabolites. They are: parthiva (pruthvi dominant), apya (aap dominant) , taijasa (teja or agni dominant), vayavya (vayu dominant) and nabhasa (akasha dominant). They act on the corresponding substrate based on mahabhuta composition to make them homologous to that of the bodily constituents.

• Dhatvagni: The factors responsible for digestion and metabolism at dhatu (various tissues). This is responsible for transformation of one dhatu into another namely rasagni, raktagni, mamsagni, medo-agni, asthi agni and shukra agni. Thus, dhatvagni are seven.

Types

The intensity of agni is influenced by dosha and is of four types:

1. Vishama (irregular due to the dominance of vata)
2. Tīkshna (intense due to the dominance of pitta)
3. Manda (low due to the dominance of kapha)
4. Sama (normal, due to the balanced state of all three dosha)

More information

Grahani Chikitsa