What is a dhatu??
Sep 16, 2024
Pronounced "daaah-too", this describes the layers of tissue from an Ayurvedic standpoint. It paints a very sophisticated landscape of how our intake is transformed into our bodily functions. It describes how this process provides the building blocks for the next tissue when the previous one has been transformed and how each tissue has a waste product (i.e. ear wax from the muscle tissue). So each tissue provides the nutrients for the next tissue to form, making it so important to be mindful of what we are feeding our tissues because we literally are what we eat. So without further ado... the 7 layers (in order) are:
Rasa (lymph)
Rakta (blood)
Mamsa (muscles)
Meda (fat)
asthi (bone)
Majja (nerves)
shukra/artava (reproductive organs)
It takes time as our intake goes through each layer. This is why, for example, if someone has a limb injury, it takes bone and nerves a long time to recover. Or have you heard of someone having a vasectomy and they have to wait 3 months until they are sterile? It's because it takes that long for these tissues to turn over after going through the whole process start to finish.
Photo taken by me at the Q'Tab Minar in Delhi, India
