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Ayurveda > Agni By Dr. Satish Kulkarni Agni is the fire inside our body. Agni is the body which governs living beings physically and mentally. We can describe it as an element related to our general body metabolism. We have seen in the last article that Agni is the successor of pitta (one of the tridoshas i.e. the basic body constituents) and pitta is the successor of Divine Fire (tej) (one of the five supreme powers). Agni plays a vital role in the creation and maintenance of dhatus (body tissues). There are seven types of agnis for seven different dhatus. Agni is related to both the body and the mind. It initiates digestive activities in the digestive tract and generates thoughts, emotions and decisions in our psyche. Agni contains heat which helps in the digestion of external elements that enter our body. The food which enters our digestive tract is converted into life sap with the help of agni. This then goes on to ensure our survival, growth and recovery from illness. The knowledge of the external environment which enters our body through our special senses is transformed into memories with the help of agni which further initiates thoughts, generates emotions and helps in taking decisions. The main function of agni is the break down of external stuff and its conversion into body stuff. Agni works with and for every body tissue. Agni gears the dosha-dhatu-mala cycle and thus life goes on. Agni also helps in destroying ama (toxins). These are produced if there is an imbalance of doshas. In other words agni helps in maintaining the status of health and in interrupting the disease process. Thus agni is a statutory body which governs our immune system. Agni protects us from both external as well as internal problems. It saves us from attack by external and internal ‘terrorists’. Agni keeps a careful watch on the body functions. A wide range of functions (from digestion of food to giving color to the skin) is taken care of by agni. 
Impairment of agni suggests that the basic balance of the tridoshas has been hampered. Affected metabolism, compromised immunity and lowered general body resistance are all results of impaired agni. If agni is impaired, food will not be digested properly. It will not initiate the chain of formation of the seven dhatus (from rasa to shukra) in a proper way. Instead of creating a life sap, ama (toxins) will be created and these will accumulate in the body. The body channels will choke and life will enter a state of illness. To summarize; ama indicates a diseased body. Ama is produced when agni (body fire) is retarded, which in turn is a result of the imbalance of tridoshas (vaat-pitta-kafa). Agni’s functioning depends on the food, clothes and shelter we use. It also depends on the things we see, hear, smell, taste and touch. If these things are pro-life then we will also be healthy. If these things are anti-life then we may acquire ill health.
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