Varsha Ritucharya – Dr. Pradnya Virnak

The rains are here!!!

According to Indian thinking, the bhramanda, the entire world, is composed of the same Panchmahabhutas (Prithvi, Jal, Agni, Vaayu, Aakash). And we being a part of it, are too. We see that everything changes visibly around is in the different ritus. It follows that changes in the surroundings will also be accompanied by similar changes in the body. These were observed in minute details by aacharyas and so described in the ancient texts. And if one really observes, they are not difficult to notice.

According to Ayurveda, there is aggravation of vata and accumulation of pitta in the rainy season. To counter these changes, Ayurveda describes Ritucharya – or behaviour ideal for particular ritus. One of the major things that happens as a result of rains is the imbalance in agni which is the entity in us responsible for digestion. As a result, many of us suffer from various diseases related to digestion like indigestion, dysentry etc. The acidity (amlata) outside increses which leads to conditions like acidity in some.

The following are somethings that could be done and some that could be avoided :

  • Consume regularly easy to digest foods – pulses like moong, old rice.
  • Eat foods which have sweet, sour, salty tatses predominantly but whcih are easy to digest as they help balance the vata.
  • Have thin soups, broths which have been prepared with generous tadka of ghee, asafoedita.
  • Use boiled and cooled water for drinking.
  • Avoid curd. You could have thin buttermilk with ginger, asafoetida instead.
  • Eat fresly prepared, warm food. No stale food (food consumed more than 2 hours after preparation is considered stale).
  • Avoid raw vegetables, leafy vegetables as they most likely are infested heavily by bugs, tiny organisms in this season. All gourds can be had instead which grow higher than ground level. Some tender greens of these climbers can also be used.
  • Use honey wherever possible.
  • Add ginger, ghee in your daily diet.
  • Add ghee to the daily diet to help the pitta stay in place and not get aggravated, at the same time provide sneham to counter the dry quality of vata.
  • Use tila tailam for abhyangam, ubatan after that followed by a warm water bath. Dhoopan of the house, work place can be done with neem, sambrani etc.
  • Avoid sleeping in the afternoon.

Enjoy a healthy monsoon!!

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