Dravya Guna: The Study of Substances and Their Attributes
What Makes a Medicine Medicinal?
There is a popular story in Ayurveda about a young physician in training from some 2500 years ago. One version of it goes like this:
He and a cohort of his peers, studying under their teacher (an established Ayurvedic physician) were reaching the end of their training. For their final assignment, they were tasked with going out into the world and finding one substance in nature that could not be used as a medicine.
So out they all went, returning one by one over the course of a couple of days to bring something back to their teacher that they were confident could not somehow be used medicinally.
All except for one - the subject of our story. This last straggler took days to return, and everyone else was waiting impatiently for him because they would not find out whether or not they had passed their assignment unless and until they had all reconvened as a full group.
When this straggler did finally come back to the group, he did so looking forlorn and disheartened.
He reported to his teacher, “I’m so sorry, Guru ji. I could not find a single thing in nature that could not somehow be used as a medicine. I have failed you.”
As it turned out, he was the only one who passed the assignment.
This was a bright fellow named Jīvaka Kaumārabhṛtya (transliterated), who they say went on to become the personal physician to the Buddha, and to many South and Southeast Asian royal figures of the time. He is also credited with developing the Thai massage modality.
(And as a fun aside, it is Vaidya Jivaka’s contributions for which The Buddha’s Medicine is named - if the Ayurvedic approach is good enough for Lord Buddha, it is good enough for all of us, too.)
This story, in my view, is a delightfully succinct introduction to a key aspect of Ayurvedic medicine: that of Dravya Guna.
An entire sub-discipline unto itself, Dravya Guna is the study of medicinal foods and other stuffs.
Dravya Guna is no joke; there are many conceptual layers and plenty of nuances to take into account when studying the therapeutic qualities of things. But Dravya Guna is core to Ayurvedic medical treatment. Without understanding the qualities of the medicinal substances available - whether those are recommended or discouraged foods, culinary spices, medicinal herbs, isolated compounds, or even breathwork, exercise, and other lifestyle elements - it is not possible to provide optimal, effective, truly individualized care.
Without Dravya Guna, care and treatment is reduced to guesswork; throwing stuff at the wall and hoping that even a small amount of it sticks.
This is not a study I expect any of my patients to undertake to any great extent. It is an exceptionally deep rabbit hole.
That aid, a familiarity with some of the key concepts of Dravya Guna can be quite useful, especially when bringing home a new plan of care and exploring lifestyle and nutritional changes.
So let’s get into just a bit of it, shall we?
Every unique substance has a profile. There are six (6) features of each substances profile, and they are:
Guna (attribute): this is the base unit of measurement in Ayurveda (the same way that atoms and/or molecules are base units in chemistry, and cells are base units in certain aspects of modern biology). There are 20 of these in total, in 10 pairs of opposites, such as hot-cold, sharp-dull, dry-unctuous, and light-heavy.
Karma (action): each guna has a unique karma to it, which defines how that guna interacts with a living system. For example, the “hot” quality (usna guna), promotes dilation (svedana) of various structures in the body. The “sharp” quality (tiksna guna), promotes penetrating/piercing (tejana) of different structures in the body. Karma can be therapeutic, but it can also be detrimental. This depends on the conditions into which the karma is introduced.
Virya (potency): the most potent of the guna-s in a given substance. Often, this is whether the substance is heating or cooling, but any of the above-mentioned eight (8) guna-s can be a virya. This is because the ones listed happen to be the most impactful. And in case you are wondering why… that is a discussion for another time.
Rasa (taste): there are six (6) tastes in Ayurveda. These are sweet, salty, sour, pungent, bitter, and astringent (what some refer to as “umami” falls under the “sweet” category). A substance will often (but not always) have two (2) or more tastes to it. Rasa defines the most immediate effect a substance has when it is taken by mouth.
Vipaka (post-digestive effect): there are three (3) of these - sweet (anabolic, or bulk-building), sour (metabolic, or transformative), and pungent (catabolic, or bulk-reducing). Vipaka only applies when a substance is processed through the digestive tract, as opposed to topically, through the nose, through the intravenous (IV) pathway, etc.
Prabhava (superpower): this is something of a wild card. Not every substance has a prabhava, but when it does, it is very important. The prabhava of a substance is like its calling card - something of a Bat Signal, if you will. It outshines all of the other aspects of the substances profile. The prabhava, however, cannot be predicted or understood based on the other aspects of the substance’s profile. It often will seem to contradict what action one might expect a substance to have based on the remainder of its profile, in fact. The prabhava has to be studied directly and memorized on a substance-by-substance basis for this reason.
In order of significance of effect (most powerful to least powerful), they are:
Prabhava (superpower)
Virya (potency)
Guna (attribute)/karma (action) - these go together
Vipaka (post-digestive effect)
Rasa (taste)
When I make nutritional/food recommendations and blend herbal medicines for my patients (and my family and myself), these are the conceptual pieces I am always taking into consideration.
And seemingly, little details and differences in these recommendations sometimes matter a ton.
For example, let’s look at nectarine.
Nectarine (ripe) is heating, sharp, unctuous, and light in guna. Its virya is heating, its tastes are sour and sweet, and its post-digestive effect is sour. It’s great for promoting heart and vascular health, and some subtypes of asthma. On the other hand, it’s a terrible match for most people with prominent constitutional pitta, and any imbalance or disease process involving pitta. It’s also almost always a no-no whenever someone has anaphylaxis-adjacent food allergies (especially nut allergies).
But what if I told you that the above profile only applies to yellow nectarines?
Because it’s true - white nectarines are quite different!
In spite of being the same species, the white nectarine tree produces a ripe fruit that is cooling, dull-ish, unctuous, and light. Its virya is cooling, it is much more prominent in sweet taste, and its post-digestive effect is also sweet. It is similarly useful for heart and vascular health, asthma, etc., but will be a better match for those with hotter constitutions and pitta-type imbalances. And it can be less offensive to the system in some cases of anaphylactic-oriented food allergies.
As we’ve just illustrated, there’s a lot to the discipline of Dravya Guna. If you’re interested in knowing more…
… Keep an eye on our Offerings page for announcements on the forthcoming introductory course on Dravya Guna!
And as always, if you are curious about Dravya Guna and your own personal health (or health of a loved one), you can book a cost-free, 15min Consultation, and we’ll discuss!
Professional disclaimer: please do not initiate any herbal or other medicinal interventions without the guidance of a knowledgeable provider.
Dr. Matt Van Auken, MD, MPH
Dr. Matt is an Ayurveda-trained, triple board-certified physician.
