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[[File:Ajurweda EN.png|thumb|left|upright|Elements, ''doshas'' and tastes. It's actually more complicated than that, but I'd have to make this infographic at least in 3D to avoid all of the excessive simplification.]]
Water bounded by earth produces a ''dosha'' called ''kapha'' (pronounced ''{{small|KAP}}-hah''). ''Kapha'' is heavy, cold and moist; in the human body, it's responsible for holding everything together and, when in excess, it manifests itself in the form of phlegm. Fire bound by water is ''pitta'', which is hot, light and… not dry. Wait, what? ItWell, it's not dry, because it contains water, but it isn't moist either, because the moisture is evaporated by the fire. So what do you call something that's neither dry nor moist? Consider food: if it's too dry, then what you do is to baste it with something fatsome oil, butter or gravy, right? And this is what ''pitta'' is like – fatfatty, oily, unctuous. In your organism, in it keeps digestion running and the associated "humour" is bile. And then there's the third ''dosha'', called ''vata'', which is a combination of air and void. It's dry, light and cold. In your body, it's responsible for breathing and motion and it's its excess shows as… not a liquid fluid this time, but something rather gaseous. What you get by combining air and void is wind, and this is exactly what builds up in your colon when you've got too much ''vata''.
Just like in humoral theory, the domination of any one ''dosha'' in your organism determines your physique and your temperament. A ''vata''-type person is usually thin and bony, dark-skinned with thin, dry hair, an elongated and wrinkled face, and is quick-tempered, impatient and wavering. If you're a ''kapha''-type person, then you might be heavily built with pale skin, thick, oily hair and a round, soft face, slow, but persistent. And you can tell someone is a ''pitta''-type person by their muscular figure, ruddy complexion, soft hair with a tendency for early greyness and baldness, a face with sharp contours, as well as their high impulsiveness and motivation. But that's not all, for there are also people whose bodies are dominated by not one, but two ''doshas'' (''vata-pitta, vata-kapha'' and ''pitta-kapha'' types), as well as those who have all three ''doshas'' in balance (the ''vata-pitta-kapha'' type). This way, there are only three ''doshas'', but as many as seven different temperaments.