ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to see how the students of Ayurveda in ancient India understood the human body in health by focusing attention on selected themes from the texts of Caraka and Susruta. Structure signifies form and includes the body, its parts, organs, tissues, body fluids, bones and joints and the entire physical frame of an individual. A distinctive view of Ayurveda in embryogenesis and foetal development was the identification of the derivatives of the original constituents of embryo in the developing foetus. Vital spots or marma is a unique concept in Ayurvedic anatomy even though the term finds mention in the Rigveda. Digestion is a constant and never ending activity in body constituents and body parts including the stomach and gut. The doctrine of vata, pitta, and kapha dominates the theory and practice of Ayurveda. In contrast to the digestion of food and circulation of blood, references to respiration are scanty and too brief in Caraka and Susruta.
