Dhatu
The dhatus are the seven bodily tissues in Ayurveda: plasma, blood, muscle, fat, bone, marrow and reproductive tissue. Here is how they are built.
Dhatu literally means "that which supports" in Sanskrit. The dhatus are the seven tissues that make up the body according to Ayurveda: rasa (plasma and lymph), rakta (blood), mamsa (muscle), meda (fat tissue), asthi (bone), majja (marrow and nerve tissue) and shukra (reproductive tissue).
The key point of the model: these tissues are built in a chain, each one nourishing the next. Digested food first produces plasma; plasma nourishes blood, which nourishes muscle, and so on up to the reproductive tissue, whose finest essence becomes ojas, the reserve of vitality. Each stage has its own transformative fire, dependent on the central digestive fire, agni. The practical consequence: weak digestion builds poor-quality tissues and leaves behind residues — the ama that a gentle Ayurvedic detox aims precisely to clear.
A concrete example: someone who eats well but digests poorly may show fatigue, dull hair and brittle nails — for Ayurveda, the deeper dhatus are undernourished, and the work begins with restoring agni rather than piling on supplements. This is also why revitalisation cures last for weeks: the tradition holds that the full chain of tissues renews itself slowly. To go further, read our guide to agni, the digestive fire and discover the foods that build ojas.