Alochaka Pitta

Alochaka pitta is the subdosha of Pitta seated in the eyes, the fire that governs sight. It is one of the five divisions into which the classical texts separate Pitta, the transforming principle of the body, and its particular work is vision: the grasping of the light, the forms and the colours of the world and their conversion into the faculty of seeing. Its name comes from alochana, the act of seeing or of perceiving, and where it is balanced the classical writers describe the eyes as clear and bright and the sight as sharp.

The five divisions of Pitta

Ayurveda holds Pitta, the principle of transformation and heat, to be one, but to do its work through five divisions, each seated in its own region and given its own task. These are Pachaka in the digestive tract, Ranjaka in the liver and blood, Sadhaka in the heart, Bhrajaka in the skin, and Alochaka in the eyes. The Charaka Samhita and the Ashtanga Hridayam name them and set out their seats and functions, and between them they account for all the transformations Pitta governs, from the digestion of food to the colouring of the blood to the perception of light.

Alochaka is the Pitta of the eyes, and it shares the common nature of Pitta, hot, sharp, light and transforming, while directing that nature to a single, refined task: the making of sight.

The seat of alochaka pitta

The classical texts seat alochaka pitta in the eyes, and more precisely in the drishti, the seat of vision within the eye, which the tradition identifies with the pupil and the deeper receiving apparatus of sight. The Sushruta Samhita, which treats the eye in detail in its Uttaratantra, describes the eye as a structure in which the elements are all present but in which tejas, the fire element, and so Pitta, has a special place, for it is fire that grasps light.

Some of the classical writers describe a second aspect or seat of alochaka pitta higher up, in the region between the eyebrows or in the head, and connect this with a deeper, inner perception, the buddhi aspect of seeing, the understanding that lies behind the mere registering of an image. In this reading alochaka governs not only the physical catching of light but the insight that turns seeing into understanding.

The function of alochaka pitta

The work of alochaka pitta is darshana, seeing, and rupa grahana, the grasping of form. Ayurveda understands sight as a transformation, not a passive reception. The light and the colours of the world enter the eye, and the fire of alochaka pitta grasps them and converts them into the perception of form, just as the fire of Pachaka pitta converts food into nourishment. Sight, in this view, is Pitta’s work in the eye, the transforming fire applied to light.

Because Pitta is the principle that turns one thing into another, it is fitting that the tradition assigns the making of sight to a division of Pitta rather than to Vata or Kapha. The clarity and sharpness of the eyes, their brightness, and the keenness of sight are all read as signs of a well-balanced alochaka pitta, while a dull, tired or clouded eye is read as its disturbance.

The classical writers do not treat the eye as the work of Pitta alone. The Sushruta Samhita describes the eye as a structure in which all five elements have their part, so that the different tissues and functions of the eye are shared among the three doshas: a Kapha aspect gives the eye its white and its moisture and lubrication, a Vata aspect governs the movement of the eye and the fineness of its perception, and the Pitta aspect, alochaka, gives it the fire that grasps light and makes sight. Good vision, in this reading, depends on all three being in their proper measure, and it is the harmony of the doshas in the eye, not Pitta by itself, that the tradition holds to underlie clear and comfortable sight. But it is alochaka, the fire, that does the particular work of seeing.

When alochaka pitta is disturbed

Like all of Pitta, alochaka is aggravated by heat, by sharpness and by excess: by too much sun and glare, by long straining of the eyes, by heating and sour foods, by anger and by a driven, overworked way of living. When it is aggravated, the classical texts describe the trouble showing in its own seat, the eyes, and carrying the character of Pitta: heat and burning in the eyes, redness, sensitivity to bright light, and a tired, strained quality of sight.

The tradition reads these as the signs of an excess of the fiery quality in the seat of vision, and it turns to cooling and rest to settle them. Where Pitta as a whole is high in the body, alochaka is the more easily disturbed, so the general settling of Pitta is held to protect the eyes.

How alochaka pitta is supported

The general Pitta measures. Cooling, moderation and rest settle Pitta as a whole, and alochaka with it. The tradition favours cooling, sweet and bitter foods, a calmer pace and the avoidance of excess heat, and it holds these to support the eyes indirectly.

Rest of the eyes. Because straining the eyes aggravates alochaka, the tradition values rest of the eyes, freedom from glare and long visual strain, and sufficient sleep, in which the eyes are held to be renewed.

Netra Tarpana and the eye therapies. The classical care of the eyes centres on Netra Tarpana, the bathing of the eye in a pool of medicated ghee held in place by a dam of dough, and on gentle eye washes and cooling applications. Ghee, being cooling and nourishing, is the vehicle the tradition prefers for the eye, and these therapies are held to settle and nourish alochaka pitta. They are given by trained hands.

Cooling foods and habits. Cooling foods, the avoidance of excess sour, salty and pungent tastes, and habits that keep the head and eyes cool are all held to support the fire of the eyes by not provoking it.

Padabhyanga and the care of the feet. The tradition holds a curious and characteristic connection between the feet and the eyes, and it names the oiling of the soles of the feet, Padabhyanga, among the practices that support the sight. The classical writers hold that certain vessels of the feet are linked with the eyes, so that the cooling, settling oiling of the soles at night, often with ghee or a cooling oil, is counted among the measures said to soothe the eyes and support alochaka pitta. It is a small nightly practice, easy to keep, and a good example of the way Ayurveda binds distant parts of the body together in its reasoning.

Rose water, triphala washes and the cooling collyria. The tradition uses gentle eye washes, such as a wash of triphala water, and cooling applications about the eyes, and it names cooling anjana, the medicated collyria applied to the lids, among the classical eye care. These are chosen with care and, where medicated, prepared and prescribed by a practitioner, but they show the general direction of the tradition’s approach to the fire of the eyes: to cool, to soothe and to nourish without provoking the heat.

Alochaka among the other Pittas

Alochaka is best understood alongside the other four divisions of Pitta, each a form of the same transforming fire directed to a different work. Pachaka in the gut digests food and is the root fire on which the others draw; Ranjaka in the liver and blood gives the blood its colour; Sadhaka in the heart governs the fulfilment of purpose and the finer feelings; and Bhrajaka in the skin governs complexion and the reception of touch and warmth at the surface.

Alochaka, seated in the eyes, is the most refined of them in its object, for it grasps light itself. The tradition holds that the strength of Pachaka, the central digestive fire, supports all the others, alochaka included, so that clear sight depends in part on good digestion, an idea characteristic of the way Ayurveda binds the whole body together.

Because the eyes are delicate and their disorders many, the tradition treats the care of alochaka pitta with attention, and persistent or serious trouble with the eyes should be assessed by an eye professional as well as considered in Ayurvedic terms. This entry describes the classical Ayurvedic understanding of alochaka pitta and is offered for education, not as medical advice.