Urinary system
Renal or Urinary system is one of the 10 body systems that we have. This system is the body drainage system. The urinary system is composed of kidneys (vrikka), ureters (mutravaha nadis), bladder(mutrashaya) and urethra(mutramarga).
The kidneys are a pair of bean-shaped, fist size organs that lie in the middle of the back, just below the rib cage, one on each side of the spine. Ureters are tubes that carry the wastes or urine from the kidneys to the bladder. The urine finally exit the body from the urethra when the bladder is full.1 Urethras length is shorter in women than men due to the anatomical differences.
Major function of the urinary system is to remove wastes and water from our body through urination. Other important functions of the urinary system are as follows.
- 1. Prevent dehydration and at the same time prevent the buildup of extra fluid in the body
- 2. Cleans the blood of metabolic wastes
- 3. Removing toxins from the body
- 4. Maintaining the homeostasis of many factors including blood PH and blood pressure
- 5. Producing erythrocytes 6. make hormones that help regulate blood pressure 7. keep bones strong 8. keep levels of electrolytes, such as potassium and phosphate, stable 2
The Urinary system like any other systems of our body is working under the forces of three doshas, subdoshas. Mutravaha srotas, Ambuvahasrota and raktavahasrota are involved in formation and elimination of the urine. Urine gets separated from the rasa by maladhara kala with the help of pachaka pitta and samana vayu and then through the mutravaha srota(channels carrying the urine) it is taken to the bladder. Basti(mutrashaya) is seat of urine and is described as one of the three vital parts of our body in Ayurvedic classical texts. Thus, keeping the basti healthy and treating its diseases are essential for our general health. Caraka samhita counts thirteen urinary diseases. Scholars and other recent textbooks disgust these thirteen types under the four following major categories, Mutrakrcchra (dysuria), Mutraghata (Urinary retention syndromes), Prameha (polyuria, diabetes mellitus) and Ashmari (urinary calculus). 3, 4
