Prakriti and Vikriti: Constitution and Current State

A traditional concept, not a test

Prakriti and vikriti are two traditional Ayurvedic ideas. Prakriti is a person's constitution; vikriti is the current state of imbalance. This page explains them and what research has found about measuring them. It does not offer a way to work out your own type, and it does not match foods, herbs or treatments to a type. Online "find your dosha" quizzes are covered separately at Online Dosha Quizzes: Why They Are Unreliable.

Prakriti

In Ayurveda, prakriti is described as the relative proportion of the three doshas (vata, pitta and kapha) at conception. It is believed to remain unchanged through life. [1] One 2026 article adds that prakriti is described as established at conception based on the doshas in the mother's womb. [2] A 2016 perspective article says the tradition holds that proportions are genetically determined and also influenced by the environment during fetal development. [3]

Seven types are described: the three single types, three dual types, and an equal-proportion type called sama prakriti. [2] A scoping review says prakriti has been classified into ten types, so counts differ between sources. [1] See Dual-Dosha Types for the combined types and What Are the Doshas? for the doshas.

Vikriti

Vikriti is the term for the current imbalance or altered state of the doshas, as distinct from lifelong prakriti. In the tradition, a deviation from the state of one's prakriti may lead to disease. [2] Vikriti is therefore a traditional description of how a person is now, not a medical diagnosis.

How practitioners assess them

Traditionally, Ayurvedic clinicians have assessed prakriti in a primarily experience-based and often subjective manner. [4] What a first visit involves is described at Your First Ayurvedic Visit; the pulse and tongue methods practitioners use are described at Pulse Diagnosis and are not self-tests.

What research found about measuring prakriti

• Many tools, few validated. A 2025 review found 64 assessment tools made between 1987 and 2024, and only 20 had undergone any form of validation. [4] Most tools lacked test-retest reliability and testing in diverse populations. [4] Only two tools (CCRAS-PAS and ACPI) met seven of nine recommended criteria, and the authors say no tool fully meets the evaluation criteria. [4]
• Questionnaires and devices. A scoping review of 32 studies found questionnaires the most validated tools despite limited psychometric robustness, and found that none of the devices had been appropriately validated. [1]
• Human raters disagree. In a study nested in a knee osteoarthritis trial, four Ayurvedic experts diagnosed 30 patients. Agreement on prakriti and agni was fair to poor (kappa 0 to 0.4), and agreement on disease-related entities was better than on constitutional ones. [5]
• Self-rating. One research team built a 39-item questionnaire, drawing on responses first collected by an Ayurveda products company, whose scores for vata, pitta and kapha repeated consistently (test-retest above 0.8) among 76 self-selected adults. [6] That shows repeatable scores, not that the scores are correct or useful; the authors report that no open-source self-assessment questionnaire had been shown reliable before. [6]
• Physician vs software. In a study of 3,416 healthy men aged 20 to 30, an Ayurvedic physician and a computer tool agreed on prakriti 80% of the time. [7]

Evidence label for assessment: insufficient evidence as a clinical measure.

Prakriti and biology: early findings

Researchers in India have tried to link prakriti to measurable biology. A genome-wide analysis of 262 men found 52 genetic markers that differed among the three prakriti groups. [8] An earlier study reported differences in blood chemistry and gene activity in extreme types. [9] Dominant prakriti has also been reported to correlate with place of birth and body mass index. [7] One article suggests a gene (EGLN1) could qualify as a molecular equivalent of tridosha, but the article is a perspective piece. [3] These findings are preclinical / promising but limited: mostly men from India, no demonstration that prakriti-based care improves outcomes. See Prakriti Research: Genomics.