Representing Vata, Pitta and Kapha in Print and Digital Media Platforms

Abstract

The growing popularity of wellness communication across print and digital media has contributed to the renewed visibility of Ayurvedic concepts among global audiences. This study examines how the tri-dosha categories of Vata, Pitta and Kapha are represented, framed and communicated across contemporary media platforms. The research draws on a corpus of 50,000 words from leading health and wellness blogs, 500 Instagram posts tagged #Vata, #Pitta and #Kapha and 20 wellness magazine articles. The Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universiteit (MIPVU) was employed to identify metaphorical expressions while semi-structured interviews with ten wellness influencers provided insights into content creation and communication strategies. The findings reveal that media representations of the doshas are structured around three dominant metaphorical frames: Vata as wind and mental restlessness, Pitta as fire and motivation and Kapha as earth-water and stability. Significant differences were observed across media formats. Instagram favours concise and visually driven representations, blogs develop narrative-based wellness journeys and magazines combine educational content with visual and historical framing. The study further demonstrates how dosha metaphors function as communicative resources for audience engagement, self-identification, wellness branding and community formation. The research contributes to journalism and mass communication scholarship by showing how traditional knowledge systems are recontextualized within contemporary media environments. It highlights the role of metaphorical framing in health communication and demonstrates how print and digital platforms shape the circulation, interpretation and popularization of wellness narratives.