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Abstract

Life depends on the continuous movement of oxygen, nutrients, hormones, fluid, immune cells, and metabolic products between organs and tissues. Modern physiology describes these processes through the cardiovascular and lymphatic systems, interstitial exchange, and microcirculation. Ayurveda uses the concept of Srotas for the channels and functional pathways through which substances move, transform, nourish tissues, and leave the body. This narrative review compares Srotas with modern microcirculation while emphasizing the limits of a direct anatomical equation. The Charaka Samhita, Sushruta Samhita, Ashtanga Hridaya, and Bhava Prakasha Nighantu were considered alongside literature identified through PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Srotodushti patterns such as Atipravritti, Sanga, Siragranthi, and Vimargagamana can generate useful comparisons with excessive flow, obstruction, abnormal structural change, and movement outside an expected pathway. Similarly, selected functions of Rasavaha and Raktavaha Srotas overlap conceptually with nutrient distribution, vascular transport, capillary exchange, and tissue perfusion. Srotas, however, includes anatomical, physiological, metabolic, and regulatory dimensions and cannot be reduced to capillaries or blood vessels. Future research should translate a defined classical phenotype into measurable questions using microvascular imaging, endothelial assessment, and systems physiology rather than claim equivalence from terminology alone.