Marriott [Marriott] hypothesis that the three humors, bile, phlegm and wind form a part of a metonymic cluster that can be stated as follows.
Classical Indian thought postulates these sets as orthogonal. When taken together these sets are constitutive of all entities and actions in continuously varying proportions. Marriott proposes that the common properties of the three sets form the fundamental variables of an alternative "Indian" social science. I will utilize his proposal to analyze the hot-cold data we have discussed so far.
In Marriott's proposal mixing is the process which characterizes how the world and all its substances (including humans) are more or less "hot", being made up of fire (agni), passion and energy (rajas) and attachment (kama). The notion of "mixing" thus suggests that self-sufficient entities are rare or absent. In other words, entities are to a certain extent dependent for their qualities and processes upon transactions with others. When applied to the logic of castes, we have minimally and maximally transacting castes.
The other two processes in Marriott's proposal have to do with unmatching and unmarking. I will not go into detail , except to mention that unmatching has to do with wind (vayu) and the associated metonymic clusters, whereas unmarking has to do with water and the associated metonymic clusters.