Six tastes...!

• Madhura (Sweet)
• Amla (Sour)
• Lavana (Saline)
• Katu (Pungent)
• Tikta (Bitter)
• Kashaya (Astringent)

These are the six tastes. Different tastes are due to different compositions of 5 elements i.e. Prithvi, Jal, Agni, Vayu and Aakash. So, these tastes have specific effect on our body.

Taste	Constitution of 5 elements	Properties
Sweet (Madhur)	Prithvi + Jal	Snigdha(unctuous), Shita(cold), Guru(heavy)
Sour (Amla)	Prithvi +Agni	Snigdha (unctuous), Ushna(hot), Guru(heavy)
Saline (Lavana)	Jal + Agni	Snigdha (unctuous), Ushna(hot), Guru(heavy)
Pungent (Katu)	Agni + Vayu	Laghu(light), Ruksha(dry), Ushna(hot)
Bitter (Tikta)	Aakash - Vayu	Laghu(light), Ruksha(dry), Shita(cold)
Astringent (Kashaya)	Prithvi-Vayu	Laghu(light), Ruksha(dry), Shita(cold)

Sweet taste (Madhura rasa) :

• Sweet taste is cooling, nutritive, gives pleasure and satisfaction. 
• Promotes growth of body elements, improves strength and lactation. 
• It is good for wound healing and fracture healing.
•  Promotes eye sight and other sense organs.
•  It is conducive to pleasant feeling and longevity.
• Especially good for kids and old people.

e.g. Milk, sugar, cereals, potato, etc.

Over intake of sweet taste:

• Having excess of sweet things can lead to obesity, heaviness in body, laziness, loss of appetite, nausea, vomitting, asthama(shwasa), goitre(galaganda) , Diabetes etc. 

Sour taste (Amla rasa) :

• Sour taste is carminative(pachaka) and appetizer. 
• It gives strength to body and senses. 
• It relieves constipation and bloating.
•  It has cooling effect and satisfies the taste buds and heart. 
• e.g. Fruits like lemon, orange, curd, alcohol etc.

Over intake of sour taste:

• Excess intake of sour taste can cause sourness in teeth, morbid thirst, burning sensation in chest, fever, itching, pustules and other skin diseases etc. 
• Excess sour taste is not good especially for eyes.

Saline taste (Lavana rasa) :

• Saline taste has cleansing , carminative, appetizer properties. 
• It is hot , suppresses all other tastes  and gives softness to body. 
• It relieves stiffness by reducing vata dosha, aggravates kapha and pitta. 
• Reduces strength of body and causes salivation and burning sensation in mouth.
•  It is very important in diet as it gives taste to the food.
•  e.g. Sea salt, black salt etc.

Over intake of saline taste:

• When used in excess It can cuase urticaria, discoloration(vivarnata), loss of virility  etc.
•  It aggravates pitta dosha and can lead to stomatitis, conjunctivitis, gout(vatarakta), raktapitta(bleeding from different parts of the body).  
• It can also cause  premature wrinkling, premature graying of hairs , baldness.

Pungent taste (Katu rasa):

• It reduces kapha, krimi(worms), kandu(itching), toxicity,  Stanya (lactation) , sperm count , meda(fat) and obesity . 
• It is improves digestive power, carminative and appetiser.
•  It deplets kleda( sticky substance in body), meda (fat), vasa (muscle fat), ,majja( bone marrow), feces and urine.
• It opens up channels of circulation and improves intelligence.
•  e.g. Black pepper, garlic etc.

Over intake of pungent taste:

• Excess intake of pungent taste can cause giddiness, intoxication, loss of strength and semen, feverishness, dryness of mouth, lips and diarrhea.
•  It can also cause pricking and cutting type of pain in abdomen, kampa( shivering) and pain in limbs and back.

Bitter taste (Tikta rasa):

• It is also an appetizer and carminative, expectorant and has cleansing effect on mouth , throat and lactation (removes impurities from mother's milk). 
• It deplets kleda, meda( body fat and obesity), vasa, majja, puya( pus from wound), sweda (sweat), mutra(urine), purisha(feces), pitta and kapha.
• It cures krimi (worms), kushtha (skin diseases) and daha ( burning sensation anywhere in body).
• e.g. turmeric, bitter gourd, egg plant etc.

Over intake of bitter taste:

• Over intake of bitter taste causes increase in vata dosha and lead to rigidity in body, stiff neck( torticolis), Convulsion, facial paralysis(ardita), headache, giddiness ad pricking pain in body. 
• Deplets all the dhatus i.e. rasa, rakta, mansa, meda etc and reduces strength and semen.

Astringent taste (Kashaya rasa):
                            

• Astringent taste has healing, constipative (grahi) and drying( drying of saliva, kleda etc.) properties.
•  It aggravates vata and causes sluggishness in tongue movement and obstructs throat as well as channels of circulation. 
• e.g. Triphala, green gram etc. 

Over intake of astringent taste:

• Excess intake of this taste can cause pain in cardiac region (Hritpida), gaseous distention of abdomen, difficulty in speaking, stiff neck, tingling sensation in body and convulsions. 
• It can also cause loss of potency, obstruct and dry up feces, urine and semen.

So from this description of six tastes we can understand the importance and action of all tastes. All the 6 tastes are equally important for our health but excess use of any 1 or more tastes have adverse effects on our health. In the same way unuse of 1 or more tastes is also not good for health.

So we should include all tastes in diet but in moderate quantity.


Ref. Su.Su.42
       Ch. Su.26