Shad Rasa/Six Tastes

|| Om Gurave Namah ||
Dear Jyotishas,
Just some thoughts , will add more later. The tastes are called Rasas, Rasas are of six types.

Maharishi Parashara states them as,

kaTuxAratiktamishramadhuraaamlakashhAyakAH |
krameNa sarve viGYeyAH sUryAdInAM rasA iti || 34||

kaṭukṣāratiktamiśramadhurāamlakaṣāyakāḥ |
krameṇa sarve vijñeyāḥ sūryādīnāṁ rasā iti || 34||

कटुक्षारतिक्तमिश्रमधुराम्लकषायकाः।
क्रमेण सर्वे विज्ञेयाः सूर्यादीनां रसा इति॥ ३४॥

To Tabulate them

Graha	Taste
Sun	कटु	kaṭu	Pungent
Moon	क्षार	kṣāra	Salty
Mars	तिक्त	tikta	Bitter
Mercury	मिश्र	miśra	Mixed
Jupiter	मधुर	madhura	Sweet
Venus	आम्ल	āmla	Sour
Saturn	कषाय	kaṣāya	astringent

Monier Williams Dictionary gives the six tastes (rasa) as

रस/ rasā
taste , flavour (as the principal quality of fluids , of which there are 6 original kinds , viz.
{madhura/मधुर} , sweet ;
{amla/आम्ल} , sour ;
{lavaNa/लवण} , salt ;
{kaTuka/कटुक} , pungent ;
{tikta/तिक्त} , bitter ; and
{kaSAya/कषाय} , astringent ;

sometimes 63 varieties are distinguished , viz. beside the 6 original ones , 15 mixtures of 2 , 20 of 3 , 15 of 4 , 6 of 5 , and 1 of 6 flavours) S3Br. &c. &c.

The six are the basic tastes, Mercury prefers mixed taste, Pure water is tastless which forms a base for all the tastes.

The Six tastes are governed by 6th house, The 2nd house is the organ of taste, the natural kaalapurusha is taurus ruled by Venus provides the basic sensory pleasure of taste. The 'Mantra' or mental notation of taste comes from 5th (Mantra bhaava) to 2nd which is 6th house. The Natural kaalapurusha lord is Mercury who likes various kinds of tastes.


Warm Regards
Sanjay P


Other Readings,

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060829_bad_tongue.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umami