Upanishads · Bhāvanā p5
॥
Devanāgarī
तेजः कल्पकोद्यानम् । रसनया भाव्यमाना मधुराम्लतिक्तकटुकषायलवणभेदाः षड्रसाः
Transliteration (IAST)
tejaḥ kalpakodyānam | rasanayā bhāvyamānā madhurāmlatiktakaṭukaṣāyalavaṇabhedāḥ ṣaḍrasāḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तेजः कल्पक-उद्यानम्tejaḥ kalpaka-udyānamheat — the garden of fulfillment
रसनया भाव्यमानाःrasanayā bhāvyamānāḥimagined by the tongue
मधुर-अम्ल-तिक्त-कटु-कषाय-लवण-भेदाःmadhura-amla-tikta-kaṭu-kaṣāya-lavaṇa-bhedāḥsweet, sour, bitter, pungent, astringent, salty
षट् रसाःṣaṭ rasāḥthe six tastes
Translation
Heat — the garden of fulfillment; sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, astringent, and salty, imagined by the tongue — the six tastes.
Version
81572857ffeb · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Six tastes are named, and their count in Indian body-science is among the most stable: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, astringent. This count is not speculative but medical: the whole of āyurveda rests on it, where every remedy and every food is defined by taste, and by taste the effect on the body is judged. It is worth noting that the sixth here is named kaṣāya, "astringent" — the one that puckers the mouth, as an unripe persimmon does. European lists usually lack it, and this is no small thing: where six are distinguished, finer observation is made.
It is worth noting too the word bhāvyamānāḥ, "imagined," from the same root as the book's title. The tastes are called not sensed, but imagined by the tongue; and this is precise: taste is not a property of a thing, but what occurs between the thing and the tongue. Sugar is not sweet in itself — it is sweet for one who has a tongue.
This observation proves fitting in the Vaiṣṇava reading at another point too. If taste is a meeting, not a property, then rasa, discussed when reading the Kāṭharudra (23), is also a meeting: not a property of His, and not our own state, but what occurs between two.