Bhavartha Ratnakara Part 16: Planetary Influences on Tastes and Flavours | VedAstro
A modern English guide to the classical Vedic astrology text by Sri Ramanujacharya, translated and annotated by B.V. Raman.
Part 16 of 28
On Tastes Or Flavours
If the Sun and Mars are in the 2nd, the person will be harsh in his speech. If the Moon is there, he will be very talkative.
If Mercury is in the 2nd, he will talk cleverly and skilfully. If, on the other hand, Rahu is there, humility will characterise his behaviour.
If Venus is in the 2nd, the native consumes milk and varieties of dishes. If Rahu or Ketu is there, he will eat food according to circumstances.
If Saturn is in the 2nd, the native gets food polluted by Shudras, remnants of food left by others, and food prepared at the times of obsequies and death ceremonies.
In this chapter the author deals with the tastes or flavours liked by different persons born with different planetary combinations. The Rishis had long ago realised that flavours or rasas developed human nature in certain channels. According to Ayurveda there are six important Rasas, (viz., sweet (madhura), sour (amla), saline (lavana), pungent (katu), bitter (tikta), astringent (kashaya)). These shadrasas (six kinds of flavours) play an important part in the classification and distribution of the food after it is taken in. Sweet is nutritive and rejuvenating. It has a cooling property. It predisposes to wounds, urinary disorders and enlargements of glands in the body. Sour increases saliva and appetite for food. With saline foods the body is purified. Pungent produces a burning sensation on the tongue. It dries and purifies the ducts of the body. Thus each flavour has certain properties helpful in the digestion of the food. If certain planets are disposed in a certain manner, the individual eats bland or sweet flavoured foods and his temperament and mental disposition largely depend upon the likes and dislikes he shows towards the different flavours.
People who are emotional and short tempered like pungent foods. Intellectuals like sour foods and so on.
There are of course exceptions. According to astrological terminology, planetary relations of the different rasas are as follows —
Planet Rasa Flavour
The Sun ... Khara ... Pungent
The Moon ... Lalana ... Saline or Salt
Mars ... Kahi ... Bitter Mercury ... Misram ... Mixed Jupiter ... Madhuram ... Sweet Venus ... Amia ... Sour Saturn ... Kashayam ... Astringent
There seems to be some difference between our author and other ancient writers on astrology in the matter of allocations of the Rasas. According to this book, if Saturn is in the 3rd from lagna or is in conjunction with the 3rd lord or aspects the 3rd, the person likes pungent and acid flavours. The Sun rules pungent things while Venus rules sour things. Of course, only one combination is given here and thus I have observed holds good in a number of horoscopes. It is incomplete and therefore readers have to attempt predictions by taking into account the allotment of flavours as given above.
The person eats Sattvika foods if Jupiter is in the 3rd (stanza 2). Different kinds of food develop different natures in men. No one can deny that climatic influences, environmental factors and the foods we eat direct our mental currents in particular channels and develop our natures in different ways. According to astrology, then the Moon and Jupiter are divine in nature and indicate Sattvikam or a philosophic disposition. Venus and Mercury represent Rajasic or impulsive disposition, Mars and Saturn denote Tamasic or mild nature.
Take a person addicted to drinks and luxurious forms of meals. He will certainly be Rajasic. Take a person who
likes simple food and avoids all forms of luxurious and harm-
ful dishes. His disposition will be entirely different. All
these differences can be easily ascertained by a careful study
of the planetary dispositions in the horoscope.
When the author says in stanzas 2nd and 3rd that the
person likes Sattvik foods if Jupiter is in the third and that he
will be loose in morals if Venus is in the 2nd, it is full of
significance and should enable the intelligent reader to under-
stand how the temperament of an individual stands when
these planets are situated in the 2nd and 3rd houses.
The creative energy called Prakriti manifested itself
as three different forms producing different characters in the
beings in whom they were indicated. Sattvik (indicated by
Jupiter, the Sun and the Moon) is pure and causes light and
knowledge. It produces happiness and wisdom, faith and love.
Rajasic (ruled by Venus and Mercury) denotes taste for
objects and bodies and by the chords of passionate wants.
Tamasic (ruled by Mars and Saturn) makes all people avar-
icious and causes hardness, negligence and wickedness.
Sattva gives moral happiness, Rajoguna makes persons covet-
ous and vain. Tamasic makes men dull and do evil work. The
conceptions of planets which have an ascendancy at the time
of birth. Planets indicate what sort of nature a man possesses;
if in a birth Tamasic and Rajasic predominate, the nature of
planets governing their respective characteristics are produced.
Then by proper regulation of the external influences surround-
ing him on Sanskrit utterances it is possible to produce effect
as to mental characters and make men Sattvik. It is on
this principle that regulations in diet, in sleep, in occupations,
in sexual relation and in mental outlook are laid down by the
Hindu sages.
and 6 reveal whether a man would be talkative,
whether his speech would be harsh or pleasant and whether
he will talk well of others naturally and so on.
Ketu, Guru and Mercury in the 2nd are good while the
Sun, Mars and Saturn make one harsh in his speech and bad
haviour. Rahu in the 2nd makes one humble in his addresses.
In other words, humility will characterise his behaviour. Some
say that humility is a virtue inasmuch as it denotes absence
of egoism and self-importance. Some mistake humility for
cowardice. But such men are themselves mistaken. One im-
portant fact should be noted. Saturn in the 2nd is undesirable
because it makes him mean, harsh, unforgiving, lacking
self-respect, quick-tempered and foul-tongued. Of course, these
results should not be predicted if the evil influences are
relieved by the conjunctions and aspects of natural benefics,
particularly Jupiter and Venus.
Thus ends the Second Chapter entitled Wealth and
Education in Bhavartha Ratnakara of Sri Ramanujacharya