The verse and its meaning · Ayurveda · Ayurveda — Food and Eating

Sweetness, Strength and Excess

Ashtanga Hridayam, Sutrasthana 10.6

रसानामिति रूपाणि कर्माणि मधुरो रसः । आजन्मसात्म्यात्कुरुते धातूनां प्रबलं बलम् ॥ बालवृद्धक्षतक्षीणवर्णकेशेन्द्रियौजसाम् । प्रशस्तो बृंहणः कण्ठ्यः स्तन्यसंधानकृद्गुरुः ॥ आयुष्यो जीवनः स्निग्धः पित्तानिलविषापहः । कुरुतेऽत्युपयोगेन स मेदःश्लेष्मजान्गदान् ॥ स्थौल्याग्निसादसंन्यासमेहगण्डार्बुदादिकान् ॥

Meaning · English

These are the forms of the tastes; now their actions. The sweet taste, being familiar to the body from birth, gives the tissues great strength. It is excellent for children, the old, the wounded and the wasted, and for complexion, hair, the senses and ojas. It nourishes, is good for the throat, brings breast milk, joins what is broken, and is heavy. It lengthens life, sustains life, is unctuous, and removes pitta, vata and poison. Used to excess, it brings diseases of fat and kapha: obesity, dull digestion, stupor, urinary disorders, goitre, tumours and the like.

Madhura, the sweet taste, is the one the body has known since its first milk. Ajanma satmya means accustomed from birth. Because of that familiarity, Vagbhata says, it builds strong strength in the dhatus, the tissues that make up the body. So it suits those who need building: children, the old, the injured and the wasted. It feeds complexion, hair, the senses and ojas, the essence the classics link to vitality. It is brmhana, nourishing and bulk-giving. It is good for the throat and voice, brings breast milk and helps broken parts knit. It is guru, heavy, and snigdha, oily and smooth. It supports long life and life itself. It settles pitta, the hot, sharp principle, and vata, the dry, moving one, and the text says it counters poison. Then comes the turn. Overuse feeds medas, fat, and kapha, the heavy, binding principle. That brings obesity, dulled agni (the digestive fire), stupor, urinary disorders, neck swellings, tumours and more. In this system's terms, the heaviness that builds can also bury. The teaching is about measure.

1. At your main meal today, notice which foods count as sweet in the old sense: rice, bread, milk, ripe fruit, ghee. Let them be the heart of the plate, not the whole of it. 2. Eat slowly. Stop when you feel comfortably satisfied, with some room left in the stomach, rather than full. 3. Afterwards, sit or walk gently for five minutes and notice how you feel: light and steady, or heavy and dull. That feeling is your measure for tomorrow. 4. Unless your doctor has advised snacks, leave the hours between meals free of sweet nibbling, so the next meal meets real hunger.

Much of this lines up with ordinary nutrition. What tastes sweet usually carries energy: sugars and starches, and in milk and ghee, fat as well. Newborns prefer sweetness, and breast milk is naturally sweet, which gives 'familiar from birth' a real echo. Growing children, older people losing weight, people healing from injury and nursing mothers do need enough energy and nourishment, as any doctor would agree. The warning matches too. A regular excess of energy-rich food leads to weight gain and, over years, to raised blood sugar, and a heavy meal often leaves people drowsy. Ojas, the doshas, and the claims about poison, goitre and tumours have no direct modern match; goitre today is tied mainly to the thyroid and iodine. Anyone managing blood sugar should keep to their own doctor's plan.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Six Tastes on the Tongue · Ashtanga Hridayam, Sutrasthana 10.1
• Next: What Sour Taste Does · Ashtanga Hridayam, Sutrasthana 10.10
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