Ayurvedic Astrology and Taste

[Kouros Aionios]

In Ayurveda, the planets each have a distinct flavor that corresponds to them, as well as certain grains and vegetables that one should eat depending on which planets are strong in each person's unique natal chart.
In the table I have constructed below, there are the Planets with their corresponding color, flavor, grain, and vegetable in Ayurvedic Astrology. The color of the planet corresponds to which flavor, grains, and vegetables are good for the planet.

How one can read the following chart is by looking at which planets are the strongest in their own natal charts, and based on that, they can see which food and flavor is good for them. For example, if someone has a strong Jupiter in their chart, then sweets will be better for them than the average person, and they won't have to worry about consuming too many sweet foods (within reason, of course). On the contrary, if that same person has a weak Sun, they might want to avoid consuming spicy foods often.

Planet	Flavor	Grain	Vegetable
Sun	Hot (Chili)	Wheat	Carrots
Moon	Salty	Rice (White)	Potato
Mercury	Umami	Mung	Spinach
Venus	Sour	Hyacinth	Beets
Mars	Bitter	Red Lentil	Tomato
Jupiter	Sweet	Chickpea	Corn
Saturn	Astringent	Black Sesame	Olives

Hope you all enjoy this.

Hail Shiva, Hail Narasimha, Hail Kali!

 

[OrionKrieger]

This is quite interesting, thank you for sharing this

 

[Stormblood]

Are you sure this is correct?

From my understanding, in Ayurvedic Astrology you want to strengthen weak planets, rather than indulge in strong ones. So, in your example, you'd want to moderate sweet foods (strong Jupiter) and emphasise pungent foods (weak Sun). Over-fuelling already strong energies would lead to a rajasic imbalance (i.e. excess/overactivity), while avoiding flavours related to a deficient planet would lead to an even worse tamasic imbalance (i.e. deficiency/underactivity). Jupiterian overactivity in particular can be highly problematic as it increases indulgence/excesses in all forms of pleasure. This of course without considering a more complex picture.

Umami is also not in Ayurveda. There are only 6 flavours/rasas in Ayurveda. Umami is a Japanese word that was invented in the 20th century. What would best suit Mercury in my opinion would be mixed/variable.

Can someone provide more input / correct where I/they/we are wrong?
@NG SATchives
@Head Guardian Blitzkreig
@High Priestess Lydia

 

[NG SATchives]

Had to go through my notes for this one. I'll break it down as best as I can.

Stormblood is correct on the core point.

Classical Jyotish remedial logic = feed the weak planet, not the strong one. Eating sweet to feed an already-strong Jupiter produces rajasic excess.. over-indulgence, weight gain, complacency, the shadow side of Jupiter amplified.

Avoiding pungent foods for a weak Sun produces tamasic depletion.. no vitality, low confidence, dull agni, the Sun's signification dims further.

Caveat, nuance exists. A reminder that "Afflicted" does not equal "weak."

An afflicted-but-strong planet causing disease may need pacifying, not feeding. A strong malefic Mars in Lagna producing inflammation and anger doesn't want more bitter/pungent heat poured on it.

And the Vata/Pitta/Kapha constitution overrides planet-taste matching: weak Mars in a high-Vata person means you don't load bitter foods, because bitter raises Vata further and the dosha disturbance will outweigh the planetary benefit. Full picture = planet strength × affliction × dosha × age × season × dasha period


On the chart itself

Flavors: mostly align with Parashara, except "umami" is not correct. Umami was coined by Kikunae Ikeda in 1908 and is not in classical Ayurveda. Mercury's classical rasa is mixed / all six tastes (adaptability, the intellect that metabolizes everything).

Worth knowing the historical debate here. The ancient rishis actually argued about how many tastes there are, and the record of the debate survives in the 26th chapter of the Charaka Samhita Sutrasthana (Vimana / Sutrasthana section, depending on edition). You can find the whole discussion there. Nimi the king of Videha proposed seven tastes by adding Kshara (alkaline). Dhamaragava Badisa pushed for eight by adding Kshara plus Avyakta (imperceptible). The council rejected both. Six rasas only.

The Charaka Samhita is the foundational text of Ayurveda, written around the 2nd century BCE. English translations are readily available (P.V. Sharma's translation is the standard scholarly one, and Priyavrat Sharma's Chaukhambha edition is the one most practitioners use). The taste debate is in Sutrasthana Chapter 26, "Atreya Bhadrakapyiya Adhyaya."

Grains: mostly classical Navadhanya, but Mars = Toor dal (pigeon pea), not red lentil (masoor). Both are red pulses so it's close, but the traditional Navagraha offering is toor. Rahu (black gram/urad) and Ketu (horse gram/kulthi) are missing entirely.

Vegetables: no canonical Parashara vegetable list exists in the old texts. The classical sources focused on grains and herbs because vegetables as a category varied too much by region and season. So the vegetable column is a modern extension using color and energetic resonance, which is how correspondence systems have always grown.

Sun to Carrot (orange, solar color, pungent and warm, rich in vitamin A for eyes and heart, both Sun significations).

Moon to Potato (white, watery, cooling, grounding, pure lunar qualities).

Mercury to Spinach (green, leafy, fast-growing, iron-rich for the nervous system Mercury rules).

Venus to Beet (deep red-pink, sweet and earthy, sour when fermented, blood-building and reproductive tonic, classic Venusian).

Mars to Tomato (red, acidic, fiery, lycopene for blood, Mars rules blood and heat).

Jupiter to Corn (golden-yellow, sweet, expansive, abundant, Jupiter's signature colors and qualities).

Saturn to Olive (black, astringent, preserved by time, long-lived trees, Saturn rules time, preservation, and the astringent rasa).

New World crops like tomato, corn, and olive weren't in the subcontinent when Parashara wrote, but the correspondence framework is designed to extend. If a new food shares the color, taste, and energetic signature of a planet, it belongs under that planet. That's how the system stays alive instead of getting frozen in the 6th century BCE.

Real practice = Prakriti (birth constitution) + Vikriti (current imbalance) + chart (planetary strength, affliction, current dasha). Pick the taste/grain/herb that corrects the deviation from Prakriti without aggravating the afflicted planet's signification. A single lookup table for "strong Jupiter = eat sweets" is too crude for anyone to actually use clinically.

Hail Zeus!