hindu-cosmosWe're still mapping where this idea was first discussed. Key passages and related ideas below.
Tattva 30 — Taste-Quality (Rasa)
Pure 'flavor': the subtle essence of taste behind everything savored.
Rasa, as a tattva, is the subtle element of taste — the pure quality of flavor itself, the bare 'tastableness' from which every actual taste in the gross world is made. The fourth of the five subtle elements, it is the fine essence behind everything we savor. From it the gross element of water unfolds.
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Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3,2.4↗explains
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)
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