The Compendium of Bheḷa 3.1

Taken in equal measure, the six tastes sustain the body here; / taken otherwise, however, they produce disorders in embodied beings.

Dry, light, stable, and cold are the astringent and the bitter [tastes]; / sharp and hot are the sour and the salty; the pungent is also penetrating.

Cold, unctuous, heavy, strengthening, and slimy is the sweet taste; / wind is recorded as astringent, bitter, pungent, cold, and dry.

They declare bile to be dry, hot, sour, and pungent; / phlegm, however, is sweet, unctuous, cold, dull, stable, and heavy.

These they know as qualities co-born with tastes and doṣas; / among them, [they know] the astringent, pungent, and bitter as equal to the qualities of wind.

Likewise, they know [tastes] equal to the qualities of bile through the pungent, sour, and salty; / one should know the sweet, salty, and sour as tastes equal to phlegm.

Therefore, by repeatedly using these, phlegm increases in the body; / a heap placed together here attains twofold greatness.

Through similarity of qualities, the bodily constituents of men increase respectively; / and through tastes opposite to them when ingested, these undergo diminution.

Just as fire reaches appeasement upon encountering water, / [so wind,] dry through astringent, bitter, and pungent [tastes], increases with dry things;

wind is appeased by unctuous substances, and by others different from that; / hot bile increases with pungent, sour, and salty [tastes], [which are] hot;

it is appeased by cold things, and especially by the remainder of the qualities; / and unctuous phlegm also increases with unctuous things, through the sweet and others;

it is appeased by dry tastes: by the astringent, pungent, and bitter; / three by three increase each single one through single commonality,

and through difference of qualities, tastes destroy a doṣa in embodied beings. / Wind does not persist together with oil, because of [its] unctuousness and heat;

nor bile together with clarified butter, because of [its] coldness and sweetness; / nor unctuous and sweet phlegm together with honey,

because of [honey's] dryness and astringent character, remains stationary in the body; / and muscle fat and bone marrow arising from marshland animals

destroy wind like oil, because of their unctuous, hot, and heavy nature; / and the meat juices and marrow of herbivorous and scratching birds

destroy bile like clarified butter, because of their cold and sweet nature; / and whatever medicine here is astringent, bitter, and pungent

that is sweet, destroys phlegm in embodied beings through difference in qualities. / Now, one should not excessively consume long pepper or alkali,

and salt; when eaten in large quantities, these lead to morbid disturbance. / Having displaced phlegm, however, [long pepper] does not manage to draw it out;

long pepper is sweet in post-digestive effect, therefore one should not eat too much of it. / If taken in excess, it cooks the body because of its sharp, hot, and pungent nature.

And one should not desire to eat alkali and salt alone. / In proper measure, warm, unctuous, wholesome, and sweet food,

and whatever does not cause burning upon digestion—that one should consume when [the previous meal] is digested. / Unctuous [food] produces strength and complexion; warm [food] removes phlegm and wind;

and a proper measure does not cause burning and brings about wholesomeness. / Sweet [food] produces nourishment in a creature; non-burning [food] is soothing;

and food taken when [the previous meal] is digested is desirable, conferring long life upon men. / Neither talking nor laughing, neither hastily nor lingeringly,

one should eat, focused upon it, unctuous [food]; [thus] the nutrient fluid is produced in the body. / Just as in this world a kindled fire flares up upon dry wood,

so, when what is eaten is digested, the nutrient fluid and other [tissues] accumulate. / The rains sustain life exceedingly, and winter provides nourishment;

and summer cooks this, as if another transformative power. / Because of intense heat, pungent summer dries up all the bodily tissues;

cold produces firmness and steadfastness; [...] the rains [...] / [...] Thus said the venerable Ātreya. / The third chapter.