Pali Dictionary

that which is connected with the sense of taste. The defⁿ given at Vism.447 is as follows “jivhā-paṭihanana-lakkhaṇo raso, jivhā-viññāṇassa visaya-bhāvo raso, tass’ eva gocara-paccupaṭṭhāno mūla-raso khandha-raso ti ādinā nayena anekavidho, i.e. rasa is physiologically & psychologically peculiar to the tongue (sense-object & sense-perception), and also consists as a manifold object in extractions from roots, trunk etc. (see next)
■ The conventional encyclopaedic defⁿ of rasa at Mnd.240; Cnd.540, Ds.629 gives taste according to: (a) the 6-fold objective source as mūla- rasa, khandha˚, taca˚, patta˚, puppha˚, phala˚; or taste (i.e. juice, liquid) of root, trunk, bark, leaf flower & fruit; and (b) the 12-fold subjective (physiological) sense-perception as ambila, madhura, tittika kaṭuka loṇika, khārika, lambila (Mil.56: ambila) kasāva; sādu, asādu, sīta, uṇha, or sour, sweet, bitter pungent, salt, alkaline, sour, astringent; pleasant, unpleasant cold & hot. Mil.56 has the foll.: ambila lavaṇa, tittaka, kaṭuka, kasāya, madhura.

1. juice [as applied in the Veda to the Soma juice], e.g. in the foll. combinations: ucchu˚; of sugar cane, extract of sugar cane syrup Vin.i.246; Vv-a.180; patta˚ & puppha˚; of leaf & flower Vin.i.246; madhura˚; of honey Pv-a.119
2. taste as (objective) quality, the sense-object of taste (cp. above def^ns). In the list of the āyatanas or senses with their complementary sense-objects (sentient and sensed) rasa occupies the 4^th place following upon gandha. It is stated that one tastes (or “senses”) taste with the tongue (no reference to palate) jivhāya rasaṁ sāyitvā (or viññeyya). See also āyatana 3 and rūpa
   ■ MN.iii.55 (jivhā-viññeyya r.), MN.iii.267; DN.iii.244, DN.iii.250; Snp verse 387; Ds.609; Pv-a.50 (vaṇṇagandha-rasa-sampanna bhojana: see below 5).
3. sense of taste, as quality & personal accomplishment. Thus in the list of senses marking superiority (the 10 ādhipateyyas or ṭhāṇas), similar to rasa as special distinction of the Mahāpurisa (see cpd. ras-agga) SN.iv.275 = Pv.21:58; AN.iv.242.
4. object or act of enjoyment, sensual stimulus, material enjoyment, pleasure (usually in pl.) Snp verse 65 (rasesu gedha, see materialistic exegesis at Cnd.540), Snp verse 854 (rase na anugijjhati; perhaps better rasesu, as Snp-a); AN.iii.237 (puriso agga˚-parititto perhaps to No. 2).
5. flavour and its substance (or substratum), e.g. soup Vv-a.243 (kakkaṭaka˚ crabsoup), cp. SN.v.149, where 8 soup flavours are given (ambila, tittaka, kaṭuka, madhura, khārika, akhārika loṇika, aloṇika); Pv.13:15 (aneka-rasa-vyañjana “with exceptionally flavoured sauce”); Ja.v.459, Ja.v.465. gorasa “flavour of cow, i.e. produce of cow: see under go. Also metaphorically: “flavour, relish, pleasure” Snp verse 257 (pariveka˚, dhamma-pīṭi˚, cp. Snp-a.299 “assād aṭṭhena” i.e. tastiness); Pv-a.287 (vimutti˚ relish of salvation). So also as attha˚, dhamma˚, vimutti˚ Ps.ii.89.
6. (in grammar & style) essential property, elegance, brightness; in dramatic art “sentiment (flavour) (see Childers s. v. naṭya-rasa) Mil.340 (with opamma and lakkhaṇa: perhaps to No. 7); Pv-a.122 (˚rasa as ending in Np. Angīrasa, explained as jutiyā adhivacanaṁ” i.e. brightness, excellency).
7. at t. t. in philosophy “essential property” (Expos. 84), combined with lakkhaṇa etc. (cp. Cpd. 13, 213), either kicca˚ function or sampatti˚; property Dhs-a.63, Dhs-a.249; Vism.8 Vism.448; Mil.148.
8. fine substance, semi-solid, semiliquid substance, extract, delicacy, fineness, dust. Thus in paṭhavī˚; “essence of earth,” humus SN.i.134 (translation “taste of earth,” rather abstract); or rasapaṭhavī earth as dust or in great fineness, “primitive earth” (before taking solid shape) DN.iii.86 sq. (trsl “savoury earth,” not quite clear), opp. to bhūmipappaṭaka; Vism.418; pabbata-rasa mountain extract, rock-substance Ja.iii.55; suvaṇṇa˚; gold dust Ja.i.93.
9. (adj. ˚) tasting Vv.16:11 (Amatarasā f. = nibbānarasāvinī Vv-a.85).

• -agga finest quality (of taste), only in further compound with ˚aggita (ras-agga-s-aggita) most delicate sense translation Dial.) DN.iii.167, and ˚aggin (ras-agga-s-aggin, cp Mvu.ii.306: rasa-ras’ âgrin) of the best quality (of taste, cp. above 2), said of the Mahāpurisa DN.ii.18 DN.iii.144 (cp. translation Dial. ii.15 “his taste is supremely acute”). The phrase & its wording are still a little doubtful. Childers gives etym. of rasaggas-aggin as rasa-ggas-aggin, ggas representing; gras to swallow (not otherwise found in Pāli!), and explains the BSk. ras’âgrin as a distortion of the P. form.
• -añjana a sort of ointment (among 5 kinds), “vitriol” (Rh. D.) Vin.i.203.
• -āda enjoying the objects of taste MN.iii.168
• -āyatana the sphere of taste DN.iii.243, DN.iii.290; Ds.629 Ds.653, Ds.1195 (insert after gandha˚, see Dhs. trsl. 319)
• -ārammaṇa object of taste Ds.12, Ds.147, Ds.157.
• -āsā craving for tastes Ds.1059.
• -garuka bent on enjoyment Snp-a.107.
• -taṇhā thirst for taste, lust of sensual enjoyment DN.iii.244, DN.iii.280; Ja.v.293; Ds.1059; Dhp-a.iv.196.
• -saññā perception of tastes DN.iii.244 (where also ˚sañcetanā).
• -haraṇī (f.) [ph. ˚haraṇiyo, in compound haraṇi˚] taste-conductor, taste-receiver; the salivary canals of the mouth or the nerves of sensation; these are in later literature given as numbering 7000, e.g. at Ja.v.293 (khobhetvā phari); Dhp-a.i.134 (anuphari) Kp-a.51 (only as 7!); Snp-a.107 (paṭhama-kabaḷe mukhe pakkhitta-matte satta rasa-haraṇi-sahassāni amaten eva phutāni ahesuṁ). Older passages are: Vin.ii.137; DN.iii.167 (referring to the Mahāpurisa: “sampajjasā r-haranī susaṇṭhitā,” translation: erect taste-bearers planted well [in throat]).

Vedic rasa; with Lat. ros “dew,” Lith. rasā id., and Av Ranhā Name of a river, to Idg. *eres to flow, as in Sk. arṣati, Gr. α ̓́ψορρος (to ῥέω); also Sk. ṛṣabha: see usabha¹
■ Dhtp.325 defines as “assādane” 629 as “assāda-snehanesu”; Dhtm.451 as “assāde.”-The decl. is usually as regular a-stem, but a secondary instr fr. an s-stem is to be found in rasasā by taste AN.ii.63; Ja.iii.328

(-˚) is a dial. form of -dasa ten, and occurs in Classic Pāli only in the numerals for 13 (terasa), 15 (paṇṇa-rasa, pannarasa), 17 (sattarasa) & 18 (aṭṭhārasa, late). The Prk. has gone further: see Pischel; Prk. Gr. § 245.