What Are The Six Tastes In Ugadi Pachadi: Significance, What They Symbolize
Ugadi marks the start of a New Year for Telugu people living across the world. It is celebrated with a lot of fervour and pomp on the first day of the bright half of the lunar month of Chaitra, which are the months of March-April according to the English calendar.
Many delicacies are prepared during this festival but Ugadi Pachadi is the most popular among them. This dish is a fusion of six various tastes. The six tastes of this pachadi are sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and spicy and the basic ingredients that go into this pachadi are neem, jaggery, mango, tamarind, chilli and salt. These ingredients reflect the six aspects or emotions of life. Here is the significance of these tastes in Ugadi Pachadi.
Neem: This ingredient has a bitter taste and hence it symbolizes the bitterness of life.
Jaggery: This imparts a sweet taste to the dish and symbolizes happiness in life.
Tamarind: It has a sour taste and it reflects the unpleasant, disgusting phase of life.
Mango: The tangy taste of the raw mango symbolizes the unexpected and the surprises in life.
Salt: The salty taste signifies the fear, the unknown.
Chilli: The red, hot chilli signifies the anger and outbursts in life.
The symbolic six tastes of a dish which are reflected in the Ugadi Pachadi is the cult favourite of the Telugu people.
