haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering! 27th September 2025

haikaiTALKS: Five Senses & Tanmatras|a saturday gathering under the banyan tree

A Disclaimer

Responsibility for the originality of the haikai rests solely with the submitting poet. 

If anyone feels that it is similar to another haikai, they are encouraged to contact the relevant poet directly.

Triveni Haikai India will take any action as recommended by the submitting poet.

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Special Guest Poet: Lakshmi Iyer

host: Srinivasa Sambangi 27th September 2025

haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering under the banyan tree

Your Guest Poet for SEPTEMBER: Lakshmi Iyer

haikaiTALKS 

Five Senses & Tanmatras

The Upanishads, along with broader Vedic and Hindu philosophical texts, describe the five Jnanendriyas, or cognitive senses: hearing (ear), touch (skin), sight (eye), taste (tongue), and smell (nose).

These senses are considered the primary means by which an individual perceives the external world and gains knowledge about it. 

These five senses are often linked to the elements and their corresponding tanmatras:

Sound is associated with the ear and the element of space.

Touch is linked to the skin and the element of air.

Form/Sight is attributed to the eye and the element of fire.

Taste is associated with the tongue and the element of water.

Smell is linked to the nose and the element of earth. 

We have come across many poems connected to the five senses. We shall take each one of them and weave our senses! The given poems are my earthly experiences, published and presented here. Thank you so much, Kala Ramesh and the entire editorial board, for giving me this opportunity to present this feature in haikaiTALKS.

I'm looking forward to reading your poems, as I have come to understand how each one of you thinks differently. 

Taste: Tongue: Water

This is very interesting and exciting, since it revolves around taste and tongue. The taste of the food on our tongue and the constant evolution of syllables in our mouth. The water is not static! It's ever flowing. We shall focus on taste and how we allow our tongue to read our mind.

far from home

a bowl of bamboo shoots 

in a cookbook

            Milan Rajkumar, Imphal, India 

Modern Haiku, Vol. 52.3, Autumn 2021

this long long day

children wait for

the ice cream seller

            Angelee Deodhar, Chandigarh, India (1947-2018)

Frogpond, Vol. 37:3, Autumn 2014

morning coffee 

stains on the headlines 

of war

            Lakshmi Iyer, India 

           LEAF, Issue 6, March 2025

(Taste in the tongue buds is by default and hence the very thought of it visualises the matter and connects between the source and product)

“A Dictionary of Haiku Classified by Season Words with Traditional and Modern Methods,” by Jane Reichhold:

https://thehaikufoundation.org/omeka/files/original/7fb6654a1dfd1afef97369da920530f8.pdf

Indian subcontinent SAIJIKI:

https://www.trivenihaikai.in/indian-saijiki

The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words:

http://www.2hweb.net/haikai/renku/500ESWd.html

The World Kigo Database:

https://wkdkigodatabase03.blogspot.com/

The Yuki Teikei Haiku Season Word List:

https://yths.org/season-word-list/

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Thanks, Lakshmi. We are eagerly looking forward to how the next two months unfold. I love your examples.

Dear Members,

Waiting for your responses.

Please give your feedback on others' commentary and poems, too. _()_

We are continuing haikaiTALKS in a grand manner!

Keep writing and commenting! _kala