Markandeyapurana 29.27

29.27

ajñātakulanāmānaṃ tatkālasamupasthitam /
bubhukṣumāgataṃ śrāntaṃ yācamānamakiñcanam //

“And then he, as a wise man, having rinsed out his mouth, should look towards the door the eighth part of a muhūrta, whether a guest is to be seen. He should honour the guest, who has arrived there, with rice and other food and with water and with fragrant flowers and other presents, according to his power. He should not treat as a guest a friend, nor a fellow-villager, nor one who bears the name of an unknown family, nor one who has arrived at that time. Men call a brāhman who has arrived, hungry, wearied, supplicating, indigent, a guest; he should be honoured by the wise according to their power. A learned man should not inquire his lineage or conduct, nor his private study; he should esteem him, whether handsome or unhandsome in appearance, as a prajāpati. For since he stays but a transitory time, he is therefore called an atithi, ‘a guest.’ When he is satisfied, the gṛhastha is released from the debt which arises from hospitality. The guilty man, who without giving to the guest himself eats, he incurs only sin and feeds on ordure in another life. The guest transferring his misdeeds to that man, from whose house he turns Back with Broken hopes, and taking that man’s merit, goes off. Moreover a man should honour a guest respectfully according to his power with gifts of water and vegetables, or with just what he is himself eating.