تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 12.11.4

12.11.4

We have already mentioned this and explained its arrangement. Their custom is that at the head of the banquet sit the qāḍīs, the preachers, the jurists, the sharīfs and the shaykhs, then the Sultan's relatives, then the great amīrs, then the rest of the people. No one sits except in the place assigned to him, so there is no crowding among them at all. When they have sat down, the sharbdārs come — they are the cupbearers — holding vessels of gold, silver, copper and glass filled with sugar dissolved in water, and they drink this before the meal. When they have drunk, the chamberlains say, "In the name of God!", and then they begin to eat. Before each person is placed some of everything the banquet contains, and he eats from it alone; no one eats with another from the same dish. When they have finished eating, they bring beer in pewter jugs, and when they have taken it the chamberlains say, "In the name of God!" Then trays of betel and areca nut are brought, and each person is given a handful of crushed areca nut and fifteen betel leaves gathered together and tied with red silk thread. When the people have taken the betel, the chamberlains say, "In the name of God!", and they all rise, and the amīr appointed to serve the meal makes obeisance,