The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c26.153

v1.c26.153

Their diet was distinguished from the Greek by the absence of wine, which they drank only in religious ceremonies; but ricebeer was generally drunk. Their staple food was pulpy rice (ὄρυζα ῥοφητή). Each man took his food by himself when he felt inclined; for they had no fixed times for common meals¹. When a man would sup, a table was placed beside him and a gold dish set upon it, in which first was put the rice, boiled after the manner of the Greek *chondros* (gruel), and then on the top of it seasoned meats, done up in the Indian way². Their system of gymnastic exercise differed from that of the Greeks: it consisted principally of massage, and they used smooth rollers of ebony for shaping their bodies³.