History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c40.10.1

v3.c40.10.1

S. II. 8. 19. 1-2 allow a man to face the south, except when the diner's mother is alive. Manu II. 52 ( = Anuśāsanaparva 104. 57) states 'one facing the east eats food which tends to long life, one facing the south eats food which leads to fame, one facing the west eats (so as to produce) wealth and one facing north partakes of truth.' This means that one who eats facing any one of these directions secures the benefit specified. The Vāmanapurāṇa and Viṣṇupurāṇa quoted in Gṛ. R. p. 312 disallow the south and west. One must take one's meals in private in a place screened from public view. The Sm. C. quotes¹⁸¹³ verses of Devala, Uśanas and the Padmapurāṇa to the effect 'one should take food in privacy, for one who does so is endowed with wealth and one who eats his meals in public becomes bereft of wealth; one should not eat in the sight of many (who are themselves not eating) and many men should not eat before a single person who is only looking at them'. One may¹⁸¹⁴ eat in the company of one's sons, younger brothers, dependents &c. Some writers went so far as¹⁸¹⁵ to recommend that 'one should take one's food alone and not in the company of even one's relatives or other brāhmaṇas, since who can know the secret sins a person in whose company one eats is guilty of'?