History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c40.24
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c40.24
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says "he should honour food in the morning and evening by saying 'I like it', by saying 'it was good for eating' in the case of food served in śrāddhas and 'it was perfect' as to food offered in ābhyudayika rites¹⁸²⁶ (i. e. in marriage &c.). Kullūka (on Manu II. 54) and the Gṛ. R. (p. 314) quote verses of the Ādipurāṇa (Brahmapurāṇa in Gṛ. R.) to the effect that on seeing food one should fold one's hands and should bow to it saying 'may this always be ours' and that God Viṣṇu himself said that whoever honours food honours him. After the food is served on the plate or dish, the eater should sprinkle water round it and say 'I sprinkle thee that art *satya* (truth) with *ṛta* (right order)' (in the morning) and 'I sprinkle thee that art *ṛta* with *satya*' (in the evening).¹⁸²⁷ According to some he then offers to the right of the plate or dish on the ground a little of the food in his plate from the west towards the east to Dharmarāja (i. e. Yama), Citragupta and *pretas* (vide Bhaviṣyapurāṇa quoted in Sm. C. I. p. 224 and Āhnikaprakāśa p. 465).¹⁸²⁸ Others say that these *balis* are offered to *bhūpati*, *bhuvanapati* and *bhūtānāṁ pati*, while in modern times they are offered to Citra, Citragupta, Yama, Yamadūta (and some add a fifth 'sarvebhyo bhūtebhyaḥ svāhā). He should then sip a little water with the words 'thou art the seat of ambrosia (amṛtopastaraṇam-asi) and at the end of the meal the words used are 'thou art the cover of ambrosia' (amṛtāpidhānam-asi).
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All this has been prescribed from very ancient times and has continued to this day. Yāj. I. 106 calls this sipping of water āpośana (taking in of water) and its purpose is to make food beneficial like amṛta (nectar) and to cover it as if with a garment. He then offers five morsels on which ghee is sprinkled to the five modes of *prāṇa* preceded by the word ‘*om*’ and ¹⁸²⁹ followed by ‘*svāhā*’. These five *prāṇāhutis* are mentioned in the Chāndogya Up. V. 19-23, where *prāṇas* are enumerated in the order *prāṇa*, *vyāna*, *apāna*, *samāna* and *udāna*. The Vedāntasūtra III. 3. 40-41 explains that the Chāndogya passage applies only when one sits down to dinner and not when one goes without it. Medieval digests quoting Bṛhat-Parāśara added a sixth offering to Brahman after the *prāṇāhutis* and this is done in modern times. While the *āhutis* to *prāṇa* are being offered complete silence (absence of all sound including even ‘*hum*’) is to be observed. Baud. Dh. S. (II. 7. 6) insists on complete silence throughout the meal and if one speaks, one has to mutter the words ‘Om bhūr bhuvaḥ svar-om’ and then eat further on. Others allow speech after *prāṇāhutis* for refusing food or condiments or for dharma. Vide Sm. M., āhnika p. 423 which quotes Śāṇḍilya that ‘silence is not necessary at meals for householders and one should show one’s solicitude for those who dine with one by talking to them.’ Śaunaka quoted by Sm. C. I., p. 223, Vṛddha-Hārīta 8.
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263-265 dilate upon the different fingers of the hand that are to be employed in taking the five *āhutis* to the life breaths while the Bhojana-sūtra says that according to Baudhāyana all *āhutis* were to be offered with all the fingers. Hārīta quoted in the Sm. C. I. p. 226 states that *mārjana*, offering bali, worship and eating should be done with the tips of fingers. The plate or vessel is to be throughout kept on the ground at a *śrāddha* dinner and the thumb and the next two fingers of the left hand may be used for holding the plate or plantain leaf in position, but if the house is full of people and it is likely that dust may be raised by their feet or by their clothes, then a person taking his meal may raise up his plate from the ground with his left hand after he has taken five morsels.¹⁸³⁰ The diner is not to allow any sound of eating to escape, he is to put each morsel in his mouth with all the fingers including the thumb,¹⁸³¹ he is not to wave his hand. Various rules are laid down in the Viṣṇupurāṇa (III. 11. 83-84) and Brahmapurāṇa (quoted in Gṛ. R. p. 224) as to the order in which various articles are to be eaten, viz. first sweet liquid food may be taken, then salted and sour, and then pungent and bitter, the last item should be milk and after that one should not take curds; a householder should always take food mixed with ghee. One is not to cut off portions of food or cakes, roots, bulbs, fruits or flesh with the teeth and then eat them (Baud. Dh. S. II. 7.
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10). Some smṛtis prescribe that while taking each morsel one should say¹⁸³² 'Govinda'. At the time of eating, several postures are forbidden, viz. one should not stretch one's feet or place them on another seat (a footstool &c.) nor should one have one's haunches and knees tied by a garment (Viṣṇu Dh. S. 68. 40) nor should one place one's hand on one's left foot, nor should one wear one's shoes or wooden sandals, nor should one come in contact with leather (vide Smṛtimuktāphala, āhnika p. 425). Baud. Dh. S. (I. 1. 21) states that among usages peculiar to the south were those of eating in the company of one whose upanayana had not been performed or of one's wife or taking stale food. But Baud. disapproved of these. Manu IV. 43, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 68. 46 and Vas. Dh. S. XII. 31¹⁸³³ say that one should not eat together with one's wife and Vas. Dh. S. adds the reason that by so doing the child born has no strength as stated in the Śat. Br. X. 5. 2. 9. Kullūka and some other commentators on Manu IV. 43 hold that the prohibition relates to eating in the same dish with one's wife, while, as Medhātithi states, others hold that it applies also to eating with one's wife at the same time and place. The Sm. C. (I. p. 227) and other digests quote a smṛti verse which allows a brāhmaṇa to eat in the same dish with his brāhmaṇa wife and explain the verse as applying to a brāhmaṇa who is on a journey. The Smṛtyarthasāra (p.
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69) says that one can eat in the same dish with one's wife at the time of marriage. The Mit. on Yāj. I. 131 says the same.