DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0434
424 Grace before Dinner.
sometimes various kinds of sweetmeats are served up on
plates made of leaves* (often of the palasa tree or the plan-
tain) and placed before each person; but no one begins
eating till certain religious forms have been gone through.
In the first place, there is the usual acamana or sipping of
water for internal purification (p. 402). Each person pours
water with a spoon into the palm of the hand, then some
one leads the others, and all sip together. Next, water is
sprinkled in a circle round each plate, and some one of the
company repeats a grace or prayer before eating. The most
common prayer is from two passages in the Taittiriya Brah-
mana 2, as follows:—
' May rivers continue to flow, may clouds rain, may plants produce
good fruit (for the support of the world), may I be the lord of lands
(grama Com.) that produce food, rice, and curds.'
' They extol food (saying), that which is food is certainly a great divine
power, since it leads a man (him) to supreme prosperity.'
The first clause of this curious prayer seems to be a bene-
diction spoken for the benefit of the world at large; the second
is for the good of the speaker; the third is a glorification of
the food which the speaker is about to eat. Sometimes the
following text from the Rig-veda (X. lai. 10) precedes the
prayer:—
' O Lord of all creatures, no one else but thou keepest
all these living beings encircled by thy care; with whatever
desires we sacrifice to thee, let the fruit of that be to us;
may we become possessors of wealth3.'
1 In large towns plates of metal are generally used.
2 Taittiriya Brahmana II. 7.16.4, and I. 7.10. 6. The following is the
Sanskrit text: Yantu nadayo varshantu parjanyah supippala oshadhayo
bhavantu,.annavatam odanavatam amikshavatam esham raja bhuyasam.
Odanam udbruvate, parameshthi va eshah, yad odanab. paramam evai-
nam sriyam gamayati.
3 Prajapate na tvad etany anyo visva jatani pari ta babhuva, yat-kamas
te juhumas tan no astu, vayam syama patayo rayinam. In Kulluka's Com-
mentary to Manu(II. 54) a much simpler form of grace before meat is given.
The eater is told that he is always to honour his food and never despise
it, and to pray that he may always obtain it (nityam asmakam etad astu).
sometimes various kinds of sweetmeats are served up on
plates made of leaves* (often of the palasa tree or the plan-
tain) and placed before each person; but no one begins
eating till certain religious forms have been gone through.
In the first place, there is the usual acamana or sipping of
water for internal purification (p. 402). Each person pours
water with a spoon into the palm of the hand, then some
one leads the others, and all sip together. Next, water is
sprinkled in a circle round each plate, and some one of the
company repeats a grace or prayer before eating. The most
common prayer is from two passages in the Taittiriya Brah-
mana 2, as follows:—
' May rivers continue to flow, may clouds rain, may plants produce
good fruit (for the support of the world), may I be the lord of lands
(grama Com.) that produce food, rice, and curds.'
' They extol food (saying), that which is food is certainly a great divine
power, since it leads a man (him) to supreme prosperity.'
The first clause of this curious prayer seems to be a bene-
diction spoken for the benefit of the world at large; the second
is for the good of the speaker; the third is a glorification of
the food which the speaker is about to eat. Sometimes the
following text from the Rig-veda (X. lai. 10) precedes the
prayer:—
' O Lord of all creatures, no one else but thou keepest
all these living beings encircled by thy care; with whatever
desires we sacrifice to thee, let the fruit of that be to us;
may we become possessors of wealth3.'
1 In large towns plates of metal are generally used.
2 Taittiriya Brahmana II. 7.16.4, and I. 7.10. 6. The following is the
Sanskrit text: Yantu nadayo varshantu parjanyah supippala oshadhayo
bhavantu,.annavatam odanavatam amikshavatam esham raja bhuyasam.
Odanam udbruvate, parameshthi va eshah, yad odanab. paramam evai-
nam sriyam gamayati.
3 Prajapate na tvad etany anyo visva jatani pari ta babhuva, yat-kamas
te juhumas tan no astu, vayam syama patayo rayinam. In Kulluka's Com-
mentary to Manu(II. 54) a much simpler form of grace before meat is given.
The eater is told that he is always to honour his food and never despise
it, and to pray that he may always obtain it (nityam asmakam etad astu).