On Sun, 7 Jun 2009 19:54:40 +0530, Deepa Mohan <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Sun, Jun 7, 2009 at 5:19 PM, Anil Kumar <[email protected] > >wrote: > > ............ > > > > Irrespective of the nature of the event, it is bad manners to commence > eating until the last dish has been served on the leaf which again is a drop > of ghee on the white rice. Then, wait for a signal from an elder or the > host to commence eating. > > > For Brahmins (only men of course) , after sitting down at the palm leaf, > and after the meal has been served up to the rice part (before the sambar) > it is mandatory to take a palmful of water, take it around the leaf > clockwise three times with the water dribbling around (probably to purify > the food?), saying, or rather muttering, the Gayatri mantra (I think). Then, > the man says, "achyuthAya namaha, ananthAya namaha, gOvindAya namaha, Om > shri kEshava nArAyaNA mAdhava gOvinda vishNu madhusoodhana thrivikra vAmana > .... (Mohan is not sure how the rest of it goes, it's so long since he did > it), touch the finger to the navel (residence of Brahma), the chest > (residence of Vishnu) and the forehead (residence of Shiva)...and then start > eating. It is commonly referred to as the Bhojana Mantra [Prayer before lunch]. The actual mantras that are uttered vary slightly but are mostly comprised of the Gayatri Mantra, the Brahmaarpanam Mantra [loosely translated - offering food to God, before consumption by self] - idea here is to consecrate the food to turn it into Prasad [sacred offering]. Then there is the other explanation to encircling your leaf / plate with water - basically, in the olden days, people ate food while seated on the floor and it was circled with water to prevent ants and bugs from crawling onto your leaf. > At the end of the meal, also, there is a "prOkshaNam", where water is > sprinkled around the leaf....I suppose this is a kind of thanksgiving for > the food....since all the men I know only mutter this to themselves, and > hardly anyone does it any more except for priests or brahmins called home to > a feast for religious reasons, I don't know it properly....it's always been > meaningless mumbo-jumbo to me. :-) Since, apart from the highly orthodox practitioners, not many follow these traditions on a daily basis, it is possible that most people have forgotten the actual mantras, hence the mutterings. > Will find out soon, in detail. > > Deepa. Do mail me off-list if you come across anything interesting apart from the usual set of explanations. There are many sites and blogs on the internet with this information. -Anil KUMAR
