Scientific Contents in Prakrta Canons

SR No.: 001670
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: N L Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith
Publication Year: 1996
Total Pages: 608
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Science, & Religion
File Size: 9 MB

Page 535

Food Sciences : 513
could also be the amount for a bi-mealing household too. Normally, it should have a higher amount. In the days of four meals-a-day, it could mean a full day's diet. The balanced diet concept suggests an amount varying between 1250-1500 g. However, the canonical meals include water also which is not taken into account in current dietics.
Tandulaveyaliya 52 is a specific miscelleny which has given a calculation about how much a man can eat in his one hundred years of assumed life. On the basis of 32 handfuls of 2000 rice grain-equivalent each meal, the above canon gives the following amount for hundred years ( Table 5 ). The current equivalents are given on the basis of 1 Prastha = 0.8 kg. The back calculations give column 5 and 6 in the table 5. A column of current dietary statistics as per Indian Council of Medical Research, 1980 is also given for comparative purposes53. This column suggests the current modified pattern of diets. It is clear that diets in canonical days must have been poor in vegetables as they are not mentioned in this miscelleny too. Secondly, the canonical diets must be heavy because of their high fatty contents. Table 5 : Amount of Foods Eaten by Man in 100 years, No. Item
Amount Current Diet/Day ICMR, Consu- Equivalent 1980
med (App.) 1. Rice ( Carbohy- 22.5 576 1600 g. 450 g. drates
Vah Quintals 2. Pulse ( Mūnga, 5.5 14 38.4 g. 40 g. Proteins )
Kumbha Quintals 3. Oils & Ghee 3.0 76.80 210.0 g 45 g. ( Fats )
Vah Quintals 4. Salt
2250 1.8 4.9 g. -
Prastha Quintals 5. Milk & Vegetables -
250 g. The canons indicate about the divisions of food compo