________________
Food Sciences : 511
cook. The households, however, have to take food under most trying conditions in contrast.
Ugraditya42 suggests, on medical grounds that the time for taking food should be taken as that when :
(i) Excretions have taken place normally. (ii) Body may be feeling light and happy.
(iii) Apatite is being felt and hunger-fire has started kindling.
(iv) Heart is healthy and three humours are in equilibrium.
(v) Excretory vital airs have passed normally.
Sthānānga 43 mentions food instinct arises due to : (i) emptiness of stomach, (ii) fruition of hunger-feeling karma, ( ili ) interest and (iv) thinking about foods. Nemicandra Cakravarti has stated the time for taking food as that when one feels psychological feeling for hunger, pre-mature fruition of painful feeling karma and interest and action on seeing foods. Asadhara44 suggests the time for taking food should be taken between 45 minutes after the sunrise and 45 minutes before the sunset for common man. In contrast, Mūlācāra 45 suggests the time of about the middle of ten hours between 75 minutes after sunrise and 75 minutes before the sunset for the ascetics (i, e., roughly about at noon ). The best people take meals once a day while the better ones may take meals twice a day. The night-eating is not permitted in Jainas. This means a common man spends about half his life in fastng. Night-eating is prohibited for Jainas for proper health, intelligence, nonviolence and protection of life of other beings. This practice is said to be one of the signs of being a Jaina.
According to Mūlācāra and Uttarādhyayana 46, the times of meals is roughly noon or third part of the day. It seems quite alright in the country of agriculturists. However, currently, the time for first meals lasts upto the noon only. Mahāprajña47 opines that actual time for meals should depend upon the time of cooking which varies from place to place. This concept of
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
