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512 : Scientific Contents in Prakṛta Canons
time for meals and the interval between two meals stands scientifically supported today.
Quantity of Food
How much one should eat? This does not find mention in the canons with reference to the house-holders. However, Bhagavati-sutra, BA, Mūlācāra, AGDT and other texts mention it for the mendicants. The maximum quantity has been mentioned as 32 mouthfuls (kavala, grasa) for male mendicants and 28 for nuns48. Aupapātika-sūtra 49 mentions that one handful (Grāsa) unit of food is equivalent to the weight of an egg of a common hen. In contrast, Basunandi has said in Mūlācāravrtti 50 that it is equal to 1000 rice grains. The assumption of egg as a unit suggests its common use in canonical days. Later, it must have been proscribed on non-violence ground and rice grains might have been taken as unit. The rice grains have not been specified. However, it would be proper to assume them to be unbroken grains of uncooked rice.
Generally, the weight of a normal egg varies between 50-60 g. Accordingly, the maximum weight of daily diet of a male mendicant is equivalent to 50 x 32 =1600 g. while it is 50 x 28 =1400 g. for nuns. This calculation may surprise the twentieth century man, but it should be taken as normal in the days of foot-walkers and agriculturists. In contrast, medium rice grains weigh about 12-15 g. On this basis, the weight of food for males is 32 x 15 = 480 g. and for females is 28 x 15-420 g. This unit, therefore, does not seem to be realistic. This unit requires modification. Could the cooked rice grains be taken as unit for handfuls? These grains have about three times the weight of uncooked rice. Per chance, this manipulation also does not lead us to reality. Tandulaveyaliya1 fortunately solves the problem reasonably when it assumes a mouthful unit as equal to 2000 full rice grains of specified types.
Almost all canons agree on 32/28 mouthfuls of food per day. But the definitions of this unit vary. This is the amount of food for a single meal for a mono-mealing mendicant. It
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