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The Unknown Pilgrims
5. Namaskāra, the salutation. The śrāvikā greets the āryikā by joining her hands and inclining the head.
6. Mana-vacana-kāya-śuddhi, purity of mind, speech and body. The śrāvikās urge the āryikā to accept the meal which has been prepared in this state of threefold purity.88
7. Ahāra-jala-śuddhi, purity of the food and water.89
ii) Bhojana, the meal itself:
A śrāvikā pours water over the hands of the aryikā, who then, after a moment of recollection in which she recites the siddhabhakti, eats and drinks from the añjali what the śrāvikās place therein, making a sign with her head when she has consumed enough of a dish or of milk or water.90 During the meal, and only at that particular time, an āryikā is permitted to take a remedy, which must be a natural one and pure and thus ayurvedic. At the end of the meal the äryikä again washes her hands and recites inwardly the siddhabhakti. Then follows pratyākhyāna, the promise to abstain from eating and drinking until the following morning. After this, for a few moments, she converses with her hosts in a happy family atmosphere. Finally, they fill her kamandalu with hot water and often several members of the family accompany her as far as the vasatikāsthāna, one of them carrying the kamandalu.
88 It is not enough that the food should be pure; the primary necessity is that those who offer it should be themselves pure, i.e., faithful to the observances enjoined by the anuvratas. They have not prepared this meal for ascetics but for their family and they have invited the aryikās to accept it without knowing whether they will accord them this honour.
89 Cf. ADH V, 66-69.
90 The āryikā maintains silence during the ineal, but, as she cannot consume all that is offered to her, a śrāvikā points in turn to each of the dishes placed on a big round tray and the aryikā makes a sign with her head to indicate whether she accepts or declines.
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