to the “vaidika” elites. For “untouchables” it would mean living outside the
area of the cities where the “twice-born” lived and refraining from letting
their very shadows fall on the person or path of the upper classes.
The symbolism of food
One of the ways in which social distinctions and reciprocities were upheld
in “vaidika” society was in the practices associated with the consumption of
food. Some early texts had used food as a metaphor for social status wherein
the consumption was likened to the control or destruction of those one
hated or over whom one claimed superiority. As an author of the S ́atapatha
Bra ̄hman.aput it: “The sacrificer [makes] food of whoever hates him, of
whomever he hates, and puts them into [the sacrificial fire].”^26 Now, on the
other hand, many of the texts of the urban period offered extended
discussions on which foods were appropriate to eat and which were not. The
Dharmasu ̄ tras– treatises on proper behavior designed primarily for brahman
males – offer scores of stanzas declaring what foods should be eaten or
avoided, how they should be prepared, and how and when they should be
offered to the gods or other persons.
In a certain sense, one was what one ate – or, at least, one’s identity and
relative ritual purity were enacted in the ways food was cooked, eaten,
and served. Foods were thought to reflect the basic character of the universe
(cf.Bhagavadgı ̄ta ̄17: 7–10) – “sattvic” foods, such as most vegetables, milk,
or dairy products, were believed to enhance spiritual awareness and ritual
purity, so were favored by orthoprax brahmans; foods which had the
character of rajas(such as meat, garlic, or onions) were thought to generate
passion and action and were, for the most part, appropriate for the warrior
but not for the brahman; “tamasic” foods such as liquor or stale food were
thought to instill inertia and slothfulness and hence were appropriate only
for the lower strata of society. The qualities of various castes were thought
to have been consistent with the nature of the food they ate.^27
Many rules developed as to when one should fast or feast, to whom and
when one should offer food, and, not least important, when and how to offer
food to the gods. By the medieval period, for example, many of the offerings
made to the deities in temples were of foods. These offerings, once “con-
sumed” by the deity, would be redistributed to devotees in the form of
prasa ̄da(literally, “favor”). Such prasa ̄da, incidentally, was the only form
of “leftovers” believed to be auspicious for the orthoprax to consume. To
this day, rituals associated with food embody much as to the ways in which
various Indian communities express themselves and their relationship to
others and to the deities.
The Urban Period 67