The verse and its meaning · Ayurveda · Ayurveda — Food and Eating

The Order of a Meal

Ashtanga Hridayam, Sutrasthana 8.45

बिसेक्षुमोचचोचाम्रमोदकोत्कारिकादिकम् । अद्याद्द्रव्यं गुरु स्निग्धं स्वादु मन्दं स्थिरं पुरः ॥ विपरीतमतश्चान्ते मध्येऽम्ललवणोत्कटम् ॥

Meaning · English

Lotus stalk, sugarcane, banana, coconut, mango, sweet dumplings, sweet cakes and the like: food that is heavy, unctuous, sweet, slow and stable should be eaten first. Food of the opposite kind comes at the end, and in the middle, food strong in sour and salt.

Vagbhata gives a meal three movements. First come foods that are guru, heavy; snigdha, oily or moist; svadu, sweet; manda, slow to digest; and sthira, steadying. His examples are lotus stalk, sugarcane, banana, coconut, mango, and sweets such as modaka dumplings and utkarika cakes. In the middle come dishes where sour and salt stand out. At the end comes food with the opposite qualities to the first group: light, dry, quick, not sweet. The verse gives no reason. The commentators explain that agni, the digestive fire, is keenest when hunger is fresh, so the heaviest food goes to it first. In their terms, sweet and heavy food settles vata, the moving force, sour and salt kindle agni at its working height, and light food at the close keeps kapha, the heavy and moist quality, from building up as the stomach fills. The meal is meant to carry a person through steadily, not sit like a stone.

1. At lunch today, before you begin, sort what is on your plate into three groups: heavy and sweet, sour and salty, light and dry. 2. Take your first few bites from the heavy, sweet group, such as rice, a root vegetable or a ripe banana. If you manage your blood sugar, keep the order your doctor advised. 3. Move to the sour and salty dishes in the middle of the meal: a lemony dal, a little pickle, a tangy curry. 4. Finish with something light, such as a few bites of plain greens or salad. 5. An hour later, notice how settled you feel.

Modern nutrition has no match for the doshas, and it does not sort foods by heaviness or stability. Some parts still line up. Sour and salty tastes do make the mouth water and help get digestion going, which loosely fits the idea of kindling agni, the old word for digestion and appetite, mid-meal. Starting with dense, filling food can bring fullness sooner, which may make it easier to stop eating at the right point. Today's advice on blood sugar often runs the other way, though. Doctors commonly suggest eating vegetables and protein before starches and sweets, because this tends to soften the rise in blood sugar. Anyone with diabetes or prediabetes should not move sweets to the start of a meal on this verse's word alone.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Foods for Every Day · Ashtanga Hridayam, Sutrasthana 8.42
• Next: Leaving Room in the Stomach · Ashtanga Hridayam, Sutrasthana 8.46
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