Deepa Mohan wrote: > For Brahmins (only men of course) , after sitting down at the palm leaf, and > after the meal has been served up to the rice part (before the sambar) it is > mandatory to take a palmful of water, take it around the leaf clockwise > three times with the water dribbling around (probably to purify the food?),
This is to apparently keep the ants and other insects out, if you look at it scientifically. > saying, or rather muttering, the Gayatri mantra (I think). Then, the man > says, "achyuthAya namaha, ananthAya namaha, gOvindAya namaha, Om shri > kEshava nArAyaNA mAdhava gOvinda vishNu madhusoodhana thrivikra vAmana .... They say something, I never got around to learn it, and then eat three grains of rice first and then commence the meal. But the mantra is not the one you have mentioned. The mantra, while correct and all, is usually done many time for various reasons. I never got a proper answer from any "perivaal" (literally, older people... actually, the wiser ones, or so they say) when I asked. Venkat
