A 4–part series on the nobility of offer of food to Athithi (Athithi bhojanam) as

expounded by Hindu scriptures.

Written by
Jayasree Saranathan, India.

****

Athithi bhojanam

(part-1)

Serving food to the athithi / guest is the noblest of all acts.

In ThirukkuraL,
there is a chapter called 'virundhombal' (feeding the guest)
which lays emphasis
on feeding the guest as the supreme one
among the 5 forms that are ordained
to be followed by the couple in family life (Gruhastha).
(Pancha yajna was
thus popular in all the lands in Bharatha varsha.)

This has been placed in the middle of 5 types of virundhombal -

the first two being offered to unseen guests (Devas (gods) and pitrus (departed
souls))
and the last two
to relatives and to one's own self.
This is as followed in the Tamil society.

While anyone who is a visitor can be termed as a guest,

the one who is new to the place
and is in need of food
and a place to rest
is considered as special.

(The 10 verses of this chapter in Thirkkural give a better idea

about how guest-feeding was done in those days.)

The unique feature of this chapter is that

this has been placed after
'anbudaimai' (having love for others)
and is succeeded by `iniyavai kooral'
(to speak good words)
indicating that 'guest feeding' is the result of
love for others and
must be done with sweet treatment of the guest
so as to make
him comfortable or 'feel at home.'

The chapter that follows then is 'sei nandri maravaamai' which means not to
forget the good done by others.
In my opinion the gratitude that the guest
has for the one who fed him and cared for him is what makes atithi bhojanam
supreme.
I will elaborate this later
in subsequent parts.

In general, ThirukkuraL accords high status to the one who feeds the guest,
on par with 'vaanavar' (devas' or gods).
Grains and wealth grow in his home
who offers food to the guest or
whomever approaches him
as it is a 'vELvi'
(sacrifice or yajna).

Similar views are echoed in

almost all Tamil texts preaching 'sheelam' or 'vozhukkam' (good behaviour)

Notable among them is Puranaanuru which contains many verses extolling

greatness of feeding atithi among others.
Most kings and philanthropists
have been
praised for having amassed grains (food)
to feed whomever approaches them.

One unique verse (173) has been composed by none other than a king of
Cholas, KuLa muttratthu thunjiya KiLLI vaLAvan
in praise of one of his subjects, PaNNan (Siru kudi kizhaan PaNNan)
whose sole aim in life was to feed the people
who came from far and near.
The king makes a rare gesture
by offering to bequeath his remaining years of life to PaNNan
so that he (PaNNan) can live long to feed the people.

The verse also indicates that when people like PaNNan are around,
the seasons and rains would not fail -
a notion shared by other texts too.
A country will receive the bounties of nature -
and not less-
if all its subjects make it a way of life
to feed atleast one person a day.
A good
economics too!

The description such as this throws light on the way of life in those days.
Every family would wait for at least one traveller (athithi)
or a guest
to feed him before they take their meals.
That means there had been people
who had been moving from place to place (for various reasons)
and there had been
no need for
them to carry much baggage
as an atithi is being taken care for the night
stay also.
(More on this aspect in the next part).

There were no prior appointments to be made and

no frown on the face of the guest on seeing the guest.
The injunction is on feeding a stranger
who happens to be a traveller.
One can imagine the kind of mentality,
the broad mindedness, the care, the compassion,
the embracing of the entire
human race as one with himself etc.,
that the people of those days have had,
with their mind steeply set on feeding at least one guest a day.

Some popular stories of athithi bhojanam.

A popular figure of ancient Tamil land known for doing athithi bhojanam
of an excellent order was king Adiyaman.
The popular Tamil poetess,
Ouvaiyar
used to visit him as an athithi
(a-thithi = one who does not come everyday)

A special amla fruit was offered to her once by the king.

The king considered Ouvaiyar
as the most deserving person than he himself,
to eat the fruit which is supposed to extend longevity.
He offered it to her without telling her the special quality of the fruit
as he believed Ouvaiyar
would not accept it then.

The poetess was indeed moved by the king's intention

when she came to know
about the speciality of the fruit
after eating it and did not forget it for life.
18 of her poems in Purananuru are on Adhiyamaan.
Today we may not know
much about Ouvaiyar's life from recorded history.
But we know more about
Adiyaman, thanks to Ouvaiyaar who immortalised him in verses.

She even went to his enemy as 'messenger' and teased him with a satire
composed on him which is also found in Purananuru.
She extended her kind heart to his new born son too -
a poem on him is also
found in Purananuru.

The over-flowing good-will of athithi for the one who has taken care of him/
her is something that one can not buy with money.
This good-will showers
propsperity on the giver as how Adi Shankara invoked kanaka-dhara
on thepoor woman who had nothing but an amla to offer him.
Though this is about
offer of food to the sanyasin or brahmachari,
the underlying spirit is that
of manushya yajnam or athithi bhojanam.

Shabari was blessed to get Rama-Lakshmana as athithi,

so was Vidura to have
Krishna as athithi.
The result of this athithi bhojanam was the innovation
of the popular dish called,ThirukkaNamudu (from grandma's tale).

Vidura, who on receiving Krishna as his athithi prepared it

with whatever he had with him at that time (rice, jaggery, ghee, milk and honey)
He was worried how Krishna would relish it.
But Krishna had it delightfully -
He is one who would accept even a fruit, leaf or water
that is offered to Him
whole-heartedly.
Won't He feel delighted to get this to eat -
which had all the ingrediants of His liking?

And Thirukkannamudu has come to stay in our homes

till today as an important sweet / dish to
be offered to Him as amudu sEvai!

*******

Athithi bhojanam
(part-2)

A definition of Athithi (guest) has been attributed to sage Lomasarma

that runs thus:

"yasya na shruyathE naama na cha gothram na chasthithi:/agasmaath

gruham aagachEth sothithi:pujyatheputhai://"

(athithi or guest is one whose name or gothram orplace of residence is

not known.
He is one who happensto come to the house of a gruhastha
(family man)purely by chance.
Such a person needs to be worshipped by
the gruhastha)

The term athithi also encompasses the other aashramis too,

like the Brahmachari and the sanyasi.
Parashara-smruthi (which is the book on
code of conduct for kaliyuga like Manu smrithi for Krutha yuga)
considers feeding (anna dhaanam) as the highest form of propitiation from sins.

Feeding is the only act in which the receiver stops at some point
when he feels completely satisfied.
According to this Smruthi,
there are 3 types of dhaanam(offering)
which vary in conferring benefits based on
whether
(1) the giver reaches the place of thereceiver and gives (utthamam or
greatest type) or
(2) the receiver comes to the giver to receive (madhyamam ormedium result) or
(3) the giver gives to the one who happens to be near his place
(athamam or lowest kind).

The only exception is offering food to the athithi

who comes to your doorstep.
The only condition here is offering the best food available
in the best possible way.

This is echoed in Taittriya upanishad (3-10)

(nakanchana pradhya saksheetha….)
whereby it is stated that it is a vratham (penance)
to offer food to the athithi.

The one who offers the best kind of food

(available with him) will himself receive the best kind of food.

The one who offers with some reservations

will receive a medium level of food and
the one who offers the worst kind of treatment and food
to the athithi receives the worst kind of food.

Athithi bhojanam has been made an obligatory act among the other ones
that have been described as tapas by sage Naga, the son of Mudgala
(Tai up 1-9–athithayascha swaadhyaaya pravachanEcha).

If the athithi (here a Brahmin) is not attended to and left to wait,

then it results in loss of wealth and all those benefits
that would otherwise accrue to the host
due to his other good actions.

This is being made out in verse 1-8 of katohpanishad.

In verses 1-7, 1-8 & 1-9 of this Upanishad,
it is being made clear that
an athithi must be offered water and food and
if he stays for the night in the host's house,
the host is all the more obliged to attend to his needs.

When the young lad Nachiketas waits at the doorstep of Yama's house
when he was not there for 3 days and nights,
Yama felt obliged (on his return) to atone for the sin (of having made him wait)
and offered to grant him 3 boons.

Since the over-night stay qualifies the person to be an athithi

(only a traveller from a far-away land would stay for the night in another's
house),
Parasurama was obliged to leave the land he had gifted to sage Kashyapa,
for otherwise he would become anathithi to the sage,
who would then have to pay obeisance to him –
which was untenable because
it was Parasurama and not the sage
who was obliged to please the other.

Parasurama made it a point not stay for the night in the vast land
he had gifted and moved to Mahendra parvad using the power he had
acquired to move swiftly.
When Sri Rama, upon accepting the challenge
from Parashurama to draw the Vishnu dhanus, succeeded in doing so,
Parashurama was humbled.
Since the dhanush had been drawn, it had to hit some target.
Rama gave Parasurama only two choices about the target–
either to sacrifice all the benefits of the penance he had done until then
or to lose the power to move swiftly to any
destination of his choice.

Parasurama chose to sacrifice the former, for if he loses the latter,

he would not be able to leave the land he had gifted on which he was
then standing.
The moment Rama had shot the arrow, Parasurama would
become powerless to move swiftly to his abode before nightfall.
In order not to create a 'crisis' with reference to treatment meted out to
athithi,
Parasurama took the most painful decision of foregoing
whatever he had earned through penance.
Such was the sanctity attached
to athithi puja.

Now about the most important declaration that athithi is to be

worshipped as god (athithi devo bhava –Tai upa).
It has been a matter of debate and discussion
why the seers placed athithi on par with god
and in the order after mother, father and teacher.

Every available text on this speaks about the good results that the host gets,
but
whether it is the good reason to say that athithi is supreme as god or
on par with the other three is a moot question.
There are other actions too that have been sanctified by scriptures and seers.
But do we treat the sources (actions or perpetrators ofaction)
as god in
those cases?

While explanations may vary and are many

based on one's experience and knowledge,
here is one based on the experience of this writer.

It happened when this writer undertook a 5-day tour to cover 40 divya

desasin Tanjore –Kumbakonam belt (Chozha naattuthirupathigaL)
along with the family.
It was the last day of the tour when she landed at
Thirunaangur pradesam.
Until then she and her family had been blessed
with quick dharshan, food at all places etc.
But once inside the remote villages of Thirunaangur pradesam,
things were not moving as expected.
Added to the difficulty in reaching the temples and finding
the bhattars, was the one on finding food.
The available stocks of food had run out and
the kids were looking tired, dehydrated and pathetic.

Steeped in a staunch principle that

they must not ask for any help
that would make it obligatory,
her family merely looked for ways to finish the dharshan
at the remaining temples soon and leave for home.

When they happened to spot the house of Sri Madhavan Bhattar,

the bhattar serving at Annan Koil,
they proceeded to enquire about the other temples
and a guide to show them the way.
An unique soul that he was,
the Bhattar noticed the tiredness in their faces and lost no time
in inviting them inside and offered food
before they could make any enquiries.
His wife Gayathri maami made them all feel comfortable and
at ease in their home.

I must say that till today none of us have forgotten their

hospitality.
Even my children who were much younger then remember
the food we had in their house.
It was amirtham (nectre) that brought life
to our senses!
And we had it in the cosiest atmosphere with no worry
about whether we are a burden to them and
whether we are troublingthem etc.

What we had was the best food we have ever had and
the thought that we have of the fine couple
even after years is something special.
It isthe heartfelt good wishes for good fortunes and
everything of good for them.
Perhaps this feeling and thinking about them is comparable to
what one's mother, father or teacher would have for that person(s).

It is perhaps due to this reason,

the athithi has been placed after these three!
It is perhaps in tune with according highest place (as god) to the three,
that the athithi is also treated as god.
No mother
or father or teacher
would think anything less than the highest good
to the person.
So too with the athithi who has been treated well!

Apart from this experience-based insight, there does exist a Vedantic

explanation for why the athithi becomes God.
This will be discussed in
the subsequent parts.

Athithi bhojanam
(part-3)

Athithi puja has been regarded as one among the 6daily rituals for a Brahmin.
The 6 daily rituals are
(1) snaanam (bathing)
(2) sandhya vandanam
(3)oupaasanam
(4) bhagavad aaraadhanam
(5) vaishwadevam and
(6) athithi puja.
Of these the first and the last are to be done by all
the 4 varnas.

Athithi puja has been part and parcel of the 5 Great sacrifices
(pancha maha yagya) namely
Brahma yagyam(upasana on Brahman),
Pitru yagyam (remembering the departed ancestors),
deva yagyam (worshipping devas),
bhootha yagyam (feeding plants and animals) and
manushya yagyam (athithi bhojanam).
A gruhastha (thefamily man) is supposed to incur
5 types of sins everyday and
the 5 Great yagyas are prescribed as remedies from these sins.
The grushatha becomes responsible for 5 types of killings in
his house when he
(1) burns the firewood for cooking,
(2) grinds flour in the grinding stone,
(3) sweeps the floor,
(4) breaks the grains and
(5) boils water.

In all these acts which are regularly done,

many micro organisms and
living things such as insects are killed.
His house becomes a ground for'Soona' (killing).
In order to seek redress from these 5 types of killings,
the gruhastha has been ordained to conduct
the 5 great sacrifices,
of which athithi bhojanam is one.

Many stories on athithi bhojanam are cited in puranas.

One such story is about Gnyadhi dharma and his wife Sree vallabhai
who lived in Saurashtra.
They lived in penury and the absence of rains for 12 years
in succession added to their woes.
After days of hunger,
they at last managed to get a pumpkin.
It was then a sage arrived at their home and
the couple received him with all rituals that were to be done to the athithi.
The pumpkin was cooked and the small meal they could afford
was offered to the sage while they remained unfed.

The next morning the sage left on his journey and the couple too left
on their last journey immediately thereafter –
only to reach higher realms
that are reserved for people who do athithi puja of highest order.

A similar story is found in Mahabharatha in which a porcupine

that rolled on the left overs on the ground after the athithi had eaten
had its spikes turned golden.
It then proceeded to Yudhishtra's court
to narrate the great sacrifice (of life) of the family in having fed the
athithi under difficult conditions
which is far greater than the yagya
that Yidhishtra had just done

Even the lesser life forms were seen to have stuck to athithi bhojanam.
An incident involving a pigeon has been narrated by Sri Rama in Ramayanam
to extol the athithi bhojanam that the pigeon had done
which also stands as a best example
for sharanaagatha rakshkam by a bird.

Once a hunter captured a female pigeon and

reached the base of the tree which houses the nest of the pigeon couple.
Though the male pigeon sitting on the branch saw its mate in captivity,
it also found that the hunter had not had any food for a few days.
Since he had reached the house (tree) of the pigeon,
it considered him as an athithi
and also as one who has sought surrender in it for food.
The malepigeon then formed fire and
fell into it to become food for the hunter.

In today's conditions,
it is rare to find an athithi.
But as Sanatanists we have to do manushya yagyam.
In my opinion feeding
atleast one person a day who has no means of earning his food
can be a substitute for athithi bhojanam.
In other parts of the world such an act is considered as service.
In Sanatana dharma it is considered
as the DUTY of every person. (refer Tai upa ).

I think duty is a far superior meaning than service.

When you serve someone,your hand goes up and
the receiver has to extend his hand below in humility.
But when the same is done as a duty,
the pride of the receiver is never put to stress.
The doer gives because it does him good and the receiver takes
because by so-doing he is enabling the doer (giver) receive some benefits.

The self-respect
of the receiver is not hurt in this scenario.
Athithi bhojanam is one
which maintains this balance.

********************
Athithi bhojanam
(part-4)

Athithi dEvO bhava.

Why is a person, who happens to be athithi treated as god?

Let us see some scriptural explanation.

The special status to athithi arises owing to his being considered as

an embodiment of an Agni called VaishvAnara.
This has been stated in katohpanishad.

When Yama sees Nachiketas waiting at his doorstep,

he realises that it is the biggest sin to make the athithi
who also happens to be a brahmin wait at the doorstep without being offered food.

For, when the athithi enters the house,

it is VaishvAnara who entersthe house.
A difference is thus made between the athithi and others
in the name of VaishvAnara who is supposed to reside in the athithi.

Before going into the details on this,

let me begin with why agni comes to be associated with man or athithi in the first
place.
The very meaning of the term shareeram(body) in sanskrit
is closely associated with agni.
"AgnayOhathra shreeyanthE",
this became shareeram,says Garbhopanishath.
By virtue of it being pervaded by agni,
our body is known as shareeram.

According to Garbhopanishad which details the formation andgrowth

of the body in the womb,
our shareeram is pervaded by 3 types of agni,
namely, Gyanaagni,Dharshanaagni and koshtaagni.

Koshtaagni helps in digestion and assimilation offood.

(achita-pIta-lEhya-shoshyam pachathi)

Dharshanagni helps us in seeing the rupam. (rupaaNaamdharshaNam)

Gyanaagni helps us in understanding good and bad andgood from bad.

(shubha shubhancha karma vidanthi)

This Gyanaagni is positioned in 3 places in our body,in the face as

Ahavaneeaagni, in the stomach as GArhapathyaagni and in the Hridayam
as DhakshiNaagni.

By means of these agni, constant yajna is taking place in our body.

Again we find in Katohpanishad (verse 5-9)."agni-yathaikO bhuvanam

pravishtO rupam rupam prathirupO babhuva"
(Just as how agni enters all bodies and takes up the shape of the respective
bodies as its shape)

"thatha sarva bhootha antharaathma rupam rupamprathi rupO bahishcha"

(the antharyami enters all bodies and takes up the rupam of the
respective bodies.)

The inference is that all bodies are nothing but embodiment of agni.
For our better understanding, let us call this as internal agni.

Now about the external agni.

This includes all agni-related vaidhiha karma.
I don't want to elaborateon this as I assume the readers are well aware of this.
Suffice it to remind ourselves that this external agni
(this is so called for our understanding only)
is to be governed throughout one's
life as per the Taittriya injunction,
"Agnayascha
swaadhyaayapravachanEcha".

It is interesting to note that a sanyasi who is supposed to have given

up or discarded everything (except his mother) including agni,
in effect is not giving up agni.
Before taking up sanyasa,
he swallows up the agni (external agni) asking it to unite with his Prana
by saying
"PrANam gachcha swAhA" (JaabaalOupanishad 4-2)
This is known as the
Viraja Homa and the details of how this is to be done is explained in
this upanishad.

From the above, we further deduce that while the body (shareeram) of a
person contains only internal agni,
that of the sanyasi contains both
internal and external agni.

Let us go on further to analyse the import of the version in

Katohpanishad which says that there is agni in athithi.

This agni is VaishvAnara which issupposed to be present in the one who

comes as an athithi.
What is this VaishvAnara?
Gitacharyan says that
He, as VaishvAnara, the gastric juice is pervading all beings.

Jaimini says, "Narayana is the agni(VaishvAnara) which is none other

than the Brahman"."
This VaishvAnara Self extending from Heaven to the
earth," says Chandogya (V-XVIII-1).

Though Brahman is present in every

being, a difference is being made by texts by a qualifying statement
that VaishvAnara, the'agni' which is none other than Brahman Himself
is present.

In whom?
In athithi, says katohpanishad.
"Vaishvanara agni enters the house as athithi"
Because the athithi comes hungry.
"He who knows this agni Vaishvanara.. abiding in man" (Satapata Brahmana)
treats him with reverence
and satisfies the agni with food.

Therefore those around Yama tell him to bring water to wash the feet
of Nachiketas, a boy much younger thanYama himself,
and offer food to him.(Kato -Verse 1-8 )
"They tell Yama, 'in whose house,the athithi
stays without food, his desires, sankalpa,goodwill of others,
his own good deeds and words, the worship he has done to gods,
his children and his wealth (cattle) are all destroyed
by the agni present in the athithi."

On the other hand, those who satisfy the VaishvAnara in athithi with food
stand to be benefited.
When an athithi is offered food as a sacrificial act,
all the created worlds receive the offering by virtue
of its being offered to Brahman in the form of VaishvAnara.
This is made out in Brahma sutras.
Jaimini says that VaishvAnara must be
worshipped as in Agni hotra sacrifice where Prana is worshipped.

"...as the fibres of the Iseeka reed when thrown in fireare burnt,
with this (offering to VaishvAnara) all his sins are burnt". (Chando
–V-XXIV-3).

Here a question arises –since VaishvAnara is present in all beings,

is it not enough if we offer food to anyone from among ourselves
who is hungry
and get the phalam?

It is replied here that the athithi is special.

Because the texts say so.
"The first food which a man takes is an object of oblation" that is,
it must be offered to some one else,not himself or his own family.
And the first food which is to be offered must go to the one
who is in dire need of it in such a way it gives him his life-force back
by satisfying his VaishvAnara
which is waiting for long for the havis (the food).
"and he who offers that first oblation should offer it to
PrANa,saying 'swaha'." (Chan- V-X-1)

(Further elaboration ofthis can be found in Ramanuja's Bhashya to

Brahmasutra , 1-2-27)
It is said that the PrANA mentioned above is the
abode of VaishvAnara and the offering made to PrANa is the offering
made to Vaishvanara.

That is why the grihastha has to wait for an athithi (who fulfills the
meaning of the term as said in earlier mails) to offer the first food
before he and his family take food.

Such an athithi would be possessed of the VaishvAnara in him

expecting the havis.
Thus athithi bhojanam was considered as a homa or sacrifice.
When the grihastha finds an eligible athithi,
he offers
food with the realisation that he is offering food to Brahman.

This is how the athithi came to be regarded as god.

Now coming to further fine-tuning of our understanding– any man with
VaishvAnara is also possessed of the internal agni (discussed
earlier).

But a sanyasin scores above this man in having swallowed the external
agni within himself.
In the former case, the results occur visibly or invisibly or lately as apurva.
But in the case of a sanyasi,
the results are almost instantaneous.

This is what we find in Kanaka-dhara on the poor lady who offered amla
fruit to Adi Shankara.
The opposite happened in Shakuntala's case
when she ignored the sage.
In all, what is required is how sincere and
concerned one is in athithi bhojanam.
If the situation warrants
supreme sacrifice, one must do that.
(Outlined in stories in previous parts).

The conclusion is that one must wait for an athithi (atleast one)
everyday to offer him the first food before taking one's meals.
To get a sanyasi-athithi is all the more great as the offering is made to one
with 3 agni (VaisvAnara, internal agni and external agni) in him.