Manava Dharmashastra 3.82

3.82

annaṃ pātre samuddhṛtya śvādīnāmupakārāya bhuvi niḥkṣipet | pāparogiṇaḥ kuṣṭhikṣayādayaḥ | vayāṃsi pakṣiṇaḥ | śanakairbhūmyutthitarajasā yathā na saṃsṛjyeta | bhūmrahaṇaṃ na pātrapratiṣedhāya, kiṃ tarhi śvapacapatitakuṣṭhibhyo na haste dātavyam | upakāravidhānaṃ cedam | ata eva ṣaṣṭhyā'yaṃ ślokaḥ paṭhyate, na caturthyantena | pakṣiṇāṃ tādṛgdeśe vidhātavyaṃ yatrābibhyataḥ śvādibhyaḥ khādanti | kṛmīṇāmiti tādṛśe deśe yatra teṣāṃ sambhavaḥ |

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
Having taken up some food in a vessel, he should place food on the ground, with a view to benefit the dogs and the rest.

‘Persons afflicted with filthy diseases’—Lepers, consumptives, and so forth.

‘Vayāṃsi’—birds.

‘Gently’—i.e., in such, a way that the food does not become mixed with the dust raised from the ground.

The ‘ground’ has been mentioned, not with a view to preclude the use of a vessel, but simply to indicate that food for the Cāṇḍāla, the outcast and the leper should not be given in their hands.

What the present verse prescribes is the according of help; that is why the verse contains the Genitive, not the Dative, ending.

For the birds, food should be placed on a spot where they can eat it without being scared away by dogs, &ç.

For insects, the food should be placed on a spot where they are likely to be present.—(92)