History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c40.24.3

v3.c40.24.3

263-265 dilate upon the different fingers of the hand that are to be employed in taking the five *āhutis* to the life breaths while the Bhojana-sūtra says that according to Baudhāyana all *āhutis* were to be offered with all the fingers. Hārīta quoted in the Sm. C. I. p. 226 states that *mārjana*, offering bali, worship and eating should be done with the tips of fingers. The plate or vessel is to be throughout kept on the ground at a *śrāddha* dinner and the thumb and the next two fingers of the left hand may be used for holding the plate or plantain leaf in position, but if the house is full of people and it is likely that dust may be raised by their feet or by their clothes, then a person taking his meal may raise up his plate from the ground with his left hand after he has taken five morsels.¹⁸³⁰ The diner is not to allow any sound of eating to escape, he is to put each morsel in his mouth with all the fingers including the thumb,¹⁸³¹ he is not to wave his hand. Various rules are laid down in the Viṣṇupurāṇa (III. 11. 83-84) and Brahmapurāṇa (quoted in Gṛ. R. p. 224) as to the order in which various articles are to be eaten, viz. first sweet liquid food may be taken, then salted and sour, and then pungent and bitter, the last item should be milk and after that one should not take curds; a householder should always take food mixed with ghee. One is not to cut off portions of food or cakes, roots, bulbs, fruits or flesh with the teeth and then eat them (Baud. Dh. S. II. 7.