History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c40.45

v3.c40.45

A person was not to eat everything in his plate; he should leave some remnant ¹⁸⁴¹ of food except of curds, honey, ghee, milk and *saktu* (barley or barley flour). What remains was to be given to one's wife, servant or slave (Par. M. I. part 1, p. 422). No one was to give the remnants of one's food to another nor to eat the remnants of another's food, except a child that might eat the remnants of the food of its parents and *guru* (*vide* Smṛtimuktāphala, āhnika p. 431). Remnants of food were not to be given to a śūdra unless he was one's dependent (Manu IV. 80, Āp. Dh. S. I. 11. 31. 25–26). Atri (quoted in Sm. C. I. p. 228) says that even on sipping water after dinner one remains impure till one's plate is removed, till the ground where the food was taken is cow-dunged, till after leaving his seat he moves on the ground elsewhere. Vide also Āp. Dh. S. II. 2 4. 24. The plate of a brāhmaṇa may be removed by a brāhmaṇa (but not by any one else) and the plates of the brāhmaṇas invited at a śrāddha repast were to be removed by the person who performed the śrāddha or by his son or pupil, but not by one whose upanayana is not performed nor by the wife nor by any one else (Laghu-Āśvalāyana I. 165–166).