Eating leftovers

[Carlos Lopez]

The issue of how to deal with the leftovers (ucchiSTa, ZeSa) is central to
one of the key myths in Vedic literature, namely the story of the birth of
the Adityas from Aditi due to her eating of hte ucchiSTa (of the SAdhyas in
one version).  See MS 1.6.12, KS 11.6, TS 6.5.6 and ZB 3.1.3.3.4 for
parallel versions.  The myth of course, among other interesting things,
'defines' social relations - in that case between husband and wife.

The same applies to the student-teacher relation, see for example ApDhS
1.3.31 says that the student must collect alms (=food) and then ofer them to
the teacher, only after he offers them can the student eat the ucchiSTa of
his teacher's meal (1.4.1).  If the teacher is not around, a substitute must
be found.

Malamoud's article can be found in his Cooking the World: Ritual and Thought
in ancient India.  Delhi: Oxford University press, 1996....its a
translationof the original Cuir le monde: Rite et Pensee dans l'Inde acienne
( 1989).

Hope this helps

Carlos Lopez
Dept. of Sanskrit
Harvard University

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Indology [mailto:INDOLOGY at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK]On Behalf Of
> Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan
> Sent: Saturday, May 22, 1999 1:11 PM
> To: INDOLOGY at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK
> Subject: Re: Eating leftovers
>
>
> Dear Dr. Hoogcarspel
>
> In a message dated 5/22/99 11:24:19 AM Central Daylight Time,
> jehms at KABELFOON.NL writes:
>
> > There's an article of Charles Malamoud about the concept of
> remainder in
> WZKS
> > XVI 1972
> >
>
> I do not know what WZKS stands for. Is that a journal or conference
> proceedings? I am interested in the traditional interpretations of the
> episodes such as those in the lives of of Ramanuja and
> Umapati zivAacharya
> where they eat/attempt to eat the leftovers of non-brahmin teachers.
>
> If the article addresses the relationship between a teacher
> and his disciple,
> I would like information about how to get that. Thanks in advance.
>
> Regards
> S. Palaniappan
>