Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c20.s7.21

v1.c20.s7.21

will become a dead letter; men of good intention will be nulled into the belief that, because not openly combated, the prejudice is extinct, and that homage to our power has obliterated this article of their creed. Thus Aurangzeb thought, but he avowedly and boldly opposed the religious opinions of his tributaries; we only hold them in contempt, and even protect them when productive of no sacrifice. Yet if we look back on the early page of history, we shall find both policy and benevolence combined to form this legislative protection to one of the most useful of domestic animals, and which would tempt the belief that Triptolemus, the lawgiver of Sparta, had borrowed from Manu [Laws, xi. 60, 69, 71], or rather from the still greater friends of dumb creatures, the Jains, in the law which exempted not only the lordly bull from the knife, but “ every living thing.”