History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c40.57

v3.c40.57

Before proceeding further some remarks must be made about flesh-eating. In the Ṛg. frequent reference is made to the cooking of the flesh of the ox for offering to gods (particularly Indra). For example, in Ṛg. X. 86. 14 Indra is made to say ‘They cook for me 15 plus twenty oxen’; *vide* Ṛg. X. 27. 2. In Ṛg. X. 91. 14 it is stated that for Agni were sacrificed horses, bulls, oxen, barren cows and rams. In Ṛg. VIII. 43. 11¹⁸⁴⁷ Agni is styled ‘one whose food is the ox and the barren cow.’ In Ṛg. X. 79. 6 it is suggested that the cow was cut up with a sword or axe. In the Ṛg. itself the cow is frequently called ‘aghnyā’ (*vide* Ṛg. I. 164. 27 and 40, IV. 1. 6, V. 83. 8, VIII. 69. 21, X. 87. 16 &c.). The word ‘aghnyā’ appears to mean ‘one that does not deserve to be killed’ and the Nirukta (XI. 43)¹⁸⁴⁸ explains it in that way. It should be noted that that word occurs sometimes in apposition to ‘dhenu’ (as in Ṛg. IV. 1. 6, VIII. 69. 2). So it may be argued that in the times of the Ṛg. only barren cows if at all were killed for sacrifice or meat and cows yielding milk were held to be not fit for being killed. It is only in this way that one can explain the high praise bestowed on the cow in Ṛg. VI. 28. 1-8 and in Ṛg. VIII. 101. 15 and 16 where the cow is described to be ‘the mother of Rudras, the daughter of Vasus, the sister of Ādityas and the centre of nectar’ and the sage winds up by praying to the knowing man ‘do not kill the cow, that is innocent and is Aditi herself.’¹⁸⁴⁹ In Ṛg. VIII. 101. 16. the cow is called ‘devī’