History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.849

v4.c63.t2.849

There were various occasions on which in ancient times a cow was sacrificed. The Anūbandhyā cow killed at the end of the Udayanīyā iṣṭi in Agniṣṭoma has been referred to above (on p. 627 n. 1196). In the Madhuparka which was offered to an honoured guest a cow was either killed or let loose at the desire of the guest. Vide H. of Dh. vol. II pp. 543-545. A cow was killed in one of the three or four *aṣṭakā* śrāddhas (vide Khādira gṛ. III. 4.1, Gobhila gṛ. III. 10. 16). Āp. Dh. S. II. 7. 16. 25 states that if cow's flesh is offered in śrāddha for the *pitṛs*, the latter are gratified for one year. There was a sacrifice called Gosava or Gomedha, that was an Ukthya in which the fees were ten thousand cows and which according to some could be performed only by a vaiśya (Kāt. Śr. 22. 11.¹⁸¹⁸ 3-8). A bull was killed as an offering in the rite called śūlagava (vide H. of Dh. vol. II pp. 831-832). As flesh-eating came to be looked down upon, cow sacrifice became most abhorrent and Kalivarjya texts only register a prohibition which had been acted upon centuries before.