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Re: animal slaughter in the Vedas
Dear friends:
This is the second and concluding part of my response to
Dhruba’s post where he wrote:
“However, I read that scholars refer to several
verses to support the animal eating practices. I am not able
to judge either
the verses or the merits of the translations, but here are some of these
references:
Bull (vrisha) eating (1.164.43, 10.86.13-14), buffalo meat eating
(5.29.8), goat meat eating (1.162.3) etc.
appear to be socially accepted
practices in the straight meaning of these verses”
I
n sanskrit, the “straight” meaning some times does not make sense, for , many times words have more
than one meaning and one has to chose the one that is appropriate in the context. As an example there is a
subhashita:
“keshavaM patitaM dr^shtvA pandavAH harshsha nirbharAH
rudanti kauravAssarve hA keshava hA keshava.”
The “straight” meaning of this sloka would be,
After seeing keshava (krishna) fall down, all the pandavas rejoiced. However, all the kauravas cried in
grief, oh keshava, oh kesha
va.
Does this make sense? After all Krishna is the best friend of the Pandavas. How can they rejoice at
Krishna’s fall? and How can Kauravas feel sorry for Krishna? It goes against all that we have learnt from
Mahabharata and Bhagavadgita.
Yes, there is another more appropriate meaning. “ka” means water, “pandava” means crane, and
“kaurava” means crow. and “shava” is a dead body. So, the meaning is
After seeing a dead body fall in to water, the cranes rejoiced. However, all the crows cried,’
alas, the dead
body has fallen in to water, dead body in the water’
We do not need a “scholar” explaining that the Pandavas actually hated Krishna in their heart of hearts
and that this was way to express their feelings.
It is the same way with the verses referred to by Dhruba, and I quote the relevant parts:
“...ukshANaM pRshnimapachanta vIrAH.......”..._ RigVeda 1.164.43
Here the “straight” meaning would be “ the warriors are cooking the bulls..”
But does this make sense? is this the appr
opriate meaning in this context?
Sukta 1.164, also called “asya vAmIya” sukta, is a very profound sukta consisting of 52 riks
the rishi being dIrghatamA auchitya ( he is also the rishi for sukta 1.162 that Dhruba quotes for goat meat
eating), the sukta is addressed to several deities and different parts of the sukta have different chandas.
This is the same sukta, in which rik 27 says that the cow is “aghnyA”, not killable, and I had quoted this
earlier. Some very famous vedic quotations are from t
his sukta “ ekam sadviprA bahudhA vadanti..” “
there is only One, the learned call Him by many names..”; “dwA suprNA..” a very well known metaphor
of two birds in philosophy representing the JIvAtma and Paramatma, is also from this sukta. Some other
parts of the sukta are used in daily worship “ gaurImimAya salilAni...”. If the “straight” meaning is read,
would it not be self contradictory, as rik 27 says that the cow is “aghnyA”. but the bull can be eaten?
The word “uksha” has another very commo
n meaning, that it is a vareity of “soma” plant. SAyaNa
explains “vallIrUpaH somaH”, a variety of soma vine. The part of the verse quoted means, the performers
of the sacrifice are cooking the soma plant with a view to extract soma juice for the ceremony. This verse
does not mean “bull is being cooked”.
“ghastta indra ukshshaNaH priyam.....” _RigVeda 10.86.13
“ukshshaNo hi me panchadasha sAkaM pachanti vimshatiM...” _RigVeda 10.86.14
The “straight” meaning of these quotations would be:
“
Indra, eat your favorite bull...” and “ They are cooking fifteen and twenty bulls for me...”
The sukta 10.86 is called aindra sukta, and is in the form of a conversation between Indra, IndraNi, and
Vr^shshAkapi. The chandas is panchapada pankti and the rishis are Indra, IndrANi and vr^shshAkapi.
Every rik in this sukta ends with the burden “vishvasmAdindra uttaraH” “Indra is superior to every one
else in the world.”
The purport of this sukta is to make Indra powerful. It is a tradition that Indra
becomes powerful by
partaking soma In rik 10.86.13, IndrANi tells Indra, “please receive your favorite soma quickly..”
In rik 10.86.14 Indra replies, “they are preparing soma for offering fifteen and twenty times..”
There is a special yajna called agnishtoma, consisting of four parts. In the second part they offer fifteen
“stomas” and in the third part twenty one “stomas”, i.e., special offerings of soma.
Again the word ukshshNa means the soma plant and not a bull.
“trI yachChatA mahishshANAmag
ho mastrI....” _ RigVeda 5.29.8
The “straight” meaning of this quote would be “Hey Indra, when you have eaten the meat of three
hundred buffaloes...”
Again, the sukta RigVeda 5. 29 has Indra as its devatA, and gaurIvIti shAktya as the rishi. This is in
praise of Indra in the context of vr^travadha, i.e., killing of vr^trAsura. The meaning is “oh Indra, when
you have recieved three hundred offerings of soma, you will be powerful to kill vr^tra..”. Just as
“ukshshNa” means bull or soma plant,
“mahishsha” also means buffalo or another variety of soma plant.
“eshshachChAgaH puro ashvena vAjinA...” _RigVeda 1.162.3
The “straight” meaning here is “this hornless goat has been brought in front of the horse..”
This sukta is known as ashva sukta, and is a praise of ashva, the Sun!. The rishi is the same as that of
1.164 mentioned above. ChAga should not be interpreted as “shr^ngarahita ajA”, “hornless goat”, but it
means the morning or the dawn fire that is lit before the sun rises. The re
al mening of the verse is
“the morning fire is lit before, thew sun, the giver of food rises”
So my friends, these verses do not refer to any commonly accepted practices of meat eating. It is the
misinterpretation of the “scholars” that has caused the confusion among our people. I have given the
originals, the contexts in which they have to be understood, even at the cost of being overly scholarly.
However, I felt it necessary to do so, when people quote from the vedas and proclaim that cow
slaughter is
part of madhuparka, beef is offered at weddings, and that it was a commonly accepted practice to eat meat
of bull, baffalo and goat. As you can see, these are erroneous statements, and do not represent the ture
spirit of the vedas. I plead please do not propagate erroneous information. Thanks for your patience, best
regards _ B. N. Narahari Achar
