Excerpted from an article by
Mr Shrivathsa.B.
Full text can be read at https://bharatabharati.wordpress.com/2015/11/25/the-hindu-view-of-food-and-drink-a-critique-shrivathsa-b/
The definitive argument against eating any form
of meat is found in the most ancient text concerning Vedic rites,
the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa. The eighth
and ninth khaṇḍas of the sixth adhyāya contains
a brāhmaṇic story of a puruṣa who was
about to be sacrificed in a yajña (conducted by devas).
The best material in him escapes because of the fear of death and enters
various animal bodies and escapes them in sequence. It finally enters earth and
then the grains. The sum and substance of the brāhmaṇic story
is that the person conducting a sacrificial rite using puroḍāsha (a
grain preparation) is indeed doing an animal sacrifice. This is because
of the yajña paśu has passed the bodies of various animals,
earth and finally the grains. The drift being that grains have the best essence
of all animals and the earth. The text also provides equivalence between the
body parts of an animal and the different parts of a grain.
This seems to suggest that
there was either (1) a parallel tradition which practiced sacrifices using
grain alone; or (2) an opprobrium associated with animal sacrifice—which led to
a brāhmaṇic story such as the above.
In any of the above cases it
can be safely argued that the
concept of sacrifices of the animal variety as the only means of attaining
heaven was being reviewed by the ancients (thereby the story extolling
grain over meat).
Animal sacrifice
prohibited according Mahābhārata
The anuśāsana
parva of Mahābhārata holds
a view strictly against animal sacrifice of any sort. This is explained by the
story of King Vasu. The story being: A king by name Vasu goes to heaven as a
result of conducting yajñas. After he reached heaven, there happens
to be a debate among the devas and ṛṣis about the
use of goats, etc. in sacrifice. In this debate, the devas are
in favour of goat sacrifice and ṛṣis favour oblation of unsprouted
seeds. The tussle is about the
word “aja” which can either mean unsprouted seeds or a goat. They
decide that as Vasu has reached heaven performing yajñas, he is the
right person to be consulted. Vasu, who is now a deva himself
decides to be partial to the deva view and gives the verdict
in favour of goats being killed. As a result of this, he is cursed immediately
to be born on earth as a snake.
Were ancient Hindus beef-eaters?
{as though they were eating beef at least once a week
(if not every day)}. Let us ask a few questions and answer them.
Que: Who are the ancients who are supposed to have eaten beef, if
at all?
Ans: A subset of Brahmins
called yājñika Brahmins who have done or taken part in somayāga.
This is a “difficult” yāga to conduct owing to the requirement of numerous
priests of a very high erudition. Generally the convention was for the yajamāna and
his next seven generations to carry surnames such as somayājī,vājapeyī,
etc. Any cursory population analysis of the Brahmins will reveal that the
number is minuscule. Brahmins had other vocations such as temple duties, official
duties in the royal court and the like. In fact, some communities in Brahmins
are classified as (1) Kammis (corruption of “karmī”,
i.e. worker) who were predominantly officials by tradition. (2) Ācārya:
who were traditional school teachers. (3) Joshi: the ones
predominantly traditional astrologers (4) Purāṇika: the ones who
were traditional story tellers, bards etc. This being the case, the number of
those who have eaten beef, if at all, is minuscule.
Que: How often did they eat beef (if at all)?
Ans: Somayāga was
not a daily event. It had strict restrictions on its conduct including
restrictions on
- the time of the year: certain varṇas had
to conduct it in certain seasons;
- the yajamāna (the one on behalf
of whom the yajña is conducted): before even beginning
a somayāga, he should have (a) been an āhitāgni,
(b) conducted the sapta pāka and sapta
havissamsthas. Except in the case of a chosen few who probably had
royal backing, to be an āhitāgni and have finished
the samsthas is quite difficult practically;
- Ayajño vā etadadakṣiṇaḥ (that which doesn’t have substantial dakṣiṇā is
not fit to be called a yajna) goes a famous maxim. Stories
abound in itihāsaand purāṇa about kings
giving away everything they had. The rājasūyasacrifice calls
for giving away even the loin cloth worn by the king. Given this, the
number of those even among even the yājñikas who were
regularly conducting yāga is logically low;
- once seven Somayāgas are
done, the yajamāna is supposed to have attained the merit
of going to heaven, hence it isn’t necessary for him to do any more yāgas.
So, at the most, he and the priests may have eaten
beef seven times in their life (if at all).
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