[Advaita-l] Purusamedha - Literary and Archeological - Ref

[S Jayanarayanan]

--- On Tue, 9/22/09, Satish Arigela <satisharigela at yahoo.com> wrote:

[..]

> To Kartik:
> >This is not a legitimate argument - the prohibition can
> certainly exist to remove any >possible doubt that humans
> are the victims of the sacrifice.
>  
> It is not enough to brush it aside as an invalid argument.
> There are some statements forbidding certain acts. I do
> understand and agree that for some of these, inferring that
> contrary things was done in the past based on the
> prohibition will lead to silly conclusions. But in our case
> here, clearly the work says that when they are --about to be
> sacrificed-- they heard a voice asking them not to sacrifice
> the human victim. So isnt it reasonable (ofcourse when
> combined with other evidence) to infer that before this work
> came into existence(or composed if you would prefer), the
> human was likely sacrificed?
>  

There are many conclusions that can be drawn in the above instance. The story may serve to underline the point that human sacrifices are NOT being intended, so "be careful not to misconstrue these injunctions".

[..]

> >In the Mahabharata, king Jarasandha wishes to sacrifice
> to Shiva the enemy kings that he >has defeated and held
> captive. Along with Arjuna and Bhima, Krishna arrives at
> >Jarasandha's kingdom and says:
> 
> If jarAsandha intended to sacrifice to --shiva-- then it is
> no longer a shrauta ritual and hence the topic is not
> relevant for our discussion.
>  

Think again!

Krishna says:

  manuShyANA.n samAlambho na cha dR^iShTaH kadA chana . 

  "The sacrifice of men is not seen anywhere."

IF human sacrifice as enjoined by the Vedic texts actually occurred as you claim, WHY is it that Krishna says that NO human sacrifice OF ANY KIND (including those that are supposedly enjoined by the Veda) can be seen during that time?

The word "dR^iShTaH" is important - it indicates that such sacrifice MAY have occurred in a hidden place such as a jungle or a cave outside the eye of the society, but that it was not practised among those who have nothing to hide in their actions that conform to dharma.

In fact, those who deal with the society in a dharmic way NEVER have anything to hide from anyone!

Regards,
Kartik