[Advaita-l] vedic yajna

[Satish Arigela]

>Some kinds of animals were used in sacrifices in earlier Yugas but not
>cows.

>I am not aware of cow-sacrifice, but killing of cows is explicitly
>prohibited in Rig Veda 8.101.15

Maybe it prohibits killing of cows for normal eating.

Cow sacrifice was there in Ancient times, there is no need to deny it.

See the devI bhAgavatha shloka-s 48 to 56 of chapter 18 of the first skanda.

It clearly says that in ancient times, a certain virtuous and righteous king performed many vedic sacrifices according to the rules of the where many cows and sheep were killed.

The purANa further says that the number of cows killed was so great that the hides of the cows when piled up looked like a second vindhyAchal mountain.




________________________________
 From: Kalyan K <kalyankc.81 at gmail.com>
To: advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org 
Sent: Tuesday, December 6, 2011 9:54 PM
Subject: [Advaita-l] vedic yajna
 
Namaste Venkatesh-ji,

>Some kinds of animals were used in sacrifices in earlier Yugas but not
>cows.

I am not aware of cow-sacrifice, but killing of cows is explicitly
prohibited in Rig Veda 8.101.15

RV 8.101.15  Translation by Wilson (in the context of saayaNa bhashya) -

"(she who is) the mother of the rudras, the daughter of the vasus, the
sister of the adityas,
the home of ambrosia - kill not her, the sinless inviolate cow"

Lest there should be any doubt, saayaNachArya mentions that the deity of
this verse is the cow. So this is not referring to any other devata.
Further, just for info, the rishi is Jamadagni of the family of Bhrigu.

Also, here is the translation of Ralph Griffith for cross-reference -

"The Rudras' Mother, Daughter of the Vasus, centre of nectar, the Ādityas’
Sister-
To folk who understand will 1 proclaim it-injure not Aditi, the Cow, the
sinless"

And just to add - The Rig Veda also extols the cow at many places.

I have also referred to the Nighantu and Yaska's Nirukta. It clearly
mentions that the cow is called Aghanya because it is not to be killed.
yAska, is supposed to have preceded even pANini, and his nirukta commentary
on the nighantu can be considered to be the best existing authority on
matters of interpreting vedic words.

Best Regards
Kalyan
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