[Advaita-l] Animal Sacrifice

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

According to few bhagavatha scholars, there is no sanction for animal
sacrifice in the Vedas. It is a misinterpretation of the terms such as
alambhanam which means to touch not cut. They argue that ahimsa is
supreme dharma and it is scriptural interpolations which support
animal sacrifice. What is your view? I have heard that the kalpa
sutras document the procedures for srauddha karmas (paka and havir
yajnass) and they contain clear references for killing and eating
animals albeit in a controlled environment. Is that so?

On 05/07/2011, Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 5 Jul 2011, Rajaram Venkataramani wrote:
>
>> Are animal sacrifices allowed in Vedic Yajnas?
>
> Yes.  Some dharmashastrakaras say most (but not all) of the pashuyagas are
> not possible in the Kaliyuga.  Even in the case of those who would
> defend the practice in principle, there is a certain distaste which led to
> them becoming increasingly rare in practice.
>
>> Did we become
>> vegetarians due to the influence of buddhists and bhagavatas?
>
> The Buddhist objection to sacrifices is that karma means that the
> suffering of the victim will result in bad future consequences for the
> sacrificer.  This view is found in "Hindu" shramanic philosophies as well.
> (For instance Samkhyakarikas also view animal sacrifices negatively and
> you have mentioned the Bhagavatas.) it did not necessarily extend to
> killing animals for food.  In fact there is not a single traditional
> Buddhist culture with anywhere near the percentage of vegetarians found in
> Hinduism and therefore there is no reason to believe that Indian Buddhists
> were vegetarians either.
>
> If there is any "outside" influence it is from the Jains who are the only
> ones who are  consistently and totally pro-vegetarian.
>
>
> --
> Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
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