Some Vedic sacrifices of this century

[Sankaran Kartik Jayanarayanan]

This is an old posting, but I wanted to clarify one point.

Anand V. Hudli wrote:

[..]

>  Here are some examples of Vedic sacrifices belonging to the pAshuka and
>  saumika categories performed in this century. Both pAshuka and saumika
>  yajnas require the sacrifice of animals. In addition, the saumika yajnas,
>  as the name indicates, require the extraction and offering of juice of
>  the soma plant. The saumika yajnas are also called soma-yAga's. The yajnas
>  which fall into the category of AishhTika do not involve the sacrifice of
>  animals. An example of AishhTika would be the darsha-pUrNamAsa-ishhTi.
>

[examples of sacrifices deleted]

I have a question here: were *real* animals sacrificed in these YaGYas or
were the "animals" made of flour and other inanimate objects? In "Hindu
dharma," the Paramaachaarya has talked about Vedic sacrifices in which
such subsitutions took the place of animals. Perhaps the above yaGYas were
also performed without injury to a real animal.

> Source: Krishna-Yajurveda, Vol. 1,  Jyoti Samskritika Prakashana,
>         Bangalore, 1988.
>
> Unfortunately, the dates of some of the sacrifices are missing in the
> book. But the book is indeed a reliable source, since it has the foreword
> of none other than HH Shri Abhinava Vidya Teertha, and has been edited
> by the eminent Vidvan Rameshvara Avadhani.

Earlier this century, some people wanted to perform a yaGYa where a real
animal was to be sacrificed and after much protest from persons associated
with the Sringeri Math, the idea was given up. So I would really like to
know if these sacrifices did indeed involve injury to animals.

>  Anand
>

-Kartik

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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