Meat-eating (Was Re: Some Vedic sacrifices...)

[Sankaran Jayanarayanan]

On Sun, 19 Dec 1999, Anand Hudli wrote:

[..]

>  The trouble is that people on both sides of the "vegetarian/ahiMsA
>  vs. non-vegetarian" issue do not fully understand what the shAstra says
>  and doesn't.  If one does perform a soma yajna, animal(s) must be
>  sacrificed. There is no excuse for not sacrificing animal(s) in such
>  yajnas. But at the same time, if one does NOT perform such yajnas,
>  one must NOT kill animals or eat meat simply as part of one's diet.
>  Outside the context of such yajnas, meat-eating must be avoided.
>  Manu and other authors of smR^iti are quite clear on this.
>

This is quite incorrect. I have read several smR^iti quotes which advocate
meat-eating, and not just the "prasaadaM" from a yaGYa.

Apastamba dharma suutra (ADS) 1.5.17
14. He shall not eat food which has been bought or obtained ready-prepared
in the market.
15. Nor (shall he eat) flavoured food (bought in the market) excepting raw
meat, honey, and salt.

Gautama dharma suutra 17.38
"Let him eat (the flesh of animals) killed by beasts of prey, after having
washed it, if no blemish is visible, and if it is declared to be fit for
use by the word (of a BrAhmaNa)."

ADS 1.5.17.37 (virtually identical with GDS 17.27)
"Five-footed animals (ought not to be eaten) with the exception of the
iguana, the tortoise, the boar called savaatit, the porcupine, the
rhinocerous, the hare, and the Puutikhasha."

There must be several other quotes all over the place in other smR^itis
too like the PurANas.

>  Anand
>

-Kartik

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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