1872.] On Beef in Ancient India. 97 



Akyab at 4 p. M. on the 24th, at Sagar Island and Calcutta at 4 p. M. on 

 the 25th, at Jessore and Dhaka at 4 p. m. on the 26th. The trough of the 

 wave was accompanied by great humidity, rain, low temperature and varia- 

 ble Mdnd. 



The whMwind at 'Alipur occurred when the trough of this atmosphe- 

 ric wave was passing, and it seems to have moved in the direction of the 

 wave motion. Storms seem always to accompany the troughs of such atmos- 

 pheric waves, and there is probably some connection between the direction of 

 propagation of the wave, and the course of the centre of the storm which 

 accompanies it. 



Captain J. Waterhouse exhibited a series of sketches by Lieutenants 

 Woodthorpe and Leach, R. E., illustrative of the Lushai country and its in- 

 habitants. 



The following papers were read — 



1. — Or Beef in Ancient India. — By Ba'btj Ea'jendeala'la Mitra. 



(Abstract.) 



The paper opens with some quotations from different mediaeval Sanskrit 

 works in which beef is mentioned as an article of food. Some of these are 

 remarkable. In one, a dramatic work, a scene occurs, in which two disci- 

 ples of the great poet Valmika discuss the cause of a bustle in their tutor's 

 house, and of the destruction of some favourite calves which had been cut up 

 for the entertainment of an honored guest. In another, an irate sage was 

 about to depart from the house of his host, when he was tempted ta remain 

 as " the heifer was ready to be slaughtered, and the food was to be cooked 

 in g'hi." Passing from mediseval to ancient works, the paper treats at 

 length of a number of rites which could not be celebrated without the 

 slaughter of cattle. One of these is called S'ulagava or " spitted cow," i. e. 

 roast beef. A second, the Banchas 'dradiya, required seventeen five-year-old, 

 humpless, dwarf bulls, and a like number of three-year-old heifers for its 

 celebration. A third, the As 'vamedJia, was celebrated with the immolation 

 of one hundred and eighty animals, including horses, bulls, cows, sheep, goats, 

 deer, and nilgais. Then follow detailed accounts of the Nirudlia Basuhan- 

 dha, of the various kinds of cattle fit for sacrifice, of the manner in which 

 sacrificed animals were cut up^ and distributed among the priests, and of 

 the general rules followed in immolating cattle for sacrifice ; as also of a 

 summary process recommended when the " fatted calf" had to be slaughter- 

 ed for the entertainment of guests. The concluding part of the paper is 

 devoted to notices of such authorities as prohibit the slaughter of cattle in 

 the present Kali Yuga. 



