178 Rsijendralala Mitra — Beef in Ancient India. [No. 2, 
of animals which were slaughtered, but, bearing in mind that when the ani- 
mals were sacrificed he was a Hindu, and followed the ordinances of the S'astra, 
it is to be presumed that he did not confine himself to the meat of kids 
and sheep. 
The Mahabhiirata and the Ramayana allude to the gomedha or slaughter 
of cattle for sacrifice ; hut they do not afford any details, nor is it clearly 
mentioned that bovine meat was used as food. 
The Sutras, both Kalpa and Grihya, and the Vedas themselves, however, 
display no such reserve or reticence. They distinctly affirm that bovine meat 
was used as food, and in detail point out the different occasions when cattle 
should be slaughtered and eaten. 
In the Brahmana of the Black Yajur Veda, that grand store-house 
of Vedic rituals, which afford the fullest insight, into the religious life of 
ancient India, mention is made of scores of different ceremonies, which 
required the meat of cattle for their performance, and considerable stress is 
laid on the kind and character of the cattle which should be slaughtered for 
the supply of meat for the gratification of particular divinities. Thus, among 
the Kdmya Ishfis, or minor sacrifices with special prayers (B. Ill, c. viti), 
we have to sacrifice a dwarf ox to Vishnu ; a drooping-horned bull with a 
blaze on the forehead to Indra as the author of sacrifices, or as the destroyer 
of Vitra ; a thick-legged cow ( prishnisaktha ) to the same as the regent of 
wind ; a white-blazed drooping-horned bull to the same, as the destroyer of 
enemies, or as the wielder of the thunderbolt ; a barren cow to Vishnu and 
Varuna ; a cow that has lately miscarried to Aushadhayah ; a bull that has 
been already sanctified at a marriage or other ceremony to Indra and Agni ; 
a polled ox to Brahmanaspati ; a black cow to Pushan ; a cow that has 
brought forth only once to Viiyu ; a brown ox to Indra, the invigorator 
of our faculties ; a speckled or piebald ox to Savita ; a cow having two 
colors to Mitra and Varuna ; a red cow to Kudra ; a white barren cow to 
Surya ; a white ox to Mitra ; a cow that has miscarried from taking the bull 
unseasonably to Vayu ; a cow fit to conceive to Bhaga, &c., &e. In a rule 
in connexion with the As'vamedha, the same authority lays down that sacri- 
ficial animals should differ in caste, colour, age, &c., according to the gods for 
whom they are designed.* 
In the larger ceremonies, such as the Rajasuya, the Vajapeya, and the 
As'vamedha, the slaughter of cattle was an invariable accompaniment. Of 
the first two, the Gosava formed an integral part, and it ensured to the 
performer independent dominion in this world, and perfect freedom in the 
next to saunter about as he liked, even as the cow roams untrammelled in 
the forest.f 
* Taittiriya Brahmana, III, p. 658. 
f W ’SfOi ^ W?f<T I Taittiriya 
A r any aka. 
