180 
Rajendralala Mitra — Beef in Ancient India. [No. 2 , 
Elsewhere it is said that this ceremony ensures thoroughly independent 
dominion, and that a sage of the name of Kandama attained it through this 
means.* 
In the As Valayana Sutra mention is made of several seerifices of 
which the slaughter of cattle formed a part. One of them in the Gfriliya 
Sutra is worthy of special notice. It is called Hula gava or “ spitted cow,” 
i. e., Roast Beef. It was performed either in the autumn (sarat) , or the spring 
season; when the moon was in the constellation Ardra.f The animal 
appropriate for it was a cow of other than fawn color, spotted with white, J 
and the choicest of the fold.§ Black spots were, however, not deemed 
objectionable, || and a uniform black or blue color with a dash of red in it, 
i. e. of a purplish tinge was reckoned unexceptionable. If As soon as such an 
animal was selected, it was bathed with water in which paddy and barley 
had been steeped, and let loose,** as long as it did not attain all its permanent 
teeth, being all the while kept dedicated to Rudra, by a Yedic mantra which 
says, “ May you thrive in the name Rudra the great god, &c.”ff 
The proper place for the sacrifice was an unfrequented spot, outside, and 
to the east or the north, of a village or town, whence the village was not 
visible, nor was it visible from the village. The time was after midnight, 
but some authorities preferred the dawn.Jf 
All the necessary arrangements being complete, the priest, a Brahman 
versed in the details of the sacrifice and experienced by former performance 
of it,§§ should begin the ceremony by making certain offerings to the fire 
with appropriate mantras, and then plant a sacrificial post of the usual size, 
but of a green palas 'a branch, uncarved and unadorned, the practice in other 
* Wfra *rr i ur i 
JJ’gjTWI Taittiriya Brahmana II, 781. 
f nxfK i a, «t, ^ i 
t I 8, 4. 8 I 
§ WW I 8 , 4, ^ I 
II l 8, i i 
H srrw i 8, 4 , < 1 
** a 1 n 1 
ft wsj wii 1 8 4 , 4 l 
I am not sure whether the Rudra in this passage should he the noun, and Malia- 
deva “ great god,” adjective, or the latter the noun, and Rudra “ fierce” the epithet. In 
the present day animal sacrifices are rarely offered to Mahadeva. To Sarasvatx, likewise 
no meat offering is now made, though the V edas enjoin it repeatedly. 
++ I 'sftrw I 8, 1 
§ § For obvious reasons this condition could not have been invariably carried out. 
