181 
1872.] Rajendralala Mitra — Beef in Ancient India. 
ceremonies being to carve and decorate the post (Yupa) very elaborately. 
Two pieces of string are now to be provided, one made of kiis 'a grass, and 
tlie otlier of a kind of creeping palas 'a, vratati. One of these is tied round 
the post, and the other to the right horn of the victim, which is then 
attached to the post facing the west ; each of these operations being performed 
while repeating a mantra. The animal being then immolated in the usual 
way, an offering is made to the fire with the liver held in a vessel made of 
pal.ts'a wood or leaves. The mantra for the purpose is formed of the twelve 
names of S iva thus — “To Ilara, Mridha, S arva, Siva, Bhava, Mahadeva, 
Ugra,Bhima, Pas lipati, Rudra, S'afikara, and Ts'lna, may this be welcome. * 
It is, however, optional with the priest to repeat the whole of this mantra, or 
only a part of it including the last six names, or simply to say “ to Rudra, 
may this be welcome !” Offerings of cooked rice and other articles being 
now made, four bundles of kush grass arc spread on the four sides of the 
altar, and a little cooked- rice and some beef are offered to Rudra as the 
regent of the four quarters. This is followed by four mantras addressed 
to Rudra from the four quarters. The husks (tusha) and broken grain 
( kvnda) of the rice used in cooking the rice offering, together with the tail, 
hide, tendons and hoofs of the victim are then to be thrown into the fire, 
and the effused blood, which at the time of immolation was held in a 
vessel, should be thrown on bundles of kus'a grass. At a time when the 
people knew not how to utilize bovine hair and hoofs, their burning was a 
matter of course, but the destruction of so useful an article as hide was not 
in keeping with the views of the Benthamites of the day ; accordingly Sam- 
batya, a sage, recommended that it should be made subservient to human use, 
by being manufactured into shoes and the likc.f The priest is then to 
stand up, facing the north, and, covering bis face with a cloth, repeat a mantra 
offering the blood which had been spilled on the ground at the time of sacrifice 
to serpents to whom it belongs. The final offerings ( svwhfakrit ) are now 
made, and the spit being removed from the chest of the victim, the ceremony 
is concluded by an address to Rudra in praise of his greatness. The remains 
of the ceremonial offerings, says the Sutrakara, should not be admitted into 
the village, nor children be permitted to approach the sacrifice. But the 
sacrificers should, says the text, “ eat of the oblation in the usual way, after 
the benediction {Bvastayana).”X Some forbid this consumption of the beef, 
others make it optional. § 
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