195 
1872.] Rajendralala Mitra — Beef in Ancient India. 
worthy of note, however, that this prohibition in the Aditya Purana is not 
positive and explicit, but implied : “ Because certain noble and wise men 
did not do so, and the practice of pious men is proof as potent as that of the 
Vedas,” ergo they should not be done, the author wished to say, but did not 
do so in so many words. Both these extracts proceed from Upapuranas 
of probably not more than eleven or twelve hundred years of age. Accord- 
ing to Professor Wilson, the Upapuranas are not older than the twelfth 
century, but seeing that the Vrihannaradiya has been quoted as an authority 
by Vallala Sena in his Danas&gara, and he lived in the eleventh century, it 
must be at least four or five centuries older ; but they have been so carelessly 
preserved, and are so full of interpolations, and altogether are of such question- 
able authenticity, that even the most orthodox Hindu holds them to be of very 
secondary rank compared to the Vedas, the Smritis and the Sutras. Thus it 
is said in the Prayoga Pdrijdta that where the S'ruti and the Smriti disagree, 
the S'ruti should prevail. Again the Smritis are more venerable than the 
Puranas, and of the Smritis Manu is the most authoritative.* 
In the opinion of Paulastya, who is himself an original Smritikdra, 
Manu must yield to the Kalpa Sutras, which, being derived immediately 
from the Vedas, are of greater authority than the Smritis.f This has not 
been contradicted by any lawgiver or commentator. The Upapuranas 
hold a lower rank than the Puranas, and have nowhere been allowed to over- 
ride the hitter, much loss the S'ruti and the Smriti ; the order of precedence 
being according to the above, 1 ft S'ruti or Veda, 2nd Siitra, 3rd Smriti, 4th 
Puranas, 5th Upapurana. It is not a little remarkable, therefore, that the last 
should be allowed in the present instance to prevail over the first four. 
The author of the Mr nay a nindfm assumes even a lower ground. He begins by 
quoting an unnamed authority which says, “ Works which lead not to para- 
dise, and are condemned by public opinion, should not be performed and 
then argues, “ Thus, the slaughter of large bulls and large sheep for Brah- 
manas versed in the Vedas, though duly ordained, should not be done, being 
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