History of Vegitarianism and Cow Veneration in India

SR No.: 006921
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Willem B Bollee
Publisher: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd
Publication Year: 2010
Total Pages: 186
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 128

APPENDIX II
strength, he (the hots) puts (cattle) into the sacrificer. Thus cattle do not run away 1644) from the sacrificer. lust as men eat cattle in this world, partake of them, so cattle eat men in yonder world, partake of them. He (the sacrificer) seizes them in this world through the morning-litany; they, seized in this world, do not eat him in yonder world, do not partake of him; just as he eats them in this world, partakes of them, so he eats them in yonder world, partakes of them.293
Being eaten in yonder world is considered as common fate. But one can evade this fate by magical means, in this case by the morninglitany of the Soma-sacrifice. Generally the magical power consists in the knowledge of an equivalence or correspondence between the object and the means. The correspondence Sankhāyana establishes refers to the 'seizing' of cattle and has no immediate connection with the eating of cattle, but it is implied that 'seizing' means winning power over cattle in this and the next world.
Another example is furnished by the Satapatha-Brāhmaṇa:
From this sacrifice, in truth, the man (= the sacrificer) is born. What food a man consumes in this world, that consumes him, in return, in yonder world. This sacrifice is, in truth, performed as one of fermenting (= intoxicating) drink, and fermenting drink is not to be consumed by a Brāhmaṇa. He is born from what is not to be consumed, and the food does not, in return, consume him in yonder world. Therefore the Sautrāmaņī is the sacrifice of a Brāhmaṇa.294
Here the author argues that being born from something unconsumable guarantees that the sacrificer cannot be consumed either in yonder world.
293 SänkhB 11, 3 madhye bárhatās causnīhāś ca paśavo balenaiva tad vīryeno
bhayataḥ paśūn parigrhya yajamāne dadhāti tathā ha yajamānāt pašavo 'nutkrāmukā bhavanti tad yathā ha vā asmiml loke manusyah paśūn aśnanti yathaibhir bhuñjata evam evāmuşmiņ1 loke paśavo manusyān aśnanty evam ebhir bhuñjate sa enan iha prataranuvākenavarunddhe tam ihāvaruddha amusmiml loke nāśnanti nainena pratibhuñjate yathaivainan asmim loke 'snāti
yathaibhir bhunkta evam evainan amuşmil loke 'śnāty evam ebhir bhunkte. 294 SB 12,9,1, 1 etasmäd vai yajñāt puruṣo jāyate, sa yad dha vă asmirl loke puruşo
'nnam atti tad enam amuşmil loke pratyatti sa vă esa parisruto yajñas tāyate 'nädyā vai brāhmaṇena parisrut sa etasmād anadyāj jayate tam hāmuşmil loke 'nnam na pratyatti tasmad eșa brāhmaṇayajña eva yat sautrāmanī.
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