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"If a beast slain in the Jyotishtoma rite will itself go to heaven, Why then not the sacrificer forthwith offer his own father."
Again,
"While the eating of flesh was similarly commanded by night-prowling demons."
Gentlemen, it is a pity that scholars have written the history of Vedic religion in ancient India. But. none of them has yet collected facts to build up the history of nonn-Vedic religions, especially, of religions that said
" माहिंस्यात् सर्वाभूतानि "
"One should not slaughter any animal". No one has yet ascertained what schools belonged to the Vedic religion and what to the non- n-Vedic, and what was the number of the adherents of each. It is altogether an absurd argument to say that only Vedic religion prevailed in ancient India. It is altogether unsafe to throw out such guesses. It might be that both Vedic and non-Vedic religions prevailed to an equal extent. Or who can say but that the number of the adherents of the latter exceeded that of the former. From the absence of material evidence we are not entitled to draw any conclusions. You know Buddhism is nearly extinct in India now. But can you infer from this that Buddhism has never been the prevailing religion of India? Can you say that Buddhism never prevailed from one corner of India to another? Certainly that a certain religion is absent from India in these
