Makaranda Madhukar Anand Mahendale Festshrift

Author(s): M A Dhaky, Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre

Page 36

How to Kill a Sacrificial Victim
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influence. If my interpretation of Strabo 15.3.13 (see the beginning of section II) is correct, it is however possible that cutting the throat without previous clubbing was one of the ways practised since ancient times.
The practice of the Irani Zoroastrians has been described by Mary Boyce:
“The first day of the [Mihragān] festival was one of bright winter sunshine, and the animal was led out of its stall into the courtyard, which had been carefully swept according to the established ritual. It was offered water to drink, and a sweetmeat, which it readily accepted. Water was splashed upon the ground around it; and then it was cast on its back. Jamshid [the chief sacrificer) knelt beside it, spoke the appropriate Avestan words [as in the above Rivāyat), kissed its left cheek in contrition, and then swiftly cut its throat. Zoroastrians, unlike Muslims, consume the blood of the sacrifice. This is therefore caught in a bowl. When it had ceased to flow, the sacrificer cut off the tip of the tongue, and since the priest was not present, this was wrapped in some of the head and sent to him to be consecrated in the name of the yazad Hõm, the ancient Haoma, to whom a part of all animal sacrifices must be devoted 35."
The blood is used to prepare a sort of fried black pudding. But it is regarded as ritually impure and accordingly it is not consecrated. Soup is made of the head, but it also is ritually unclean, as are the forelegs 36. This is quite similar to the Vedic attitude towards blood and the head, with the exception that both can be used for ordinary purposes. Of the inwards of the animal heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, and omentum are ritually used. All these are among the eighteen parts of the victim which are suitable as sacrificial food in the Vedic animal sacrifice37. In the Vedic ritual omentum gets special treatment, and such treatment was not completely unknown in Iran since Strabo (15.3.13) reports that—though in general the Persians do not leave any portion of the meat for the gods since they think that the god needs only the soul of the victim—some put a small piece of the omentum on the fire39. În spite of the fact that the head is not made use of ritually, the tongue is used in both, Iran and India. Some of the agreements pointed out may well reflect Indo-Iranian heritage.