Samipya 1992 Vol 09 Ank 01 02

Author(s): Pravinchandra C Parikh, Bhartiben Shelat
Publisher: Bholabhai Jeshingbhai Adhyayan Sanshodhan Vidyabhavan

Page 79

In religious terms, sacrifice is the offering to God of oneself or of something valuable or precious, in order to express a joyful thanks giving, or to seek a blessing or a favour. As man's most precious possession is life, in many communities and periods of history, sacrifice has been associated with the killing of an animal or a human being to give back life, represented by the blood, to the deity. Sometimes an animal was entirely burnt as a total offering, sometimes parts were returned to the worshipper for eating, to symbolize a meal shared with Goddess. Other gifts, e.g., wine, fruit, or cereals were also used.
Even the gods become dependent upon the priests, who provided them by offer ring sacrifices the "food" they required, and also with the Soma which gave them long life of many years.
Religion includes worship which enriches culture. In fact, the origin and growth of sacrifice is an important page in the history of the human mind. it is very difficult to determine step by step the different stages of civilizations, 13
The sacrificial system distinctly refers to different periods of civilization. Some sacrifices, no doubt, belong to the pastoral stage of civilization; some to the agricultural stage of civilization; some attest to the chivalrous character of the relevent period.
Now sacrifice is indeed a conspicuous theme in Indian religious and social thought. The Veda, the revealed knowledge, focuses almost exclusively on sacrifice, while the universal order, the 'dharma' is said to rest on or even to be contained in the sacred lore of Vedic sacrifice.
Indeed, the sacrificial system was the soul of civilization. 13 During one period a nation is found to be guided by one sole idea. So the Indo-Aryans of this period were under the influence of one idea, and it was sacrifice.
Animal sacrifice is an established rite celebrated for the goddess. Even the Puranic literature abounds in instances and prescribes Pasubali, though it follows the Dakshinachārt system of worship. Generally this Paśubali was offered to the goddess Chandika on Navami tithi, especially in Navaratra days. The Devi Bhagavata Purāņa says that this is not Himsă and it justifices the killing of the animals if they are offered to the goddess by saying that they will lead to heaven and no sin will be incurred by the killer. But the Purāņa says that it is meant only for those, who are habituated to take meat etc. The Kalika Purāņa also makes a prohibition of Pašubali by the Brahamaņas. It is only the Kalika Purāņa which deals in details with the process of Pasubali. This has been dealt during Navaratra ceremony.14
The Devi Purāna says that only those animals who are five years old, and perfectly in good health should be offered to the goddess, in the midnight of Mahastamı or Mahanavamı. Still we find that this 'Bali' was offered generally to the 'Ugra' forms of Devi and not to the Saumya forms of Satviki Goddesses. We find a list of animals to be offered. This list of sacrificial animals enumerated in the Kalika Purana is
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[Samipya : April, '92-September, 1992