Veda25- Kill, but gently?!

[Quick links]

 

 

In the previous episode we discussed how everything is readied for the animal sacrifice. 

 

But neither the Adhvaryu, nor the Hotr, not even the Udhgatr or the Brahma would like to kill the animal. They don’t want to taint their hands with blood! But the animal has to be killed before it can be offered to the Devas. How do they do that?

 

The Adhvaryu calls the butcher to do that job. He also instructs the butcher not to behead the animal, nor let it blead to death. In fact, he should not even utter the word ‘kill’! He should just ‘silence’ the animal. How should he silence the animal? The recommended way is to either choke it or strangulate it by tightening the noose around its neck.

 

Having given the instructions, the priests turn their back and move away, so as not to be a witness to the killing, I ‘m sorry, ‘silencing’. The poor butcher has no choice. He ‘silences’ the animal as instructed. And loudly announces that the animal has been ‘silenced’. His wife cleans the entire place, the dead body, and makes it ready to hand over to the priests. Only then the priests turn around and approach the body.

 

First and foremost that they do is to utter the name of the Deva for whose sake this sacrifice was made. Does that remind you of something? I will come to that in the next episode 😉

 

To begin with, the Adhvaryu cuts open the body and extracts the Vapa or omentum. This is roasted in the fire, dipped in melted butter and amidst chanting of the Matras by various priests, it is offered to the fire in the altar. The Devas are believed to accept it through the fire. But why omentum first?

 

The Brahmana text says that it is offered first as a ‘starter’ till the rest of the meat is cut and cooked. There could be other reasons why this omentum is offered first. Though the Brahmana texts don’t say it explicitly, I remember reading some reason for this in the great Indian Epic Ramayana.

 

The King of Ayodhya namely Dasharatha had no issues in spite of having three wives and several concubines. His priests advise him to conduct a special Vedic ritual called Ashvamedha. This ritual involves sacrifice of a horse in addition to several other things. Apparently, the King was asked to inhale the fumes when the horse’s omentum was offered to the fire as part of the ritual. This is supposed to cure him of any physiological causes which prevented him from becoming a father. Or in other words, it could be a remedy for his sterility.

 

I wonder whether, the sacrifices conducted during a Vedic ritual also had such hidden therapeutical reasons. Many claim that they do. But I did not find such explanations in the Brahmana texts. May be there are other texts that look at these rituals from that angle. But many Indians think that the Vedic rituals have such therapeutic intents. Many even claim environmental rejuvenation as the goal of Vedic rituals. Given the context in which these rituals are conducted, I wonder whether there is any basis for such claims. That Is a separate topic indeed. For now, let us continue with our ritual.

 

Gradually, various parts of the victim’s body are separately extracted, cooked in melted butter and kept ready for offering to the Devas. Along with these meat preparations, special cakes called ‘purodaasa’ are prepared using rice and other flours. Exact ingredient of this purodaasa depends on the Deva to whom it is meant.

 

All these delicacies are offered to the Devas through the fire, one by one, accompanied by chanting of various mantras. To further entertain the guests, the Samaveda priests called Udgatrs sing some of the select mantras set to music. The Devas must be quite pleased by the hospitality.

 

This is followed by an elaborate drinking session. The Soma drink that we talked about a few episodes ago, is prepared fresh several times and served to the Devas. The priests too partake the drinks. This is the main part of the Soma ritual. The Devas have come all the way, specifically for this.

 

Feast over. Guests happy. Probably they even go back, showering the boons that the Yajamana seeks. But what will happen to the poor creature that laid its life for the sake of this ritual?

 

The priests definitely care for it. They are remorseful of the fact that they had to take its life. But they can’t bring it back to life. All that they can do is to wish that the animal would go to heaven for the sacrifice it has done. So, they put together the torn pieces of its body, utter appropriate Mantras to heal whatever damage was done to its body. They hope that it would at least go to heaven in an intact body. They bless it by saying 'May thy friends, thy father and mother, joyfully see thee going to the heaven and your departed ancestors in heaven welcome you there!”. That is the best they can do.

 

This is very briefly what a typical Vedic ritual involves. There are very many Vedic rituals and several versions of even the Soma yaga that we talked about. Each has a well-defined claimed benefit and purpose. I will conclude this for the moment since they are not something that I would like to discuss in greater detail.

 

 

But the big question is “Is it right to take the life of an animal, just for the sake of our benefit?” This was the question asked by one of my listeners. If you look around, almost every religion barring probably Buddhism and Jainism, have a long history of resorting to such practices. Many even don’t consider it as wrong or unethical. Some even glorify it.

 

I will talk about such, shall I say, selfishness of human beings, in the next episode.

 

 

Start            Previous          Next

 

A series discussing the most ancient of the Indian scriptures, nay the world scriptures namely the Vedas. © Dr. King, Swami Satyapriya 2021