52 SOCIAL SCIENTIST the cow in the Rgveda where she is described in a number of hymns as "the mother of Rudras, the daughter of the vasus, the sister of Adityas, and the centre of nectar."10 Although we have three references of aghnya in the Rgveda, still apparently no strict restriction in regard to the slaughter of bulls (as opposed to milch cows) is found. It seems probable that some composers of Rgvedic hymns were pre-Aryan (non-Aryan) Indians (who disliked beef-eating) who became Aryanized like the Asuras and the Vratyas and labelled the whole bovine species inviolable, because outside India this inviolability is utterly unknown."n In the days of Atharva Veda beef-eating remained unaltered, although it was censured here and there in that Veda. During the Brahmana period the habit of beef-eating seems to have increased. Among the Kamya Ishtis or minor sacrifices set forth in the Taittiriya Brahmana different bovine species were sacrificed to different gods, namely, a dwarf ox to Visnu, a drooping horned bull with a blaze on the forehead to Indra, a red cow to Rudra, a white barren cow to Surya and so on. The Aitareya Brahmana lists the bull as one of the sacrificial animals.12 From the Taittiriya and the Pancavimsa Brahmanas we learn that the sage Agastya slaughtered hundred bulls at a sacrifice.13 The Satapatha Brahmana gives a picture of the inordinate fondness of Yajnavalkya for beef who said: < Among the Sutras, kalpasutra and grhyasutra, display less reticence and distinctly suggest beef as an item of food on different occasions of life. According to Sankhyayana-sutra a bull or a sterile cow should be killed in the house of the father of the bride on the wedding day and also in the house of the bridegroom when the husband and the wife arrive after marriage.16 Even at sraddhas or periodical oblations to the manes, the sacrifice of a bull or cow is recommended by the Apastamba and Paraskara grhyasutras17 Yajnavalkya indicates how the aroma of beef was thought to be an ailment for the spirits.38 According to Vasistha-sutra "an ascetic who, invited to dine at a sacrifice . . . rejects meat shall go to hell for as many years as the slaughtered beast has hairs."19 The Khadira and Gobhila-Sutras prescribed the sacrifice of a black cow to the deity of the dwelling-houses when a new house was constructed.20 Distinguished guests like one's teachers, priests, kings, bridegrooms and Vedic students on their return home after the com-