54 SOCIAL SCIENTIST offered insult to a Brahmana.34 Bhavabhuti in his Uttar a'Rama-Char it a (Act IV) describes how the venerable poet Valmiki, when preparing to receive the sage Vasistha, slaughtered a number of calves for the entertainment of his guest. From the Mahaviracharita of the same author it is evident how Vasistha, in his turn, likewise entertained Visva-mitra, Janaka, Satananda and other sages with 'fatted calf, and tempted Jamadagnya by saying: ^The heifer is ready for sacrifice and the food is cooked in ghee.3535 In Kautilya's Arthasastra cattle are classified, where bulls are intended for the slaughter-house, but the killing of the milch cows, and calves, though permitted for sacrificial purposes, is forbidden for butchers5 stalls.36 Asoka in his Rock Edict I and Pillar Edict I declared how originally thousands of animals were killed in the royal kitchen* Considering the popularity of beef-eating among the people even Asoka, the great propagator of ahimsa, resolved later on to discontinue the slaughter of animals only for some days in the year; for example, he included the breeding bull but not the cow in the list of animals not to be slaughtered on those days.37 MAHADEV GHAKRAVARTI ' A A Macdonell and A B Keith, Vedic-lndex, Varanasi, 1958, Vol II, p 147. 2 RgvedaX85, 13-14. 3 Ibid., VIII 43, 11. 4 Ibid., X89, 14. 6 Ibid., X 79, 6. 6 Ibid., X 16, 7. 7 Ibid., I 164, 27 and 40, IV 16, V 83, 8, VIII 69, 21. X 87, 16 etc. 8 A A Macdonell Vedic Mythology, Delhi, 1974, p 151. 9 D R Bhandarkar Some Aspects of Ancient Indian Culture, Madras. 10 RgvedaVlZQ, 1—8, VIII 101. 15—16. 11 D R Bhandarkar op. cit., p 73. 12 Aitareya Brahmana VI 8. n Taittiriya Brahmana II 7, 11/1; Pancatimsa Brahmana XXI/14,5. u Satapatha Brahmana III 1,2, 21. 45 Ibid., 123, 6-9. 10 Sankhyayana-sutra I 12, 10. 17 Apstamba II 7, 16-26; Paraskara III 10, 41-49. 18 Tanaualkya I 258-60. 19 Vajsistha XI 34. 20 Khadira IV 2, 17, Gobhila IV 7, 27.