Did Indra eat buffaloes?

We live in times where people want to ban goat sacrifice during the Muslim observance of Bakra Eid on grounds of compassion This overt attack on Islamic rituals is also a covert attack on subaltern Hindu practices mdash where goddesses are offered fish and meatA new panIndian Hinduism is being forged in North India that aligns with monastic Jain and Vaishnava practices disregarding the plural realities of India This is a Sanatan Dharma that is vegetarian marketed as more compassionate It claims that by shunning meat one can purify onself and rise up the caste ladder Such manipulative arguments have also been used to misinterpret Vedas by people claiming to be Sanskrit expertsThe interpretation of Rig Veda V2978 highlights a fundamental divide in how ancient texts can be understood The same Sanskrit verses have produced two radically different readings mdash one historical and literal the other symbolic and theologicalWestern scholars such as Griffith and Max Muller approached the Rig Veda as a document of an ancient pastoral society Using philology comparative mythology and traditional commentaries they translated the words in their most common sense In this reading Agni roasts three hundred buffaloes mahisha for Indra who drinks vast quantities of Soma before slaying the serpentdemon Vrtra The verses are seen as reflecting the sacrificial rituals and warrior culture of the Vedic ageMaharshi Dayanand Saraswati in the early 20th century rejected this interpretation He argued that the Vedas contain eternal spiritual and scientific truths not mythology meateating or intoxication Drawing on Sanskrit etymology and verbal roots he reinterpreted key words Mahisha became mighty cloud formations apacat referred to heating or evaporation Soma became lifegiving moisture Indra became the Sun or Supreme Power and Vrtra became the cloud barrier that blocks rainAs a result what Western scholars saw as a story of gods feasting and fighting became for Dayanand a poetic description of the water cycle Solar energy heats water clouds form obstructions are removed and rain sustains life The hymn thus became a lesson in cosmic order rather than tribal mythologyThe larger question however is not linguistic but social If sacred texts can be interpreted subjectively who decides which interpretation is correctHistorically the most influential interpreters of Hindu texts have often come from literate uppercaste vegetarian communities Dayanand Saraswati was a Brahmin who followed a vegetarian diet Such values have frequently shaped how ancient passages are understood References to meat alcohol and sacrifice are reinterpreted or allegorized to align with later ideals of purity This is done by people who control political organisationsYet many Hindu communities including pastoral tribal fishing Dalit and numerous regional caste groups have traditionally consumed meat and followed different ritual practices If interpretation is guided by presentday values rather than historical context why should the preferences of vegetarian elites be considered more authentic than those of meateating HindusThe debate over Rig Veda V2978 is therefore about more than translation It raises a deeper question of authority who gets to define Hinduism and whose values shape the meaning of its oldest texts One approach sees the Vedas as historical records of an ancient world The other sees them as timeless revelations whose meanings evolve with changing moral and spiritual ideals The tension between these two approaches remains unresolvedThe author writes and lectures on the relevance of mythology in modern times Reach him at devduttpattanaikmiddaycom