[Assam] beef-eating in india: History is from Hindu texts?

Sat Jun 17 21:44:44 PDT 2006

You are wrong there. I have read while in India (I have brought the book with me here as well) the passage in Rig Ved which mentions beef eating. It says " Beef eating is not good --try to reduce beef eating" --while speaking to some devotee.

  Xourav-da wrote: "for a lay person, what is important is whether beef
was eaten.  yes, it was.  whether it had official
sanction.  yes, it had. "

  Umesh

xourov pathok <xourov at yahoo.com> wrote:

--- umesh sharma wrote:

> Iraq war took place as did WW2 -we have some
> evidence of it now. What is the certainty that this
> evidence would remain after 5,000 years -when all
> the damaged aircrafts, guns , cannon and warships
> are melted and used to make some other tools: When
> the buildings are remade to house new tenants.
> 
> The only facts (historically provable ) would be
> the texts, photographs etc -to prove Iraq war o WW2
> took place. Similarly about Jesus or Hitler or
> anyone including my great grandfather (i have no DNA
> match to prove that he was really my great
> grandfather --we all believe so -about our
> anscestors:) ). Hindu texts are first and foremost
> --written texts -the few written texts or knowledge
> we have about that era. 

much of history is based on written texts. but again,
they have to bear witness. and they have to be
reliable witness.

take for example the gospel of judas made public
recently by national geographic. it has been dated to
about 180 CE. as a result it bears closer witness to
events then than a document from today, say. as a
result historians have been forced to re-evaluate a
lot of things.

(texts could be in the form of stone inscription and
other paleographic sources. they are neven taken
literally).

> 
> Why pick and choose. Why take up a small issue of
> who ate what and not who was the king and what wars
> and polictics took place in those days - gleaned
> from these texts?

who ate what and not is not a small issue. it is
political as well as religious. 

and religious texts are being used to piece together
histories. as far as they are seen to bear witness. 
the vedic texts are being used to piece together the
picture of societies in which they were written. what
is being resisted is a literal reading of these texts.
just as a literal reading of the bible is being
resisted by some.

> 
> It can be argued that if some Hindu saint today
> wrote some literary piece or was quoted in some
> newsreport as admonishing or cautioning some small
> segment of Hindus (read tribals , neo-converts etc)
> not to eat beef (which they had been doing earlier
> -as in NE India USA's ISKCON members etc)-----and
> later such a text is found after 5,000 years --they
> might assume that all Hindus today eat beef---going
> by your logic of quoting Hindu texts.
> 
> Your comments are welcome.
> 

a careful historian would see that it was addressed to
a small segement of ne tribals. and he will present
his inference accordingly. if he didn't his rivals
would get a chance to correct him.

for a lay person, what is important is whether beef
was eaten. yes, it was. whether it had official
sanction. yes, it had. this is enough to show those
who claim that the cow was always sacred and that beef
was never eaten that they are wrong.

if the satapatha brahmana says: meat is the best kind
of food, what is your inference? if the vedas said
that indra liked cattle sacrifices, what is your
inference?

> Umesh
> 
> xourov pathok wrote:
> 
> 
> --- umesh sharma wrote:
> 
> > even Xourav-da's article quotes only Hindu
> religious
> > texts --where is the historical info -- which is
> not
> > in religious tests. Why don't you believe Hindu
> > texts when they say that Mahabharat war took place
> > and Ram and Krishna etc were heroes born and bred
> in
> > India. Why do you declare them to be myths -and
> they
> > do not find a place in history of ancient India.
> > Why such one-sided version of history --why cow
> > killing is more important that the Mahabharat war?
> > 
> 
> a point to note here is that something is historical
> if someone or something bears witness to things. 
> things are never so clear cut in real life and a
> very
> reliable witness is rare, but this is a good thumb
> rule. generally, if there are more than one witness,
> our confidence increases.
> 
> religious texts are excellent witnesses to certain
> things. religious belief systems, for instance. if
> you wanted to find out what christianity believes
> in,
> then the bible is an excellent source. 
> 
> but the bible is not a good guide for other things. 
> like the historicity of jesus christ, for instance. 
> this has to be backed up from other sources too. 
> leave alone the historicity of the seize of troy
> even
> the existence of troy is not fully established.
> 
> you may hate history for it, but generally this is
> the best choice.
> 
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> 
> Umesh Sharma
> 5121 Lackawanna ST
> College Park, MD 20740
> 
> 1-202-215-4328 [Cell Phone]
> 
> Ed.M. - International Education Policy
> Harvard Graduate School of Education,
> Harvard University,
> Class of 2005
> 
> weblog: http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
> 
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Umesh Sharma
5121 Lackawanna ST
College Park, MD 20740

 1-202-215-4328 [Cell Phone]

Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005

weblog: http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/

---------------------------------
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