Animal sacrifice in Vedas-

Do Vedas have animal sacrifice? Were animals killed in Yajyas? What is Ashvamedh and Gaumedh? What Vedas says about killing animals? I will try to answer all these questions.

Before reading this I recommend reading my thread on how to understand Vedas that will make it easier to understand. https://twitter.com/VedicWisdom1/status/1250857633805811713?s=20

People believe that animal sacrifice was part of Yajyas. This belief is false because-
Vedas says Yajya is Adhvar(अध्वर)(Non Violent)

It has been used many times in Vedas for yagya for example Rigveda(1/1/4),Rig(1/19/1),Rig(1/14/11),Atharv Veda(1/4/2) etc . Adhvar means without violence.
But some people claim Adhvar means something else..

So to prove Adhvar actually do mean "without violence" I present evidence from Nirukta of Maharishi Yaska, as I have said studying Nirukta is very Important to understand Vedas.

Nirukta 1/8 Says
अध्वरिति यज्ञ नाम ।। ध्वरिति हिंसाकर्माः, तत्प्रतिषेधः

It says "we call Yajya as Adhvar, Dhvar means Violence, Violence is prohibited in Yajya."

So it is clear that Vedas themselves call Yajya adhvar that means there should not be any violence in Yajyas.

Now "some" people claim that Killing animals in Yajya is not violence because animal that is sacrificed goes to heaven.

So I ask such people why they themselves don't go to heaven with this short cut method? They have no answer.

Any actions that harms someone is violence and is thus prohibited.

Yajurveda 13/47 prohibits killing of animals (this mantra is also explained in Shatpath Brahman and same is written there.)
Yajurveda 13/48 Prohibits killing of Horses

Yajurveda 13/49 Prohibits killing of Cows and Bulls
Yajurveda 13/50 prohibits killing of birds and other animals such as sheep etc.

So then question arises what do Ashvamedh, Gaumedh etc mean? Don't they mean killing of horses and cows? The answer is No.

Let's look at the word first- Medh(मेध)
It can mean Medha or Buddhi( Intelligence)
or it can mean unity or it can mean violence.
so there are 3 meanings of medh.

so why only 3rd meaning ie violence is taken? When it has already been said there can be no violence in Yajya(Adhvar). That is either ignorance of translators or their crookedness

We will believe what our Rishis said not half educated translators so-

Shatpat Brahman says - "राष्ट्रं वा अश्वमेध"
Meaning Expansion of nation and promoting unity in nation is called Ashvamedh(Wisely Governing the nation)

Kings who were powerful and Dharmic and wanted to make other kings their vassals did Ashvamedh, the Rishis decided if a king was worthy of ruling over other kings and then supported him.

When a King was supported by Rishis, that means he was Dharmic as no Adharmi will be supported by Rishis.

hence if other kings refused to follow Dharma they would fight with king doing Ashvamedh, it not only Expanded the empire but also united all people under one king.

Ashvamedh was done after every few decades to ensure no king goes on path of Adharma and their subjects will not suffer. This was a genius method to ensure a Just rule.

Similarly Shatpath Brahman says- "अन्नँ हि गौ"
That is Gau here means Grains, "Gau" is a Yaugika term which means "something which moves or make others move",

Nighantu written by Maharishi Yaska says Gau means Earth in some contexts. (पृथ्वी नाम)
So Gaumedh means Protection and Purification of Earth, Food grains and Cows. (Wise use of these resources)

Making grains more nutritious and healthy, Making milk of cow more nutritious, and cleaning and purification if earth all comes under Gaumedha
Hence these do not mean killing these animals.

In end I will conclude that Vedas clearly say Yajya is Non violent and they prohibit killing of animals, Ashvamedha and Gaumedha etc are explained beautifully in Brahman texts and they too don't mean killing animals.

Hence we should stop killing animals in name of sacrifice. We should protect animals and help purify our mother earth.

रुद्राय नमः