Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/50

22 we have frequent allusions to the sacrifice and to the cooking of cows, buffaloes, and bulls. Mention is also made of a slaughter-house where cows were killed, as well as of the sacrifice of horses, bulls, and rams. The allusions to the sacrifice of the horse are extremely rare, showing that, although the custom was introduced



into India by the early Aryans from their primitive home, the flesh of horse as an article of food soon fell into disuse. In later times the asvamedha, or sacrifice of the horse, was performed on rare occasions with great pomp and circumstance by powerful kings, after they had subdued their neighbours and assumed a title answering to the imperial title in Europe. There can be no doubt that this great imperial rite rose out of