Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/51

Rh the simple sacrifice of the horse practised in primitive times when the horse was still an article of food, but the pomp and ceremony, as well as certain revolting rites connected with the horse-sacrifice of later days, were unknown in Vedic times.

A fairly complete account of the sacrifice of the



horse, as it prevailed in Vedic times, is to be found in the one hundred and sixty-second hymn of the first Mandala of the Rig-Veda. The body of the horse was marked with a cane and was then dissected along the lines marked, and the ribs and the different limbs were separated. The meat was roasted and boiled, while the soul of the horse was supposed to go to the