beef eating in the Veda

[jonathan.silk at wmich.edu]

Every once in a while there are references here on one thing or another to
Megasthanes.  While no doubt an excellent source, he is not entirely
reliable.  Megasthanes claims, for instance, that Indians held no slaves,
which is palpably false.  I do not mean to suggest that he was wrong about
meat eating, only that it might not be so simple.  (I realize the complexity
of the slavery comment as well, by the way, that he coming from a slave
society might not have recognized a different slave system as slavery, and
all that, but I think the basic point is the same -- caution in using such
evidence alone.)

silk