beef eating in the Veda

[Anand Venkt Raman]

>food habit tradition among Brahmins in many parts of India, mostly north
>India, e.g., Kashmiri, Bengali and Maharashtra Brahmins eat one form of
>meat or another.  But I don't think beef is eaten by any of them.  But
>again this beef thing might be something new and perhaps peculiar to post
>Islamic India. All of this should have some past history and as we all

Yes, many young Brahmins in India today, in fact, use this as an
excuse to eat meat or to rebel against their orthopraxic parents,
i.e. that Vedic Brahmans used to eat meat, and perhaps even beef.
Megasthanes notes, however, that no self-respecting Brahmana would
even touch meat of any kind.  (Strabo XV I think, I can dig out the
exact reference if necessary.)

- &