________________
164
PROLEGOMENA TO PRAKRITICA et JAINICA
yupam khittvā pasūn hatvā kṛtvā ridhira
kardamam/ yadyevam gamyate svargam narake kena gamyate ||
"By digging a yupa, killing animals, and making muddy with blood, if anybody goes to heaven by this method, then who will go to hell"?
In the Uttarakhanda of the Padmapurāna we come across a passage where the goddess Durga praises the doctrine of ahimsā.
But in the other Purāņa texts, ahimsa is also praised as one of the best ways of social behaviour. For example, in the Bhāgavata the killing of animal even in the sacrifice is vilified to a great extent as the following verse shows :
ye tvanevamvido' santaḥ stabdhaḥ sadabhimaninaḥ | paśun druhyanti visrabdhāḥ pretya khādanti te ca tan // [11. 5. 14]
"Those who are ignorant of this real Dharma and, though wicked and haughty, account themselves virtuous, kill animals without any feeling of remorse or fear of punishment, and are devoured by those very animals in their next birth."
Ahimsa in the Tantrik texts
Even in the Tantrik texts some praises of ahimsā are found. For example, in the Kulārṇava-tantra the drinking of wine (sura) is extolled in the most extravagant manner, and the eating of meat is permissible only in the Kulapūjā, even though the non-killing (ahimsa) is honoured elsewhere. This shows an exception to the rule of ahimsă.
Śankarācārya on Ahimsa
In the eighth century A.D. Sankarācārya in his Sarvavedanta-siddhanta-sāra praised ahimsā as a noble virtue.
He says
