Rasprave o obrednome pozljeđivanju životinja u indijskoj filozofiji
Debates on Ritual Injury to Animals in Indian Philosophy

Summary/Abstract: The paper elaborates on the main aspects of discussions concerning the harm to animals in Indian philosophy. These discussions focus on the ritual sacrifice of animals in Vedic sacrificial rituals. Hints of discomfort with ritual violence are already evident in the middle Vedic period. Beyond this early, still vaguely articulated discomfort with ritual violence, Buddhism and Jainism, as well as Brahmanism through the systems of Sāṃkhya and Yoga, clearly articulated a stance against the ritual harming of animals. Buddhist criticism of Vedic sacrifices would reach its peak, but also its swan song, in the teachings of Bhāviveka in the 6th century. In contrast, the Mīmāṃsā school began to develop arguments in favour of ritual violence, particularly at a time when criticism of violent sacrifice was fading within Buddhist circles. Kumārila and Prabhākara (7th century) formulated a series of ingenious and subtly crafted arguments in support of ritual violence, which were later criticized by Rāmānuja. At a time when Buddhist criticism had ceased, Rāmānuja returned to the old Vedic arguments in favour of animal sacrifice. It is important to emphasize that all arguments in ritual apologetics concern only ritual violence and never justify the harming of animals for personal human purposes.

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