Yajurveda 13.42

Someone asked me to refer to Yajurveda 13.42. It meant 42nd Mantra in 13th Adhyay / chapter.

I tried searching for the same. I found the verse as this:

Vatasya jutim varunasya nabhimashwam jagyanam sarirasya madhye.
shishum nadinaam harim-adribudhnam agne ma hinsih parame vyoman.

(Sorry if some spelling is wrong; I copied this from Sanskrit)

While searching on the net, I found one site where someone had written that Yajurveda 13.42 says this:

"Do not kill the horse."

And hence the person claimed that this verse proves that Hindus used to kill horses in the Yajurveda period!

But the actual meaning of this verse is this:

He (Agne) Tejaswin vidwan! Aap (parme vyomen) sarva vyapt uttam akash me (vatasya) vayu ke (madhye) madhya me (jutim) veg roop (ashwam) ashwa ko (Sarirasya) jalmay (varunasya) uttam samudra ke (nabhim) bandhan ko aur (nadinam) nadiyon ke prabhav se (jagyanam) prakat hue (shishum) balak ke tulya vartmaan (rahim) neel varn yukt (adribuddhnam) sukshm megh ko (ma) mat (hinsih) nasht kijiye.

Meaning: Manushyon ko chahiye ki pramad ko chhor ke akash me vartman vayu ke veg aur varsha ke prabandh roop megh ka vinash na karke apni apni avashta ko badhavein. (Is mantra me vachakluptopmalankar hai.)

And this mantra # 42 is coming as an answer to the question which the Yajurveda explains "Fir ve vidwan stri purush kya karein?"

From what I understand, this mantra from the Yajur Veda actually asks us to avoid carelessness and laziness (pramaad) and asks us to take care of us rather than conflicting with nature. ‘Ashwa’ is used here as a symbol of wind’s speed. But see how the propagandist blogger took the meaning of ashwa literally as a horse - and used this verse to prove that the Veda asked Hindus not to kill horses! (in turn proving that Hindus used to kill/eat horses!)

This is also what the Christian Missionaries do! There is so much of symbolism in Hinduism, that we Hindus ourselves become confused some times. Let us all be watchful about this. They twist meanings of mantras from our holy Vedas and tell the wrong meanings in order to prove us in the wrong light.

(Rahul)