Words Well Worth 34: Poor Goat Gets Sacrificed Poem by Aniruddha Pathak

Elephant, nor ever even horse,
A tiger never ever of course,
Poor goat's meek sons suffice
For holy sacrifice,
Even gods, guilt there's nor yet remorse.
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Transliteration of the subhāśhita along with the meanings of Sanskrit words is given as under:

ashvam na evam gajam na evamvyāghram na eva na eva cha |
ajā-putram balim dadhāt devah durbala-ghātakah ||

aśhvam: a horse; na evam: certainly not; gajam na evam: nor indeed an elephant;
vyāghram: a tiger; na eva: (a tiger)never indeed; na eva cha: sure never indeed;
ajā-putram: son, a young of a goat; balim: for a sacrifice, sacrificial butchering (to propitiate gods): dadhāt: is given, offered; devah: the heavenly gods; durbala-ghātakah:(are)the killers of only but the weakling, (tend to)kill the weak and meek.

In some sacrificial ceremonies goats are sacrificed in an oblation to fire. This seems later day deviation from the Vedic ways. Aja in Sanskrit of course means goat, but what is not so widely known, it also means ‘one without birth', meaning thereby seeds or foodgrains.

Topic: meek, mighty, sacrifice, gods