Mṛgayāvidhi

This Sanskrit manuscript presents a detailed ritual treatise on the proper conduct of hunting (mṛgayā) and meat consumption within a religious framework, attributed to the sixth section on Bhagavad-viṣaya. The text delineates elaborate preparatory procedures including the consecration of water vessels (mukuṇḍī-saṃskāra) with six Vedic mantras, the ritual purification of hunting implements, and the specific mantras to be employed when killing animals for sacrificial purposes. Notably, the manuscript attempts to theologize hunting by citing Raghunātha and Rāmacandra as exemplars, while providing expiatory formulas (prāyaścitta) for improper kills and prescribing ritual consumption of meat as spiritually meritorious—contrasting sharply with abstention, which is said to incur great demerit (kaśmala). The text reflects the complex negotiation between Brahmanical ritual orthodoxy and the practical realities of animal sacrifice in early modern Hindu practice.