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CHAPTER XIX. SOCIAL LIFE. In this chapter we shall deal with those aspects of the social life of the period which could not adequately be included among the earlier chapters or whose importance demanded a separate treatment under different headings. FOOD AND DRESS. Both vegetable and animal food was taken by the Indians in the Vedic age. Barley and wheat were the principal products of land and the principal articles of food. There is no mention of rice in the Rigveda, which appears to have entered the diet of the Indians at a later period. Various sweet cakes such as apupa, puro岣嵞伵沘, karambha, etc. which were prepared in ghee are referred to. Animal food was largely used and frequent allusions are found to the cooking of cows, buffaloes and bulls. A slaughter-house where cows were killed is mentioned as also the sacrifice of horses, bulls and rams. The allusions to the horse-sacrifice, however, are rare, from which it appears that the custom of eating horse flesh fell into disuse. The rarity of the A艣vamedha sacrifice in later times, it being reserved for sovereigns, also speaks of the general disfavour against killing horses and eating their flesh. The only intoxicating drink in the Vedic age was the fermented juice of Soma. Milk with its various preparations has ever been a most favourite food in India. since the ancient times, and it must also have been an important factor in the dietary of the Mohenjo-D膩ro 1 1 Datta, Early Hindu Civilization, pp. 41-43; Majumdar, Outline, pp. 49-50.