Question: While there are clear references by Lord Krishna against killing animals, why was killing of animals still taking place during Lord Krishna’s time? Why did Pandu and Arjuna kill animals for sport? Why does Lord Rama hunt for a deer, etc?
Answer by Romapada Swami:
Ksatriyas were meant to give protection to the citizens and to curb down miscreants. They had to be strong and powerful so as to instill fear in the hearts of lawbreakers, and they had to use force sometimes to protect the innocent from the aggressors. Thus they were trained in the art of fighting and part of the training was to hunt down wild animals and practice the art of killing. We could compare it to surgeons first practicing to cut open dead bodies before actually treating real patients. Non-violence is not the duty of a ksatriya.
Apart from honing their chivalrous spirits, there was yet another reason for such hunting: it was the duty of the ksatriyas to keep the forests free from disturbing wild animals so that the sages could reside there and peacefully pursue their spiritual practices.
In any case, their killing was definitely not for unrestricted gratification of senses. It was strictly regulated by religious principles, not whimsical, at least in the case of pious and devoted kings. And never was it an instance of indiscriminate, organized slaughter of innocent animals for commercial purposes, as it is almost always the case in the world today.
