Let us see whether killing of animals and their consumption is permitted in Sanatan(Vedic) Dharma?

It was Gautam Buddha who rejected the authority of Vedas because Vedas sanctions animal slaughter and Hindus of his time did sacrifice animals so he wanted them to stop this practice. Swami Vivekananda is of the same view. He writes,

“In what way do you see this importance of Buddhism in India today?”

“It is obvious and overwhelming. You see India never loses anything; only she takes time to turn everything into bone and muscle. Buddha dealt a blow at animal sacrifice from which India has never recovered; and Buddha said, ‘Kill no cows’, and cow-killing is an impossibility with us.” The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume 5 [ Source]

”you read in the Vedas how, when a Sannyasin, a king, or a great man came into a house, the best bullock was killed. How in time it was found that as we were an agricultural race, killing the best bulls meant annihilation of the race. Therefore the practice was stopped, and a voice was raised against the killing of cows. Sometimes we find existing then what we now consider the most horrible customs.”The Complete Works of Swami Vivekandan, Volume 3 [Source ]

Vishnu Smriti 51.64 

When honoring a guest, at a sacrifice, or when worshipping the manes, or the gods, a man may slay cattle, but not otherwise on any account.

Apologist present some verses which are said to prohibit meat consumption but those verses are are often quoted out of context, those verses have historical context, for instance, it’s mentioned in the Vedas

Rig Veda 10.87.16 The fiend [non Aryan, Dasyu, Rakshas, Mleccha] who smears himself with flesh of cattle, with flesh of horses and of human bodies, Who steals the milch-cow’s milk away, O Agni,-tear off the heads of such with fiery fury.

Atharva Veda 1.16.4 If thou [Foreigners] destroy a cow of ours, a human being, or a steed, We pierce thee with this piece of lead so that thou mayst not slay our men.

These verses refer to the foreigners/Non Aryans [Maleccha, Rakshasa] or enemies of deities of Vedic period, that they should not kill the Aryans, or cows or horses OF THE Aryans as Cows and Horses were sources of wealth and horses were also used for warfare, you can have meat of other castes or of foreigners (non Aryans). Who would like their wealth to be destroyed? There may be some confusion among Hindus whether to eat cow or not but there is hardly any prohibition in Vedas to slaughter bull although Vedas do not prohibit any kind of meat.

Some people might say those verses I mentioned above has historical context but they shouldn’t be viewed in a context as all the verses are eternal and it’s applicable for all ages. Then does that mean you should eat dog’s intestines when you are in deep distress? Because the Vedas says,

Rig Veda 4.18.13 In deep distress I cooked a dog’s intestines. Among the Gods I found not one to comfort. My consort I beheld in degradation. The Falcon then brought me the pleasant Soma. ( Hence I advise to read Every Verse of religious books with historical context otherwise you will be misguided).

The reason why its difficult to find verses on meat consumption in the Vedas (from few fundamentalist translators) is because some of the Hindu scholars don’t view the animal sacrifice as literal slaughtering but they view it as charity or symbolic slaughtering. So Hindus should ask their scholars to literally translate the Sanskrit verses on meat consumption, then I am sure all their doubts on meat eating will be cleared. Vedic verses clearly uses words like Maans (Meat), Pachat (Cook) etc,. which is pretty clear for meat consumption but some Hindu scholars like to add their own words into it, they give their own meanings.

Veda clearly speaks of animal killing and putting it in theAgni (Fire) during Yajna, one of the most popular hymn is from the Rig Veda about Horse sacrifice (Ashvamedha Yajna). Ashvamedha mentioned in Rig Veda deals with slaughtering and cooking of the sacrificial horse. I have used English translation of Wilson and Hindi translation of Pundit Ram Govind Trivedi,... Kindly refer them for further reading...

I have referred Hindi translation of Rig Veda 5.29.8 by shri. Pundit Ram Govind Trivedi. Some scholars have skipped the Sanskirt word Maas (Meat/Flesh) in their translation, 

Eg.A great scholar Ram Acharya has translated the verse 5.29.8 as Indra ‘’ACCEPTED’’ the three hundred buffaloes instead of ”Eaten” he has also omitted the word Maas (Flesh/Meat), even if he just accepted the buffaloes then it means later he ate them because Veda commands Indra and Agni to eat the oblation which they receive... Is that clear?

Former Supreme Court judge Justice Markandey Katju called Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi an "idiot" over the latter's statement on Thursday that those who cannot live without eating beef should go to Pakistan or any other country.

Slamming the minister – a senior BJP leader – over his remark, Katju posted on his Facebook page: "I am a Hindu, and I have eaten beef, and will again eat it. There is nothing wrong in beef eating. 90% of the world eats beef. Are they all sinners ?"