In the story of Shri Neminath Bhagwan and Rajul, animals were kept for the wedding feast because meat was to be prepared for the celebration. When Neminath Bhagwan came near the place and heard the suffering and cries of those animals, his heart was filled with karuna and vairagya.

This showed him the pain caused by violence in worldly life, especially in a royal feast where many lives would be taken for food. Because of this deep realization, he did not continue the marriage and instead renounced worldly life and took diksha.

So, in Jain tradition, the animals were kept there to be slaughtered for food at the feast, and this became the reason for Neminath Bhagwan’s great compassion and renunciation.