Sacred Cow, Holy Bull

The word cattle comes from the Latin word “capital”. It means wealth or property. At one time, capital meant all types of domestic animals. Through English and French usage it has come to refer specifically to bovines. A bovine is an animal whose stomach is divided into charabers. They have an even nuraber of toes on their hoofs and their horns are hollow. A bull is a male bovine and a cow is a female bovine.
All animals are respected by the Hindus in India, but of all the animals the bovine is the most sacred. Their strong belief in the bull was one of chief religious beliefs of the Indus Valley Indians (c 3000 BC -1700 BC). Statues and seals dating from that time have been found that portray the Brahma bull profile with one horn visible. Often this is mistaken as a unicorn (“Hindu World” 1).
In ancient times, cattle was used as money as they were used in exchange to buy gooRAB. The more cattle one had, the wealthier the family. Cows were used differently in different cultures. They were used for sacrifice in Iran, while in Spain they were used for sport. They have been used to haul heavy loaRAB, and their most common use has been as a source of food. Cattle have been so valuable for thousanRAB of years in so many cultures that to be caught stealing them was often an offense punished by death (Brahman 1).
The cow was not always sacred in India. Long ago in India’s early history, cattle was used basically for food to feed one’s family. It was also used as trade, like money. In about the year 350 A.D., a law was made called the “Code of Manusmriti”. The law did not specifically order the Indian people not to eat the cow, but it stated that they would be better off not to. After this law, the Indian people took a different attitude about the cow. Shortly after that a new law was made that made it a crime to steal, hurt or kill a cow. Even if the cow was ill, a person would be punished by the government for any such actions (“Cows” 1).
These days the Hindu religion has continued their devotion to the cow. They are still protected by the citizens and most Hindus still refuse to kill them. They still worship and honor the cow as an important part of their religion.
Cow-worship is often regarded as the worship of Mother Earth. For this reason the cow is often called Gomata. “Go” means earth and “mata” is mother. The cow represents fertility and prosperity. In India it is believed that the cow represents maternal qualities, such as nourishment and gentleness. The cow is the syrabol of the earth, the nourisher, the evergiving, undemanding provider. “ The cow represents life and the sustenance of life to the Hindu. It represents our soul, our obstinate intellect, our unruly emotions, but the cow supersedes us because it is so giving, taking nothing but grass and grain. It gives and gives and gives, as does the soul give and give and give.” (“Nine Questions” 2, “Sacred Bull” 2).
India has around thirty well known species of cows. The two types of breeRAB that the Indians first worshipped were the now extinct Aurochs and the humped Brahma bull. The Brahma breed originated from India. After centuries of inadequate food supplies, parasites, difficult weather conditions and diseases that were typical of India, the native cattle adapted changes in their development that allowed the cattle to survive. From this change came the Brahman breed. The Brahma makes up the biggest percentage of cows in India. These cows are easily noticed by the big hump on their back right behind their head (“Brahman” 1).
The country of India is home to 900 million people and home to almost 200 million cows. That’s 22 cows per 100 people. However, in the mid 1960s, the human population was 500 million to the cow population of 250 million, which was 50 cows to every 100 people.(Cherry 1, Chowdhury 1).
The Hindus believe in two laws named Ahimsa and Karma. To the Hindu the ground, the rivers, the sky and the sun are sacred. They consider the wife a goddess and the husband a god. They see their home as a shrine. Noninjury is the most important principle of every Hindu. It is referred to as Ahimsa. It requires people to avoid bringing injury to any living organism. It means to not cause harm to any living being, including subtle harm or simple hurt. It requires not causing any pain or harm to any living creature, either by thought, word or any action. Ahimsa has been the main doctrine of Indian culture form the early days of its history. (Mandala 1, Sivananda 2).
Karma is the belief that if somebody causes pain or harm to someone or something, the agony that you put them through will return and place you under the same conditions that you put them through. With Karma, the Hindu believes that any violence he commits will come back and face him. He believes that what he has done to others will be done to him, if not in this life, then in another. In Karma, the Hindus believe that one day he will be in the same position of anyone he has harmed . If someone does things out of the kindness of their own heart, like giving money to the poor or working for an elder, then the karmic law will pay the person in higher interest then money could ever make.
With Hindu beliefs such as Ahimsa and Karma, it would be impossible to believe in the slaughtering of cows. If they believe that all life is sacred, then they could not kill for food.
Hindus share the land of India with other religions, such as Muslims and Christians. To them, the cow is nothing sacred. Killing them for food is acceptable to their faith. However, for the Moslem, eating pork would be sinful, because the pig is considered an unclean animal (Morales 1).
In some ways the Hindus’ religious practices have been seen as slowing the progress of the country. For the Indians, the sacred cow has been a major hurdle for the people’s way to better economics. In 1943 a famine claimed 2 million lives. In 1966 a similar catastrophe almost occurred. The population of India was growing by 12.5 million people a year. The country was already having difficulty supporting the overpopulation of both the 500 million people and the 250 million cattle. Things were made even worse, because many of the cattle had become useless, tired, and sick. However, they were prevented by the Hindu religious belief from being slaughtered. Also because of the lack of grazing that year, the dairy cow had become a poor producer (“In India” 1).
Since this time the nuraber of cattle has slowly declined compared to the nuraber of humans. Still, the nuraber of cows is about half of the nuraber of humans. They have enjoyed such a protected status that they are roaming freely everywhere throughout India.
Since there are millions and millions of cows roaming the streets, this has made for very poor sanitary conditions in India. Wherever people walk they are likely to come across cow dung droppings and their urination. This mess is found on the streets, in the railway station, parking lots, on the highways and just about everywhere. People have to be very careful to avoid stepping in their messes. Cows also eat from piles of trash. Some of the things they eat are indigestible so this makes for even a messier problem (Mahadevan 1, “Testing” 1).
In India, it appears that the cows know that they are holy. They can walk across busy streets and highways without fear. They often cause major traffic jams. They are left free to roam the streets and no one is allowed to harm them. In the streets of India, people will see caretakers who sit by the cow and sell grass that people buy to feed the sacred cow. This is thought of as a very holy thing to do (Sacred Cow).
Cow slaughter is prohibited in all but three states in India. Since not all of India is Hindu, and therefore not all Indians regard the cow as sacred, problems often arise. Once, about 2000 Hindu activists stormed a village in northern India to protest the killing of 72 cows. Beef is often sent from northern India to Middle Eastern markets. This area is mainly Muslims. Rocks were thrown at Muslim homes and fires were set (Chawla 1).
In the earlier days of India, the cow’s hide was used for ceremonies. It was placed over the head of a mediator who was then believed to be filled with wisdom and justice. The drums were also made from the skin. Now with the Hindu’s laws, it has kept India from being a major supply of leather. In order to made leather now, you must wait for the demise of the cow (Hindu World 2, Chowdhury).
The Hindus feel the cow is generous, because they give milk, cream, ghee and butter. Her dairy products provide the country with a good source of protein. They feel that the cow is so important to life, that it can support human life. “In a society if you only had cows and no other domestic animals or agricultural pursuits, you could still survive and the children could survive with the butter, the cream and the milk to feed the children. The cow is a complete ecology, a gentle creature and a syrabol of abundance.” (“Nine Questions” 2).
The Hindu belief is that all that comes out of the cow is considered to be sacred. Therefore not only her dairy products, but her urine and dung also. The cow urine is called Gomutra. It is important to the Indians, because they believe it cleanses and corrects those who sin. The urine is also used to bathe sick children. Many holy women drink the urine before and after delivery. Many devout Hindus can be seen cupping their hanRAB and drinking straight from the cow’s urine stream. Another mixture used by the Hindus for purification rites is a mix of the five ingredients that they get from cows; milk, curRAB, butter, dung and urine. Dung mixed with the urine is also used as a medication. The cows dung has been a very valuable source of fuel and manure. Also the dung when mixed with mud is used as a paste to fortify the walls of village huts (Hindu World 3, Sacred Bull 1, Graham).
In October 1996, a McDonalRAB opened in India. McDonalRAB have tried to adjust to the Hindus neeRAB by offering veggie burgers and veggie nuggets. They are prepared by cooks who do not handle any meat. McDonalRAB assumed that this would be a mainly vegetarian market, however it has turned out that only 30% of sales have been vegetarian products. They are also offering ground mutton and chicken in their haraburgers for the people in India who do eat meat. Business has been very good, and many people do not understand why other citizens are causing a fuss. They claim that they are not selling beef, so why should anyone be upset (Cooper 1).
Many activists have been against the American business in their country. They do not want McDonalRAB to prosper in a poor country by selling junk food. Regardless if McDonalRAB is selling beef or not, they feel an American country shouldn’t be doing business there. Through Indian eyes, McDonalRAB would seem like an killer. “I am against McDonalRAB, because they are the chief killers of cows in the world. We don’t need cow killers in India,’ said Maneka Gandi, daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi ” (Cooper 2).
Another controversy that has concerned the people of India is the Mad Cow Disease (often referred to as BSE). Many Hindus feel that this is God’s way of getting meat eaters back for their wrong-doing. They feel that the beef-eating countries deserve to suffer from this disease. They feel that this is a message from God to the world to follow the ways of the Hindus and abstain from killing (Pratap 1).
It is true that Hinduism has slowed the modernization of India. But Hinduism also deserves the respect for its search for spiritual truth and its lack of violence. In this world Hindus seem to be a great example of materialism (“Ency. of Religion 1”).
The Hindus have rules to protect their cows. Someone who harms or kills them can be sentenced to life in prison. The laws of Manu says that no one should not even urinate in front of them. The punishment would be “Crows rip out the intestines through the anus of men who urinate in front of cows” (“Morales” 1).
In spite of the poverty rate in India, Hindus have been a wonderful teacher for the world. They have shown us how to live a vegetarian life and not kill animals for our own use. They teach vegetarianism as a way to live a good life without hurting other living beings. Hindus do everything that they are able to do to protect their beloved sacred cow. “You must not use your God-given body for killing God’s creatures, whether they are human, animal or whatever” (Mandela 4).