|
|
|
|
Sacred cow
|
| |
|
| |
Cattle are considered sacred in various world religions, most notably Hinduism, but also Zoroastrianism and the religions of ancient Egypt and Greece. In some regions the slaughter of cattle may be prohibited and their meat may be taboo.
e is no consensus on whether the cow was sacred and forbidden in the Hindu diet from ancient Vedic times. In their Dharmasutras, Vasishta, Gautama and Apastambha prohibit eating the flesh of both cows and draught oxen, while Baudhya-yana exacts penances for killing a cow, and stricter ones for killing a milk animal or draught ox.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Sacred cow' Start a new discussion about 'Sacred cow' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Cattle are considered sacred in various world religions, most notably Hinduism, but also Zoroastrianism and the religions of ancient Egypt and Greece. In some regions the slaughter of cattle may be prohibited and their meat may be taboo.
In Hinduism
Origins
There is no consensus on whether the cow was sacred and forbidden in the Hindu diet from ancient Vedic times. In their Dharmasutras, Vasishta, Gautama and Apastambha prohibit eating the flesh of both cows and draught oxen, while Baudhya-yana exacts penances for killing a cow, and stricter ones for killing a milk animal or draught ox. Starting with prohibitions on cow slaughter for ritual brahminical sacrifice, revulsion spread to the eating of all types of beef.
The cow was possibly revered because the largely pastoral Vedic people and subsequent generations relied heavily on it for dairy products and tilling of the fields, and cow dung as a source of fuel and fertilizer. Universally, Hindus still use cow dung for various purposes; the burning of cow dung creates an insecticide to repel mosquitoes, and ash formed from cow dung is used as a fertiliser. Thus, the cow’s status as a 'caretaker' led to identifying it as an almost maternal figure (so the term gau mata).
Hinduism, or Sanatan Dharma, is based on the concept of omni-presence of the Almighty, and the presence of a soul in all creatures, including the bovines. Thus, by that definition, killing any animal would be a sin; one would be obstructing the natural cycle of birth and death of that creature: The creature would have to be reborn in that same form because of its unnatural death. Historically, even Krishna, one of the most revered forms of the Almighty (Avataar), tended cows.
Despite the differences of opinion regarding the origins of the cow's elevated status, reverence for cows appears throughout major texts of the Hindu religion.
Sanskrit term
The most common word for cow is go, cognate with the English cow and Latin bos, all from PIE cognates . The Sanskrit word for cattle is pasu, from PIE .
Other terms are dhenu cow and uks an ox.
Milk cows are also called a-ghnya "that which may not be slaughtered". Depending on the interpretation of terminology used for a cow, the cow may have been protected.
The cow in the Hindu scriptures
According to the scriptures of early Hinduism, it is a grave sin to kill a cow, to take part in its slaughter, or to eat its flesh. The injunctions against eating beef arises within the Vedas
such as:
Atharvaveda I.16.4
"If thou slayest our cow, our horse or our domestic, we pierce thee with the lead, so that thou shalt not slay our heroes."
Atharva Veda III.30.1
You should impart love to each other as the non-killable cow does for its calf.
RgVeda VIII.101.15
Cow is pure, do not kill it.
Yajur Veda XIII.49
Do not kill the cow.
RgVeda VI.28.3 states
Enemy may not use any "astra" i.e. weapon on cows
RgVeda VI.28.4 states
Nobody should take them to butcher house to kill them
Mahabharata- Shantiparva 262.47
Cow is called 'aghnya' and thus non-killable.
Rig Veda
Cattle were important to the Rigvedic people, and several hymns refer to ten thousand and more cattle. Rig Veda 7.95.2. and other verses (e.g. 8.21.18) also mention that the Sarasvati region poured milk and "fatness" (ghee), indicating that cattle were herded in this region.
In the Rig Veda, the cows figure frequently as symbols of wealth, and also in comparison with river goddesses, e.g. in 3.33.1cd,
- Like two bright mother cows who lick their young, Vipas and Sutudri speed down their waters.
According to Aurobindo, in the Rig Veda the cows sometimes symbolize "light" and "rays". Aurobindo wrote that Aditi (the supreme Prakriti/Nature force) is described as a cow, and the Deva or Purusha (the supreme being/soul) as a bull.
The Vedic god Indra is often compared to a bull.
Rivers are often likened to cows in the Rigveda,
Vyasa said:
Cows are sacred. They are embodiments of merit. They are high and most efficacious cleansers of all.
Atharva Veda
Cow's body is represented by various devas and other subjects.
Harivamsha
The Harivamsha depicts Krishna as a cowherd. He is often described as Bala Gopala, "the child who protects the cows." Another of Krishna's names, Govinda, means "one who brings satisfaction to the cows." Other scriptures identify the cow as the "mother" of all civilization, its milk nurturing the population. The gift of a cow is applauded as the highest kind of gift.
The milk of a cow is believed to promote Sattvic (purifying) qualities. The ghee (clarified butter) from the milk of a cow is used in ceremonies and in preparing religious food. Cow dung is used as fertilizer, as a fuel and as a disinfectant in homes. Modern science acknowledges that the smoke from cow dung is a powerful disinfectant and an anti-pollutant. Its urine is also used for religious rituals as well as medicinal purposes. The supreme purificatory material, panchagavya, was a mixture of five products of the cow, namely milk, curds, ghee, urine and dung. The interdiction of the meat of the bounteous cow as food was regarded as the first step to total vegetarianism.
Puranas
The earth-goddess Prithvi was, in the form of a cow, successively milked of various beneficent substances for the benefit of humans, by various deities.
Krishna proclaims: "The piety that comes from bathing at holy places, the piety that comes from feeding brahmins, the piety that comes from giving generous charity, the piety that comes from serving Lord Hari, and the piety that comes from all vows and fasts, all austerities, circumambulating the earth, and speaking truthfully, as well as all the devas, always stay in the bodies of the cows. The holy places always stay in the cows' hooves. O father, Goddess Lakshmi always stays in the cows' hearts. A person that wears tilaka of mud that touched a cow's hoof attains the result of bathing in a holy place. He is fearless at every step. A place where cows stay is holy. One who dies there is at once liberated. One who harms a brahmin or a cow is the lowest of men. He commits a great sin, as if he had killed a brahmin. Of this there is no doubt. A person who harms the cows or the brahmins, who are the limbs of Lord Narayana, goes to hell for as long as the sun and moon shine in the sky."
Historical significance
The reverence for the cow played a role in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the British East India Company. As per history, Hindu and Muslim sepoys in the Army of East India Company came to believe that the new bullets were greased with cow and pig fat. The consumption of swine is forbidden in Islam. Since gunloading required biting of the bullet, they believed that the British were forcing them to break edicts of their religion.
A recent Hindi film, Mangal Pandey: The Rising, focuses primarily on this issue and the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
In Gandhi's teachings
The Cow is also venerated by Gandhi. He said: "I worship it and I shall defend its worship against the whole world," and that, "The central fact of Hinduism is cow protection."
He regarded her better than the earthly mother, and called her "the mother to millions of Indian mankind."
Modern day
Today, in Hindu majority nations like India and Nepal, bovine milk continues to hold a central place in religious rituals. In honor of their exalted status, cows often roam free, even along (and in) busy streets in major cities such as Delhi. In some places, it is considered good luck to give one a snack, or fruit before breakfast. In places where there is a ban on cow slaughter, a citizen can be sent to jail for killing or injuring a cow.
With injunctions against eating the cow, a system evolved where only the pariah fed on dead cows and treated their leather.
The law in India
Cow slaughter is banned except in two provinces: the states of West Bengal and Kerala. Cows are routinely shipped to these provinces for slaughter, even though it is illegal to transport cows for slaughter across provincial borders. However, many private slaughterhouses also operate in big cities such as Mumbai. While there are approximately 3,600 slaughterhouses operating legally in India, there are estimated to be over 30,000 illegal slaughterhouses. The efforts to close them down have so far been largely unsuccessful.
In Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is a religion related historically and religiously with Hinduism.
The term "geush urva" means the spirit of the cow and is interpreted as the soul of the earth. In the Ahunavaiti Gatha, Zarathustra (or Zoroaster) accuses some of his co-religionists of abusing the cow. Ahura Mazda tells Zarathustra to protect the cow.
The lands of both Zarathustra and the Vedic priests were those of cattle breeders.
The 9th chapter of the Vendidad of the Avesta expounds the purificatory power of cow urine. It is declared to be a panacea for all bodily and moral evils. Urine of the bull, called "nirang".
In Ancient Egypt
The ancient Egyptians sacrificed animals, but not the cow because it was sacred to goddess Hathor, and also due to the contemporary Greek myth of Io, who had the form of a cow.
Metaphorical sacred cows
The term sacred cow has passed into the English language to mean an object or practice which is considered immune from criticism, especially unreasonably so. The term is based on the popular understanding of the place of cows in Indian religions as objects that have to be treated with respect, no matter how inconvenient.
See also
External links
-
- , from Hinduism Today
- , from Sanatan Society, a Hindu association
- , from Advocates for Animals
- , by Tony Mathews
- "", from PETA
- , from PETA
- , an Indian animal rights organisation
- , by Balabhadra das, ISCOWP
-
|
| |
|
|
