Cows…
I’m pretty sure no one has anything bad to say about them.
They produce milk, they are fairly tame, and beef does make a good burger.
But did you ever feel like worshiping a cow?
Well our ancestors definitely did!
Many ancient religions held cows to be divine or in some cases to actually be the form some
Gods take.
For example Zeus sometimes in Greek mythology took the form of a bull.
Some times people worshiped idols made in the image of cows or bulls.
One famous example is the golden calf in the story of the Jews exodus from Egypt – where
for some reasons their first instinct, when left to their own devices, was to make a calf
out of gold and to worship it…
Actually, What I find interesting about this is there are so many animals which mankind
never decided to worship, for instance most of the ancient world never respected pigs
– although some held boars in high esteem – and you never hear about the great chicken
god or anything – well apart from the mega ultra chicken!
But back on topic – with so much history of people worshiping cows, it is easy to imagine
modern instances of the same behaviour.
The famous one of course being the Hindus.
Most people beleave hindus to worship cows, but do they really?
And why do they hold cows to such esteem?
Well to find out stay tuned!
- As I mentioned in the video on Hindu dietary
customs, Hinduism is not as uniform a religion as we might think and there are thousands
of sects and sub sects with different beliefs and interpretations, so we are going to stick
to general ideas and consensus.
So firstly do Hindus worship cows – the answer is… drum roll please… nope!
Hindus, despite all the information which may say otherwise, don’t worship cows (although
I am sure there are problem some exemptions.
But Hindus do revere cows, often to the point that it may look like worship…
Why do they do this well its all because of a number of factors:
Links with divinity Hindus associate several animals with different
gods and consider them sacred, including the monkey (Hanuman), the elephant (Ganesh), the
tiger (Durga) and even the rat (Ganesh).
But none is as revered as the cow.
The cow is actually linked to a number of Hindu gods, two of the most important being:
Krishna one of the most popular Hindu deities, who spent their childhood as a cow hearder
and who is said to promote the good treatment of cattle.
And in the Vedas, the oldest of the Hindu scriptures, the cow is associated with Aditi,
the mother of the gods.
There are also many other gods like Shiva who are linked to cattle as well…
The produce of cows have also been linked with divinity, especially milk and milk products
which are used in many ceremonies and are part of high caste diets.
Philosophy Hindu philosophy promotes nonviolence – especially
non violence against animals -, and the cow has become a sort of symbolism for this philosophy
– called Ahimsa.
Also, By the first century A.D., cows had come to be associated with Brahmans, the highest
caste, or class, in Hinduism.
To kill a cow was likened to killing a Brahman — a big taboo.
Economics In ancient India, cattle and oxen were sacrificed
to the gods and the meat was eaten.
But even then, milk-producing cows were off-limits, likely because their milk was so precious
as a food source.
The Indo-Europeans who settled in India in the 2nd century BC were pastoral peoples,
who relied heavily on cattle for food and already held cows in high reverence – believing
that cows gave us more than we gave them.
Still today cows produce are extremely important and used for many practical and ceremonial
tasks.
Even cow dung is seen as important because of its use in fuel, in fertilizing the soil
and apparently as a disinfectant.
Quick side note, when I seen it was used as a disinfectant I was like “honestly, how
on earth can it be used as a disinfectant, that’s just asking for more disease and
for your house to smell like crap!”.
But apparently it is really used and some studies have showed that the bacteria in cow
poo might kill other bacteria… but I think restaurants should stick to the bleach!
Nationalism Because cows have been traditionally revered,
it has become increasingly linked to Indian nationalism.
And as Indian nationalism is on the rise, so too is Indian reverence to cattle, despite
growing secularisation in the country.
In fact many modern cases of strife in the nation have been sparked by the killing of
cattle by Muslims.
And this was the case during the time of the British Raj – the excuse for the Indian
mutiny in 1857 was a rumour that new British rifles used cow fat in its cartages.
Conclusion As we have seen cows and the reverence to
them are deeply engrained into Indian and Hindu society, and it doesn’t look like
that is going to change anytime soon.
I hope you have found this topic interesting and if you would like to share anything in
the comments please feel free.
Especially if you are a practicing Hindu or an Indian with anything to add!
Thanks for watching.