Cow worship thrives but India remains top beef exporter
An Indian woman, Geeta prays at a Hindu shrine at the EDHI Foundation in Karachi. While most Hindus have the right to revere the cow, some are disgracing the religion in defence of the bovine. PHOTO | AFP
What you need to know:
- Hindu mobs have lynched two men separately in as many months, one for allegedly keeping and eating beef; the other smuggling cattle, presumably for slaughter.
- A simple solution might work: a national law banning slaughter of Hindu-owned bovine, to advance co-existence.
While most Hindus have the right to revere the cow, some are disgracing the religion in defence of the bovine.
It’s not quite clear why the bull isn’t talked about while mobs can lynch a person for enjoying a succulent piece of it.
Anyway, Hindu mobs have lynched two men separately in as many months, one for allegedly keeping and eating beef; the other smuggling cattle, presumably for slaughter.
Reporting for the BBC, Soutik Biswas, quoted historian Mukul Kesavan, on the Hindus love for the cow: “Its large eyes, its calmness, its signature hump, make it the most evolved of animals.”
It’s a sacred animal.
It’s worshipped and decorated during festivals and, Mr Biswas continued, “Holy men take around cows, with their foreheads smeared in vermillion, to seek alms.”
A journal called Indian Cow exists and a Love 4 Cow Trust propagates and promotes love for it.
A Hindu organization reportedly has launched cosmetics using cow urine and dung. One state has a cow minister.
Among the Hindus—a majority in India—the bottom line is: don’t slaughter the cow.
That’s forbidden in most states. Cow protection vigilantes have mushroomed and even hijack trucks transporting cattle.
BIGGEST EXPORTER
The irony is, in addition to Christians and Muslims, some Hindus, especially in the country’s south, eat beef.
Another: TIME magazine in April cited a US Department of Agriculture report saying “India has been the largest exporter of beef in the world since last year, and has further widened its lead over second-ranked Brazil with a projected total of 2.4 million tons exported in 2015 against Brazil’s 2 million.”
Incidentally, beef trade continues under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration despite his criticism during campaign in 2012 of previous government’s beef export endeavour “founded on the killing of our mother cow.”
Most disturbing, however, is extreme defence some Hindu quarters have advanced in defence of the cow.
The Hindu newspaper reported on October 18, 2015 of an article published in Panchjanya.
This publication is considered a mouthpiece of the Rashtriya Swamsevak Sangh, RSS.
This is a 90-year-old Hindu nationalism organisation.
It’s world’s largest voluntary organisation. Mr Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has roots in it. For politicians, defending the cow draws the Hindu vote.
SPITTING ON THEIR CULTURE
Anyway, Panchjanya article on the slaughter said “For many of us (Hindus) it’s a question of life and death.”
The Vedas (ancient Hindu scriptures) ordered killing of “anyone who slaughters the cow”, a dubious assertion.
It further blamed Islam, saying Indian Muslims were once Hindus.
“Who has taught, converted Indians to spit on their culture and values?” Belatedly, the RSS disassociated itself with the article. Non-Hindus and liberals weren’t fooled.
Whatever the case, Mr Biwas quotes Kesavan as dismissing the stand “I am a Hindu, the cow is my mother, and I won’t have her killed” as “just a belligerent assertion” that’s void of “morality or sentimentality or chivalry or economics.”
The assertion isn’t going away and so is the appetite for beef.
A simple solution might work: a national law banning slaughter of Hindu-owned bovine, to advance co-existence.
