Everyone has heard that the cow is a sacred animal in India. But not everyone knows why this is so, what this status is expressed in life. Meanwhile, the attitude of Hindus towards cows is an interesting phenomenon. Of course, these animals are not slaughtered, even if they are terminally ill or very old. In the literal sense, there is no worship of a cow in Indian culture. Treating her more like respect and gratitude than idolatry.
Is the cow revered only in India?
Not only the culture and religion of India are distinguished by a special attitude towards cows. These animals were revered by all people who professed Zoroastrianism, Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism. They were also respected in cultures other than those religions.
Respect for animals was experienced by the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and the Roman Empire. It was in the last state that the stable speech expression “sacred cow” arose. Itcharacterizes immunity and is widely used in everyday life to this day.
What does a cow represent for Hindus?
The sacred Indian cow is the personification of goodness and sacrifice without any self-interest. This animal in Hinduism is associated with purity, goodness, holiness, prosperity.
She is perceived as a "mother figure". And the bull represents the masculine principle. Animals are also identified with the "higher castes" - the Brahmins. This is a priest, a priest. A person belonging to the Brahmin caste is inviolable in every sense. Accordingly, inviolable and identified with this status are temple utensils, sacrifices to the gods and, of course, cows.
What deities do Hindus associate cows with?
The Indian cow is associated with many deities. For example, animals accompany devas. These are the minor deities opposed to the asuras. But they are also associated with higher deities.
For example, Shiva is often depicted riding a bull. Indra is closely associated with a special sacred cow that grants wishes. She herself is actually a minor deity. The wish-fulfilling, sacred Indian cow is Kamadhenu. Also animals accompanied Krishna. This god is said to have spent his youth as a shepherd. He was tending calves near Vrindavana.
How did the authorities treat cows before? How are they now?
Historically, the Indian cow has always been protected by law. For example, in ancient times, the murder of a clergyman in Indiaseverity was similar to the killing of this animal. In the first millennium, when the natives of the Gupta dynasty ruled, retribution for the killing of a cow in the form of execution was legislated.
In modern days in Nepal and India, the legal status of animals has been preserved. Today, cows, like thousands of years ago, are under the supervision and protection of state authorities. Of course, there is infinite respect for them in the mentality of the locals. It is expressed in all areas of life. For example, Hindus should never eat beef under any circumstances.
How long have cows been revered in India?
The Vedic religion, which is the first, embryonic form of such a system of beliefs as Brahminism, and in fact the former basis for Hinduism, is inconceivable without the image of a cow. The ancient sages, for example, Gautama and Vasistha, forbade harming them, much less eating their flesh. The cow Nandini lived in the Ashram of Vasistha. This animal provided food to all who needed it, and also fulfilled the secret desires hidden deep in human hearts.
The mathematician and philosopher Baudhayana (the same one who first deduced the number Pi), in addition to the sciences, was also involved in drawing up acts regulating both secular life and religious rites. In the collections of legislative acts compiled by him, the types of punishments for people who dare harm these animals are spelled out in detail. An Indian scientist lived presumably in the 6th century, respectively, at that time there were already cowsuniversally revered in India.
Have animals ever been slaughtered?
In the early stages of Vedism, during its formation, there was a custom of cow sacrifice. However, it is rather difficult to call this act mortification.
The right to sacrifice on the altar of the gods of sacred animals had only selected, especially respected brahmins. Very old, poorly feeling and seriously ill animals were sacrificed to the gods. Moreover, the meaning of this action was to help the cow be reborn to life in a new body.
By the sixth century, this rite was no longer performed. Any killing, including on the altar, was a crime.
Why was the cow revered?
The Indian cow is noted in all sacred texts, in mythology and various chronicles. For example, in the texts of the Rig Veda, herds of tens of thousands of heads are described. They are compared to river deities and are a symbol of we alth. There are texts describing the process of bottling milk in Saraswati. Many legends represent Aditi, that is, the supreme, maternal force of nature in the form of a cow. In the so-called Puranic texts, earthly deities appear in this guise.
For what reason did people in India revere them from time immemorial, and not any other animals? For example, other sacred animals, the zebu, are not revered everywhere. Photos of cows, by the way, still adorn the walls of the offices of many officials in India. The answer to this question lies in the combination of climate and the main activities of people at the dawn ofcivilization.
On the Indian continent, agriculture has been a priority for centuries. It was followed by gathering, poultry and cattle breeding. Due to the peculiarities of the climate, heavy, long-digested and poorly digested meat food, which gives energy and warms, was not suitable for human nutrition. But light dairy products, which are a source of animal proteins and calcium, so necessary for the human body, have become an integral part of the diet.
In addition to milk products, which became the basis of human nutrition on the Indian continent in ancient times, manure was also important. It was used not only as a fertilizer, which at times increases the volume and quality of the crop harvested by people, but also as a fuel. Manure is used as a fuel in various Indian regions to this day.
The source of all these blessings was a cow. People were grateful to her as a nurse, they were afraid to be left without this animal.
An important factor was the fact that in ancient times the cow was associated with a woman who kept the hearth and cooked food, giving birth to children. The bull, respectively, was a symbol of male strength and endurance.
For these reasons, it was the cow, and not any other farm animal, that entered the beliefs, mythology and culture of the Hindus.
