Sacred Cows - Indian street scene - India - religion - spirituality
July 8, 2006 by rockwatching
Blog11, originally uploaded by Mic2006.
Anne Gordon, (Anne Gordon Images) a regular guest blogger on my site has just emailed me this post …
“How about a kiss;
These cows are seen everywhere in India. Woe betide
anyone who causes them injury.
Buses, cars motorcycles and humans give way
even when they lie down in the middle of the road.
Arriving in Jaipur late at night we saw them stretched
out on the raised area dividing the road lanes, often
with a mangy mutt cuddled up beside them”.
It would appear that in India the cow is a sacred animal, it is reguarded as a matriarchial figure, respected by Hindus for their gentle nature and religious connections. Lord Krishna, is sometimes depicted as a young cowherd and his alternate name, “Govinda” can be loosely translated as one who brings hapiness to the cows”. The Hindu purifacatory material, “Panchagavya” is derived from the cow’s various by products (milk, curds, ghee, urine and dung)
Roaming free, the Indian and Nepalese cows enjoy a priviledged status amongst animals and in essence are even reguarded more highly than many people. The poor farmer benefits from this free ranging arrangement in that his charges are free to wander into the rich man’s field and gorge to their heart’s content.
FOR AN INTERESTING READ ABOUT AN INDIAN COW SANCTURARY GO TO, www.chakra.org/living/SimpApr02_03.html
I saw this sort of scene back in Dhaka right at the end of Ramadan. I’d like to go to India someday. Up until now, I’ve only flown over it to get to Bangladesh.
I went to Scotland way back in 1988 where my father’s friend recounted in the ontext of Europe’s superhighway how they found animals straying on the road so funny. Twenty years and passed and we have still not changed. What to do?
In Scotland the animal is viewed differently, it is only a machine that produces meat for human consumption. In India, the wandering animal is part of the culture, there are religious and cultural connections. These differences make travel such an interesting experience. Mick