Why are cows so special in India?
The reasons why religion, life, and politics overlap in a single cow, which you cannot understand just by saying 'a country that doesn't eat beef'
When you walk through the streets of India,
you may encounter scenes you would rarely see in Japan.
A cow standing on the side of the road.
Beside it,
cars drive by.
Motorbikes weave through.
Auto-rickshaws honk their horns.
People are not particularly surprised.
The cow is not flustered either.
As if,
it is only natural for it to be there.
Foreign tourists often say when they see this scene:
'Cows are gods in India, so they walk around freely, right?'
Certainly, cows are special in Hindu society.
But—
'Cow = God'
If you explain it only with this, you will miss the true face of India.
Because in a single cow,
religion,
agriculture,
motherhood,
food culture,
poverty,
law,
politics,
and even family memories are layered.
This time,
we will delve into why cows are so special to Indians.
We will go deep into that.
⸻
■ First, 'Indians worship cows as gods' is slightly off
In Japan, it is often explained that
'Cows are gods in India'.
It is easy to understand, but
it is a bit too simple.
Hinduism has a very diverse way of thinking, and not all Hindus worship the cow itself as a 'single god' in the same way.
Rather, the cow has been revered as
something that nourishes life,
something maternal,
something that should not be killed,
and something religiously pure.
According to a Pew Research Center survey, 72% of Hindus in India responded that 'people who eat beef cannot be Hindu,' showing that avoiding beef is very strongly linked to religious identity.
However,
this is where it gets important.
⸻
■ Why was it a 'cow'?
If it is a sacred animal,
why not a tiger?
Not an elephant.
Not a monkey.
Why,
a cow?
To find the answer,
we need to look not only at religion,
but also at the life of old India.
The cow
was not just an animal to become meat.
It gives milk.
It raises its young.
Cow dung becomes fuel and fertilizer.
Oxen provide the power to plow fields.
In rural society, the cow was
a being that supported human life throughout its entire life.
Even today, there are many dairy cows in India, and according to government statistics, there were about 74.59 million dairy cows alone as of the 20th Livestock Census in 2019.
In other words, the cow was
not an 'animal for eating',
but also an asset that supported the family's livelihood.
⸻
■ The cow was layered with 'mother'
Here, a religious meaning is added.
It gives milk.
It gives more to humans
than it consumes itself.
From there, the cow
has been linked to motherhood.
In India,
the expression 'Gau Mata (Mother Cow)'
is sometimes used to refer to the cow.
When you think about it,
I feel I can understand that sentiment a little.
Even without killing it,
it gives food every day.
It supports the family.
It also supports the fields.
And,
it stays by humans' side without saying a word.
For people living in old rural villages,
the word 'livestock' was probably not enough for the cow.
⸻
■ Cows are also in the stories of the gods
In the background of the cow becoming religiously special,
there are also stories of Hinduism.
For example,
Krishna.
The young Krishna is sometimes depicted as a cowherd.
And,
by the side of Lord Shiva,
there is Nandi the bull.
If you go to a temple,
you may see a statue of Nandi placed facing Shiva.
In other words,
the cow was not just a convenient animal in rural villages.
It was in both the world of mythology and real life.
That is why,
it probably became a special existence over many generations.
⸻
■ The idea of 'not killing'
Another important thing is
the philosophy of Ahimsa (non-violence/non-killing).
Do not harm life unnecessarily.
This is a concept that has been deeply involved in the ideological world of South Asia, not only in Hinduism but also in Jainism and Buddhism.
Of course,
not all Indians are vegetarians.
This is very important.
In a 2021 Pew survey, 44% of Hindus identified as vegetarians, and many of the rest eat some form of meat. On the other hand, 83% of Hindus were either vegetarian or had some restrictions on the type of meat or the days they ate it.
In other words,
'Indian = Vegetarian' is not true.
And,
'Eating meat = eating beef' is also not true.
We need to think about these two separately.
⸻
■ Do all Indians really not eat beef?
No.
India is a huge country.
Religions are different.
Regions are different.
Ethnic groups are different.
Food cultures are different.
Muslims.
Christians.
Some Hindus.
Other communities.
There are people who have beef or meat of bovine animals in their food culture.
Furthermore, if you group it all together as 'beef' in Japanese, there is another confusion.
Cows and water buffaloes may not be treated the same in terms of law and distribution.
For example, under the laws of Rajasthan, water buffaloes and their offspring are excluded from the definition of 'bovine animal' subject to regulation.
In other words,
even if you hear that 'beef is distributed in India',
it is not necessarily the same as the 'beef' that Japanese people imagine.
⸻
■ Actually, the laws are not the same across all of India
This is surprisingly not well known.
In India,
it is not a simple system where 'the slaughter of all cows is completely prohibited uniformly nationwide'.
Article 48 of the Indian Constitution, as a directive principle of state policy, calls on states to take measures to protect breeds of cows, calves, and other milch and draught cattle, and to prevent their slaughter.
However, the actual regulations
vary by state.
For example, Maharashtra has provisions prohibiting the slaughter of not only cows but also bulls and bullocks.
On the other hand,
in other regions, the subjects and conditions of regulation are different.
Therefore,
if you explain it in one word as 'beef is prohibited in India',
you cannot accurately represent reality.
⸻
■ Then, are all the cows walking on the street 'let loose because they are sacred'?
This, too,
is not that simple.
In the background of cows being on the road,
there is not only religion,
but also economic issues.
Cows that give milk
have value to farmers.
But they get old,
and stop giving milk.
They can no longer be used for farm work.
Even so,
in some regions, they cannot be easily slaughtered.
If you keep feeding them,
it costs money for feed.
For poor families,
this becomes a heavy burden.
As a result,
cows that owners can no longer manage or cows that have lost their place may go out into the streets.
So if you look at the cows on the road and think,
'Indians are letting them be free as gods',
you will not be able to see the problems of rural villages and poverty behind it.
⸻
■ Even though they are sacred, they are eating trash
And,
there is a somewhat ironic scene.
Cows that are considered sacred
are rummaging through trash on the side of the road.
Plastic bags.
Leftovers.
Waste.
Cows
do not skillfully choose only food.
This is
one of the contradictions that modern India holds.
Thinking of something as 'a being that should be cherished' and actually nourishing that life to the end are not the same.
Religious ideals.
Real economy.
Urbanization.
Trash problems.
That is where they are clashing.
⸻
■ The story doesn't end with 'not killing because it's sacred'
From here,
it becomes a more difficult problem.
Protecting cows is
very important religiously and culturally for many Hindus.
However, in India,
there are also people who have a culture of eating beef.
Meat processing.
Leather industry.
Livestock trading.
There are also people who make a living from such jobs.
In other words,
what is 'sacred' to one person may conflict with another person's 'food culture' or 'job'.
From here, the cow
is no longer just an animal.
Religion.
Social class.
Occupation.
Minority.
Politics.
It becomes the boundary line for those.
⸻
■ A single cow can sometimes show 'who you are'
In the 45th installment,
we saw that religion in India is in daily life.
The cow problem is
even further beyond that.
What do you eat?
What do you not eat?
What do you consider sacred?
These
are not just preferences.
Sometimes,
they become things that show 'which community you belong to'.
In the Pew survey, the fact that many Hindus strongly linked avoiding beef to their religious identity is a symbol of that.
The dining table
becomes religion.
And,
religion becomes politics.
Herein lies the difficulty of modern India.
⸻
■ Why do even politicians talk about cows?
From the perspective of a foreigner,
it might feel strange.
Economy.
Employment.
Education.
Diplomacy.
There are many big problems in the country.
Yet,
why does the 'cow' become a political issue?
The answer is
because the cow is not just a cow.
The cow
is Hindu culture.
Tradition.
Rural villages.
Religious identity.
And,
it has come to symbolize even the question of 'what kind of country is India'.
Therefore,
the claim to protect cows
can sometimes carry more meaning than animal protection.
On the other hand,
regarding that politicization,
there are also people who are concerned about the impact on the food culture and occupations of minorities.
You should not look at only one side here.
There is a reason for those who want to cherish cows.
There is also a reason for those who feel anxious about the regulations surrounding cows.
Both of them
live in the same country.
⸻
■ There is no single person called an 'Indian'
This is a conclusion that appears many times in the India series.
Explaining a society of 1.4 billion people
by saying 'Indians are like this'
is impossible in itself.
North and South.
Cities and rural villages.
Hindus and Muslims.
Vegetarian families and families that eat meat.
Wealthy people and poor people.
The sense of distance to cows is also different.
Therefore,
rather than 'Indians treat cows as gods',
I think it is much closer to reality to think that
'in Indian society, a great many meanings are layered onto the cow'.
⸻
■ A morning of a farmer
From here,
we return to one human being.
This is not a specific real person,
but one scene to think about the relationship between cows and humans.
An Indian rural village.
A morning that is still dim.
An old man
heads to a small cowshed.
There,
there is an old cow.
In the past,
it gave a lot of milk.
The old man's children
grew up drinking that milk.
Sometimes he sold the leftover milk
to pay for school expenses.
But,
it hardly gives any milk anymore.
⸻
■ If you think only about the economy
It costs money for feed.
It also costs money for the vet.
There is no room to spare in the family's life.
If you look only at the numbers,
that cow is already
'livestock that does not generate profit'.
If it were a management textbook,
the answer might be simple.
But the old man
brings feed every morning.
He strokes the cow's neck.
And,
he changes the water.
⸻
■ The son asks
'Father.'
'This cow doesn't give milk anymore.'
The old man answers.
'I know.'
'Then why do you keep it?'
The old man
looks at the cow for a while.
And he says,
'When you were small, you drank this cow's milk.'
That is all.
⸻
■ What is sacred, I wonder
Perhaps,
to understand the reason why Indians cherish cows,
rather than the explanation 'because it is a god',
this might be closer.
It is not cherished because it is useful.
It is not the end when it becomes useless.
For a long time,
it supported the family.
Therefore,
I want to cherish it until the end.
Of course,
not all families can do that.
In reality,
there are people who let go of cows for economic reasons.
There are also cows that are not managed and go out into the streets.
That is precisely why
there is a contradiction between ideals and reality.
⸻
■ Are we really different, too?
In Japan,
suppose a dog you lived with for many years gets old.
It cannot run.
It costs money for the hospital.
It needs nursing care.
Economically,
it produces nothing.
Even so,
the family takes care of it.
Why is that?
'Because it is family.'
If you spread that feeling to the whole society within a slightly longer history and religion,
you might be able to understand the relationship between Indians and cows just a little bit.
⸻
■ India seen from a single cow
When you look at cows in India,
you can see religion.
You can see agriculture.
You can see poverty.
You can see food culture.
You can see law.
You can see politics.
And,
you can even see what humans consider 'important things'.
Therefore,
passing by the scene of a cow standing on the road
as just 'interesting India'
is a bit of a waste.
Behind that cow,
thousands of years of values and
the contradictions of modern India are standing.
⸻
Evening.
The old man
goes to the cowshed once more.
The cow
is sitting quietly.
The old man also
sits next to it.
There are no words.
In the past,
the cow that supported the family.
Now,
the cow that is supported by the family.
The positions
have reversed.
But,
for the old man,
that is probably fine.
People,
and animals,
will someday come to a day when they can no longer be of use to anyone.
Even so,
it does not mean that their value disappears.
Perhaps,
deep in the Indian culture that views cows as special,
such a way of thinking might also be flowing.
It is not cherished because it is useful.
Because it was cherished, it is cherished until the end.
When I imagine an old man sitting next to a single old cow,
the word 'sacred'
sounds a little different.
⸻
Next time, 47th installment
Why does 'death' head to the Ganges River in India?
Cremation, reincarnation, ashes—the view of life and death of Indians that exists within a scene that looks scary to Japanese people
A person passes away.
The family gathers.
A fire is lit.
And,
the ashes return to the river.
Why,
the Ganges River?
Why do they see off a person's death
in a place so close to daily life?
Next time,
from the difference between 'Japan that keeps death away' and 'India that lives in the same place as death',
we will delve into the meaning of 'living' that Indians think about.