Symbol and Sustenance: Cattle in South Asian Culture

Abstract

Domesticated Indian zebu cattle were present on the western margins of the South Asian subcontinent as early as 6000 B.C. Cattle were important in the agricultural economy of the Harappan civilization of the Indus Valley, but archaeological evidence suggests the bull was also assuming a symbolic or religious role in this culture during the third millennium B.C. There is, however, little to suggest that the cow was viewed as sacred. Following the decline of the Harappan civilization, northwestern India was settled by Aryan-speaking peoples who laid the foundations of modern Indian society. The Aryans were pastoral by nature and the economic importance of cattle to this society is mirrored in the role of cattle in ritual, in the pastoral symbolism of the Vedic literature (the ancient religious literature of Hinduism), and also in the association of the cow with various Vedic deities. Yet, again there is nothing to suggest the cow was viewed as sacred at this time. It is not until the appearance of the ahimsa philosophy at the end of the Vedic period, and the acceptance of this belief in the major religious philosophies of the region (Jainism, Buddhism, and later Hinduism), that the concept of the sanctity and inviolability of the cow began to crystallize. The ''sacred-cow concept'' appears as established doctrine in Hindu literature by the end of the medieval period (ca. fourth century A.D.), although popular practice appears to be at variance with this doctrine. A variety of historical, political, religious and social factors appear to have contributed to the general acceptance of the sacred cow doctrine by the Hindu population at large. During the 1960s, the ''sacred cow'' was at the center of a controversy in the social sciences concerning whether the concept was essentially religious in nature or reflected the ecological realities of the cattle economy of the Indian subcontinent. This debate notwithstanding, cattle remain central to the Indian economy, but also play a significant role in the religion and rituals of modern Hinduism, particularly those related to the worship of Krishna. Cattle have also assumed a political role in contemporary India, with anti-cow-slaughter legislation and the protection of the cow being identified with the emerging Hindutva movement. No understanding of South Asian culture can be complete without an awareness of the economic, historical, political and religious dimensions of cattle in the Indian subcontinent.

The Sheltering of Unwanted Cattle, Experiences in India and Implications for Cattle Industries Elsewhere

“…The oldest evidence of cattle assuming any kind of symbolic role can be traced back to the temples and friezes of the Mesopotamian Civilization, which is thought to have influenced the Harappan Civilization of the Indus Valley [ 2 , 3 , 5 , 11 ]. Centuries later, as the agricultural Harappan Civilization declined and fragmented, the pastoral Aryans descended from the northwest.…”

“…Beginning about 4000 years BCE, warriors from the central steppe region of Asia invaded India, bringing with them their habits of expropriating cattle from villages that they plundered. Cattle became in scarce supply as food producers [ 1 ], and through a complex interplay of cultural and socio-economic factors, reverence for the cow became a centerpiece of Hindu culture; the roots of this reverence can be traced back to the Indus Valley Civilization around 3000 BCE [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Over the millennia the cow’s status as a religious symbol steadily increased and the concept of its sanctity grew in complexity, becoming deeply entrenched and assuming a core identity of the region.…”

“…In later centuries, the divine symbol of the cow came to be used as a symbol of Indian national identity for rallying against external invading powers [ 2 , 4 , 6 , 7 ]. Nowadays, almost 30% of the world’s cattle population of approximately 1.4 billion [ 8 ] resides in India.…”

The Management of Cow Shelters (Gaushalas) in India, Including the Attitudes of Shelter Managers to Cow Welfare

“…Both the Muslim invasion and the later European colonization created socio-political conditions linking the cow with symbols of purity and Hindu identity. More recently, political parties strengthened the cow protection and cow sheltering movement [10][11][12]. Mahatma Gandhi emphasized the role of shelters in the economic growth of India rather than their religious role, by advocating the dairying and breeding of shelter cows based on the scientific principles [13].…”

In Praise of Death : History and Poetry in Medieval Marwar (South Asia)

“…It is in the latter sense that the phrase "pastoral-nomadic" and "mobile" peoples has been used throughout this study. For discussions of transhumance, pastoralism and nomadism in western Rajasthan, see (passim): Barth (1962), Bharara (1994), Gupta (1991), Kavoori (1991), Lodrick (2005), Prasad (1994), Robbins (1998) and Srivastava (1997). 257 Arguably, the poets' glorification of Pabuji's battle as a warrior's chance to add "fame to his sword" does not stand for an ascetic ideal either unless one wants to read "fame" as a spiritual triumph, a reading which (bearing in mind the martial and material purpose that I attribute to the selected compositions) is not the way I would be inclined to interpret such a simile.…”