Cattle in religion and mythology
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Biology And Culture
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There are varying beliefs about cattle in societies and .
Cattle are considered sacred in the Indian religions of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, as well as in some Chinese folk religion and in traditional African religions. Cattle played other major roles in many religions, including those of ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Israel, and ancient Rome.
In some regions, especially most states of India, the slaughter of cattle is prohibited and their meat (beef) may be taboo.
In Indian religions
Hinduism
According to Ludwig Alsdorf, "Indian vegetarianism is unequivocally based on ahimsa (non-violence)" as evidenced by ancient and other ancient texts of Hinduism." He adds that the endearment and respect for cattle in Hinduism is more than a commitment to vegetarianism and has become integral to its theology. The respect for cattle is widespread but not universal. Animal sacrifices have been rare among the Hindus outside a few eastern states. To the majority of modern Indians, states Alsdorf, respect for cattle and disrespect for slaughter is a part of their ethos and there is "no ahimsa without renunciation of meat consumption".
The cow in Hindu society is traditionally identified as a caretaker and a maternal figure, and Hindu society honors the cow as a symbol of unselfish giving, selfless sacrifice, gentleness and tolerance.
Several scholars explain the veneration for cows among Hindus in economic terms, including the importance of dairy in the diet, the use of cow dung as fuel and fertilizer, and the importance that cattle have historically played in agriculture. Animals and Society: An Introduction to Human-animal Studies, Margo DeMello, p.314, Columbia University Press, 2012 Ancient texts such as Rig Veda, highlight the importance of cattle. The scope, extent and status of cows throughout ancient India is a subject of debate. Cattle, including cows, were neither inviolable nor as revered in ancient times as they were later.Jha, Dwijendra Narayan. The Myth of the Holy Cow. London/New York: Verso 2002 A Grhyasutra recommends that beef be eaten by the mourners after a funeral ceremony as a ritual rite of passage. In contrast, the Vedas literature is contradictory, with some suggesting ritual slaughter and meat consumption, while others suggesting a taboo on meat eating.
The interdiction of the meat of the bounteous cow as food was regarded as the first step to total vegetarianism. Dairy cows are called aghnya "that which may not be slaughtered" in the Rigveda. Yaska, the early commentator of the Rigveda, gives nine names for cow, the first being "aghnya".V.M. Apte, Religion and Philosophy, The Vedic Age The literature relating to cow veneration became common in 1st millennium CE, and by about 1000 CE vegetarianism, along with a taboo against beef, became a well accepted mainstream Hindu tradition. This practice was inspired by the beliefs in Hinduism that a soul is present in all living beings, life in all its forms is interconnected, and non-violence towards all creatures is the highest ethical value. The god Krishna and his Yadava kinsmen are associated with cows, adding to its endearment.
The cow veneration in ancient India during the Vedic era, the religious texts written during this period called for non-violence towards all bipeds and quadrupeds, and often equated killing of a cow with the killing of a human being specifically a Brahmin. The hymn 8.3.25 of the Hindu scripture Atharvaveda (~1200–1500 BCE) condemns all killings of men, cattle, and horses, and prays to god Agni to punish those who kill. ऋग्वेद: सूक्तं १०.८७, Wikisource, Quote: "यः पौरुषेयेण क्रविषा समङ्क्ते यो अश्व्येन पशुना यातुधानः। यो अघ्न्याया भरति क्षीरमग्ने तेषां शीर्षाणि हरसापि वृश्च॥१६॥"
In the Puranas, which are part of the Hindu texts, the earth-goddess Prithvi was in the form of a cow, successively milked of beneficent substances for the benefit of humans, by deities starting with the first sovereign: Prithu milked the cow to generate crops for humans to end a famine. Kamadhenu, the miraculous "cow of plenty" and the "mother of cows" in certain versions of the Hindu mythology, is believed to represent the generic sacred cow, regarded as the source of all prosperity. In the 19th century, a form of Kamadhenu was depicted in poster-art that depicted all major gods and goddesses in it. Govatsa Dwadashi, which marks the first day of Diwali celebrations, is the main festival connected to the veneration and worship of cows as chief source of livelihood and religious sanctity in India, wherein the symbolism of motherhood is most apparent with the sacred cows Kamadhenu and her daughter Nandini.
A historical survey of major communal riots in India between 1717 and 1977 revealed that 22 out of 167 incidents of rioting between Hindus and Muslims were attributable directly to cow slaughter.
In the Jain religious tradition, neither monks nor laypersons should cause others or allow others to work in a slaughterhouse. Jains believe that vegetarian sources can provide adequate nutrition, without creating suffering for animals such as cattle. According to some Jain scholars, slaughtering cattle increases ecological burden from human food demands since the production of meat entails intensified grain demands, and reducing cattle slaughter by 50 percent would free up enough land and ecological resources to solve all malnutrition and hunger worldwide. The Jain community leaders, states Christopher Chapple, has actively campaigned to stop all forms of animal slaughter including cattle.
According to Saddhatissa, in the Brahmanadhammika Sutta, the Buddha "describes the ideal mode of life of Brahmins in the Golden Age" before him as follows:
Saving animals from slaughter for meat, is believed in Buddhism to be a way to acquire merit for better rebirth. According to Richard Gombrich, there has been a gap between Buddhist precepts and practice. Vegetarianism is admired, states Gombrich, but often it is not practiced. Nevertheless, adds Gombrich, there is a general belief among Theravada Buddhists that eating beef is worse than other meat and the ownership of cattle slaughterhouses by Buddhists is relatively rare.
Meat eating remains controversial within Buddhism, with most Theravada sects allowing it, reflecting early Buddhist practice, and most Mahayana sects forbidding it. Early suttas indicate that the Buddha himself ate meat and was clear that no rule should be introduced to forbid meat eating to monks. The consumption, however, appears to have been limited to pork, chicken and fish and may well have excluded cattle.Buddhism and Vegetarianism The Rationale for the Buddha's Views on the Consumption of Meat by Dr V. A. Gunasekara
According to the Hebrew Bible, an unblemished red heifer was an important part of ancient Jewish rituals. The cow was sacrificed and burned in a precise ritual, and the ashes were added to water used in the ritual purification of a person who had come in to contact with a human corpse. The ritual is described in the Book of Numbers in Chapter 19, verses 1–14.
Observant Jews study this passage every year as part of the weekly Torah portion called Chukat. A contemporary Jewish organization called the Temple Institute is trying to revive this ancient religious observance.
Traditional Judaism considers beef kosher and permissible as food,
as long as the cow is slaughtered in a religious ritual called shechita, and the meat is not served in a meal that includes any dairy foods.
Some Jews committed to Jewish vegetarianism believe that Jews should refrain from slaughtering animals altogether
Although slaughter of cattle plays a role in a major Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha, many rulers of the Mughal Empire had imposed a ban on the slaughter of cows owing to the large Hindu and Jain populations living under their rule.
The second and longest surah of the Quran is named Al-Baqara ("The Cow"). Out of the 286 verses of the surah, 7 mention cows (Al Baqarah 67–73). The name of the surah derives from this passage in which Moses orders his people to sacrifice a cow in order to resurrect a man murdered by an unknown person. Per the passage, the "Children of Israel" quibbled over what kind of cow was meant when the sacrifice was ordered.
While addressing to children of Israel, it was said:
Classical Sunni and Shia commentators recount several variants of this tale. Per some of the commentators, though any cow would have been acceptable, but after they "created hardships for themselves" and the cow was finally specified, it was necessary to obtain it at any cost.
Bull sacrifice are one of the animal sacrifice by Greek Orthodox believers in some villages of Greece. It is specially associated to the feast of Saint Charalambos. This practice of kourbania has been repeatedly criticized by church authorities.
The ox is the symbol of Luke the Evangelist.
Among the Visigoths, the oxen pulling the wagon with the corpse of Saint Emilian lead to the correct burial site (San Millán de la Cogolla, La Rioja).
Cattle breeding was a principle occupation in the lands occupied by Vedic priests and by Zoroaster.Vogelsang, The Afghans, p. 63 The 9th chapter of the Vendidad of the Avesta expounds the purificatory power of cow urine:Bhandarkar, Some Aspects of Ancient Indian Culture, p. 72. It is declared to be a panacea for all bodily and moral evils and features prominently in the 9 night purification ritual called Barashnûm.
The Egyptians did not regard cattle as uniformly positive. Wild bulls, regarded as symbols of the forces of chaos, could be hunted and ritually killed.Pinch, Geraldine (2004). Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. p. 124
Beginning in the third millennium BCE, cattle became the most popular motif in Nubian rock art.Paner, Henryk. "Nubian Rock Art."
The Greek gods also transformed themselves or others into cattle for deception or punishment, such as in the myths of Io and Europa.
In the myth of Pasiphaë, she "falls in love" with a bull as punishment by Poseidon, and consequently gives birth to the Minotaur, a violent human-bull hybrid.
In the ancient Anatolian civilization Hattians, the storm god was closely linked to a bull.
Cattle appear often in Irish mythology. The Glas Gaibhnenn is a mythical prized cow that could produce plentiful supplies of milk, while Donn Cuailnge and Finnbhennach are prized bulls that play a central role in the epic Táin Bó Cúailnge ("The Cattle raiding of Cooley"). The mythical lady Flidais, the main figure in the Táin Bó Flidhais, owns a herd of magical cattle. The name of the goddess of the River Boyne, Boann, comes from Archaic Irish *Bóu-vinda meaning the "bright or white cow"; while the name of the Corcu Loígde means "tribe of the calf goddess".
In Norse mythology, the primeval cow Auðumbla suckled Ymir, the ancestor of the , and licked Búri, Odin's grandfather and ancestor of the gods, out of the ice.
Gopastami, a holiday celebrated by the Hinduism once a year, is one of the few instances where cows receive prayers in modern-day India. While the cow is still respected and honored by most of the Indian population, there has been controversy over the treatment of the cows during the holiday.
According to a Lodi News-Sentinel news story written in the 1960s, in then contemporary Nepal an individual could serve three months in jail for killing a pedestrian, but one year for injuring a cow, and life imprisonment for killing a cow.
Cows roam freely and are sacred. Buffalo slaughtering was done in Nepal at specific Hindu events, such as at the Gadhimai festival, last held in 2014. In 2015, Nepal's temple trust on announced to cancel all future animal sacrifice at the country's Gadhimai festival.
During the country's last dynasty, the Konbaung dynasty, habitual consumption of beef was punishable by public flogging.
In 1885, Ledi Sayadaw, a prominent Buddhist monk wrote the Nwa-myitta-sa (နွားမေတ္တာစာ), a poetic prose letter that argued that Burmese Buddhists should not kill cattle and eat beef, because Burmese farmers depended on them as beasts of burden to maintain their livelihoods, that the marketing of beef for human consumption threatened the extinction of buffalo and cattle, and that the practice was ecologically unsound. He subsequently led successful beef boycotts during the colonial era, despite the presence of beef eating among locals, and influenced a generation of Burmese nationalists in adopting this stance.
On 29 August 1961, the Hluttaw passed the State Religion Promotion Act of 1961, which explicitly banned the slaughtering of cattle nationwide (beef became known as todo tha (တိုးတိုးသား); lit. hush hush meat). Religious groups, such as Muslims, were required to apply for exemption licenses to slaughter cattle on religious holidays. This ban was repealed a year later, after Ne Win led a coup d'état and declared martial law in the country.
In written sources (including anecdotes and Daoist liturgical texts), this taboo first appeared in the 9th to 12th centuries (Tang dynasty-Song dynasty transition, with the advent of pork meat.) By the 16th to 17th centuries, the beef taboo had become well accepted in the framework of Chinese morality and was found in morality books (善書), with several books dedicated exclusively to this taboo. The beef taboo came from a Chinese perspective that relates the respect for animal life and vegetarianism (ideas shared by Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism, and state protection for draught animals.) In Chinese society, only ethnic and religious groups not fully assimilated (such as the Muslim Hui people and the Miao people) and foreigners consumed this meat. This taboo, among Han Chinese, led Chinese Muslims to create a niche for themselves as butchers who specialized in slaughtering oxen and buffalo.
Occasionally, some cows seen crying before slaughter are often released to temples nearby.
This official prohibition was in place until 1872, when it was officially proclaimed that Emperor Meiji consumed beef and mutton, which transformed the country's dietary considerations as a means of modernizing the country, particularly with regard to consumption of beef. With contact from Europeans, beef increasingly became popular, even though it had previously been considered barbaric.
Several shrines and temples are decorated with cow figurines, which are believed to cure illnesses when stroked.
Judaism forbids the wearing of shoes made with leather on Yom Kippur, Tisha B'Av, and during mourning.
Jainism prohibits the use of leather because it is obtained by killing cattle.
Sacred status of cow
Historical significance
In Gandhi's teachings
Jainism
Meitei religion and mythology
Buddhism
Sikhism
Abrahamic religions
Judaism
Islam
Christianity
Zoroastrianism
Ancient societies
Egypt
Nubia
/ref> The bodies are usually depicted in profile, while the horns are facing forward. The length and shape of the horns and the pattern on the hide varied widely. Human silhouettes are often drawn alongside the cattle, symbolic of the important symbiotic relationship between cattle and humans. For pastoralists, drawing cattle may have also been a way to ensure the health of their herd. The role of cattle in Nubian mythology is more covert than in Ancient Egypt to the north, where several gods are often depicted as cattle; however, the significance of cattle in Nubian culture is evident in burial practices, understandings of the afterlife, and rock art.
Ancient Mediterranean Europe
Ancient northern and central Europe
Modern day
In India
In Nepal
In Myanmar
In Sri Lanka
China
Taiwan
Japan
Indonesia
Leather
See also
Notes
Bibliography
External links
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