Cow is not Sacred and Beef is not Forbidden to Hindus, according to Vedas
The current atmosphere in India on the issue of cow defies all sane
logics, Hindu religious Texts, thousands of years old sacred history,
historians and scholars. On one hand the
current Modi government talks of making India the biggest economic power in the
world surpassing America and China. On the other hand his own party and his
Hindu affiliate’s members talk of what people can eat or can not eat, how many
children the Hindu couples should produce, what the women should wear, adult
girls can not be seen in the company of opposite sex friends, Hindu girl can
not marry a non-Hindu and any criticism of government policies make you
anti-national that includes refusing to say Bharat Mata ki Jai or Cow is our
mother.
Modi
himself
and his team members are biggest hypocrites on the issue of cow or meat. As CM
of Gujarat under Modi meat production 10,600 tons in 2001-2 went up to 35,286
tons in 2011-12. Still Modi accused UPA government for cow slaughter for their
support to meat exporters “Pink
Revolution” during the run up to the 2014 elections that brought him to
power. Ironically under Modi’s watch bovine/cow meat export has gone up by 70%
according to the Commerce Ministry website. Now India is number 1 exporter of
bovine/cow meat in the world.
Modi’s
confidante Amit Shah
during the 2014 campaign made several
speeches that cow slaughter will not be banned in north eastern states of
India. As BJP’s party president on May 28, 2015 in Goa; Amit Shah ruled out a nation-wide
beef-ban or cow slaughter.
Union Government and Goa Government both under BJP are jointly running a
slaughterhouse in Goa.
Sangeet
Som, the Hindutva poster boy & one of the main accused in 2013
Muzzafarnagar communal riots, UP Assembly Member and now Minister in Adityanath
Yogi’s government; had been personally associated
with two meat processing and export companies, Al-Dua and Al-Anam. Al-Dua
is one of the India's leading halal meat
export companies which exports meat to Arab countries.
BJP candidate Sreeprakash on April 2,
2017 in the run up to the Mallapuram Lok Sabha by election in Kerala said, “I
will ensure quality beef and standard abattoirs in my constituency.”
Modi’s
Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju in Aizwal on May
27, 2017 said that, “I eat beef, I’m from Arunachal Pradesh and can any body
stop me? So let us not be touchy about
somebody’s practices. This is a Democratic country. Sometime some statements
are made which are not palatable.” Kiren Rijiju
also described as “unpalatable” his colleague Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi’s remarks that those who eat beef should go to
Pakistan, and questioned whether anyone could stop him from eating beef. The
BJP leaders in Arunachal, Meghalaya,
Sikkim, Mizoram, Nagaland have been making statements to their constituents,
sale of beef at subsidized rates is their commitment to them. After the new
Cattle Trade Rules announced by the Modi government they went to the extent of
saying “No Beef No Support to BJP”
BJP’s Karnataka
spokesperson Vaman Acharya
on May 28, 2017 while participating in a panel discussion on Suvarna News
opposed the beef ban. He said that people from all communities including the
Brahmin community, consumed beef. Before India became an agrarian nation, beef
had been a staple diet. Even today, several people, including indigenous tribes
in the North Eastern States consumed beef as a staple. Acharya had also said
that as chairman of the Karnataka Pollution Control Board, he gave permission
for the setting up of 16 abattoirs in the State. Lastly, he had said that
he didn’t subscribe to the religious sentimentality attached to the cattle. He
retracted his statements on June 6, 2017 under party pressure.
Modi’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Aizwal on June 12, 2017, said that people are free to
choose what they want to eat. When asked
about protests against the government’s ban on sale of cattle for slaughter,
Singh clarified that the Centre will not impose any restrictions on one’s
choice of food. However, even as Singh spoke, scores of people in the Mizoram
capital participated in a “beef ban bashing banquet” organized by a local
organization. ( PTI)
Kerala BJP and RSS have
joined hands to start a co-operative society to sell meat which includes bovine
meat as well as fish, a
Malayalam daily Deshabhimani reported on July 5, 2017.
July 17, 2017 Goa’s BJP CM
Manohar Parikar who also holds the animal husbandry portfolio in the assembly session
replied to BJP assembly members concern over the poor quality of Beef imported
from Congress ruled neighboring state Karnataka; "Approximately 2,000 kgs
beef is produced per day at the state abattoir of the Goa Meat Complex Limited,
while rest of beef is brought in from Karnataka. Parrikar said he would
issue directions to the department concerned to carry proper inspection of beef
imported from Karnataka. Parrikar further added that "The Goa Meat
Complex Ltd has no problem in slaughtering more animals if they are brought
there by traders,"
Modi’s New Cattle Trade Rules that has been stayed by the SC on July 12, 2017 violates Right of a
Person to Freedom of Choice regarding Food as enshrined in Indian
Constitution and it is also violating the rights of the farmers to trade. Under
this law farmers
cannot sell the cattle in the market for slaughter but slaughter houses can
come to the farmer and buy cattle for slaughter. Then majority of the farmers
are not educated how they can comply with filling out numerous forms about the
origin & ownership of the animal in question? First the farmers/dairy
operators will be exploited by the bureaucracy and than by Slaughterhouses that
can make a cartel to give them less price for their cattle.
Modi
aka BJP is paving the way for its handlers like Adani, Ambani, Tata and
other foreign MNC’s to control the meat and animal hide trade that is worth
Billions of Dollars. UP slaughterhouses alone employs 25 lacs people with a
turnover of Rs. 15,000.00 crore is the highest producer of meat in India. The meat industry is likely to grow at a compound
growth rate of 8.4% over the next five years. The processed meat industry is
growing even much faster, at about 20%. The
meat export from India is about $4.5 billion and raw hide to leather goods is
another $5.5 billion. About 22 mil people are in the workforce and the meat
export industry is expected to grow 50% in 5 years. Beside that 70% of Indians
are non-vegetarians. Domestic per capita meat
consumption in India is very low -- around 5 kg as compared to the world
average of 47 kg. With rising incomes
between 2003 and 2012, their meat
consumption rose by 6.3% a year. It is expected to rise by another 3.5% a year
between 2013 and 2022.
2
Apart from 73.7 lakh tons of meat in
2016-17, India also produced 108 lakh tons of fisheries in 2015-16 ranking 2nd
after China. India is the number 1 and largest exporter of shrimp fish in the
world. This industry is growing at a robust pace of 8% per annum. The business
is valued at Rs. 1 Lakh Crores and employees about 150 lakh people. Andhra
Pradesh occupying the first place, West Bengal 2nd and Modi’s
Gujarat at 3rd place in fish production in India.
The
demonetization was also done for these very influential people so that they
can control food business worth billions that is traditionally run on cash basis
by the informal sector. On top of that to pave the way for billions of dollars
that can be made in transaction fees in the guise of digital money from the less fortunate and financially most
vulnerable people of Indian society. Rich have credit cards they don’t pay any
fees to use it rather they are rewarded with points and cash back for its use;
it is the merchant that pays the fees for accepting it. The poor has to get a “Pre Paid Debit Card” for a fee with a
monthly maintenance fee and fee for loading money; a biggest ponzy scheme ever
invented by the American Financial Industry to loot the poor.
Coming
to Team Modi & Hinduwadi’s understanding of Hinduism, its history,
its writing on eating meat and views of various learned scholars; All of them
are a very big disappointment. Team Modi should do some soul searching why Atal
Bihari Bajpai avoided the trap of cow laid by the bogus Hindutva supporters
that has no love for their own 50 crore (500 million) extremely poor Hindus
living a miserable life.
According
to Sanskrit Scholar
Rajani K Dixit, “there is no such
thing as Holy Cow in the Vedas”. The
Vedas consider bovines important for milk, beef, agriculture and transport but
not divine or holy. The word ‘Aghnyaa’ applies only to a milch
cow because it is not economical to kill it. A Vaisha cow is meant for
beef, and especially reserved to an extent for Brahmins only. Atharva 12.4(13)
tells us that in case a Brahmin begs for a cow from a non-Brahmin, “even if
that person has a beef-dinner at his house, he has to select another cow to
slaughter for his own dinner, than the one that is asked for”. The word ‘Aghnyaa’ (not to be killed) coined by
Rigveda for young milch cows was the main cause of the Hindu misunderstanding
that cows or bovines are not to be slaughtered.
The
Rigveda has never used the word ‘mother’ for a cow. There is
no punishment recommended for a cow slaughterer even if some one kills a young
milch cow. Beef-eating is also not taboo. Beef parties are not only
allowed but highly appreciated, and a person who cooks beef for his guests
is praised by the term ‘Atithi-gva’
‘one who offers beef to guests’.
3
Ritual
sacrifice of a bull is a must in worship to the God Indra. Beef parties also seem a regular affair in weddings
(RV 10.85). Cows are not sacred and beef is not forbidden to Hindus. Here
is a line from a verse ascribed to the god Savita, the presiding deity of the
Gayatri Mantra, describing a dinner party he is hosting: “At night we are going
to kill cows” (RV.10.85(19). RV 10.89 (14) mentions “cows for food, laying
scattered on the grounds of a slaughter house”. Mark that the author does not
use the word ‘animals’ but ‘cows’, showing that beef was the most popular item,
and the cow the most slaughtered animal. RV 10.95(6) says that “old
cows which do not give milk” are “only fit to be cooked”. It further states
that “useless cows ….are taken to be cooked, but never milch cows”. It is clear
that slaughter houses are not banned, beef is allowed and useless bovines are
allowed to be slaughtered in Hinduism.
Aadi shankaraachaarya born in 788 CE
in Kerala: in his commentary on Brahadaranyako Upanishad 6/4/18
says:’Odaan’ rice mixed with meat is called ‘maansodan’ on being asked whose
meat it should be, he answers ‘Uksha’ is used for an ox, which is capable to
produce semen. Currently 72 communities including some upper caste Hindus in
Kerala prefer beef to the mutton and some prefer it because it is cheaper than
mutton.
Hinduisms great propagator Swami Vivekaanand said:
"You will be surprised to know that according to ancient Hindu rite and
rituals, a man cannot be a good Hindu
who does not eat beef ". (The complete works of Swami Vivekanand vol
:3/5/36)
VD
Savarkar the Hindutva Icon and Icon of Hindu religious & political parties
including BJP; espoused
his views in Vidnyan Nishta Nibandh, that the
cow, like the peepal tree, should be cared for, as something useful to
humans, which meant eating it as
well if need be. He insisted that a superstitious mindset towards
cows would ruin India's intellect and that cows should be protected for their economic use to man, and not because
of their ‘divinity’. Attributing religious qualities to it gives it a
godly status. Such a superstitious mindset destroys the
nation’s intellect. “When humanitarian interests are not served and in fact
harmed by the cow and when humanism is shamed, self-defeating extreme cow
protection should be rejected.”
Every now and then, an admirer of Savarkar raises the
topic. “Can anyone imagine that the ‘Father of Hindutva’ advocated beef-eating
(in special circumstances), rejected the divinity of the Vedas, denounced the
sanctity of the caste system and launched a virulent attack on the hypocrisy of
the priests?” wrote Ved Pratap
Vaidik, a journalist close to several Hindutva figures.
“Incidentally, Savarkar was a beef-eater,” wrote Varsha Bhonsle on
Savarkar’s birth anniversary, February 26, in 1998. “For he was, above all
else, a rationalist – a true Hindu – and eons ahead of contemporary Hindutvawadis.”
(“Why is the Cow a Political Animal?” S. Joshi)
Mahatama Gandhi was approached for total ban on Cow Slaughter
in India. His reply was, “I have been long pledged to serve the cow but how
can my religion also be the religion of the rest of the Indians? It will mean
coercion against those Indians who are not Hindus. The assumption of the Hindus that India now has become the land of the
Hindus is erroneous. India belongs to all who live here. Earlier
on 25th July 1947 he also said that "The Hindu religion prohibited cow
slaughter for the Hindus, not for the world.
The religious prohibition came from within. Any imposition from without meant
compulsion. Such compulsion was repugnant to religion." 4
A Brahmin’s Cow
Tales by D. N. Jha a high cast Brahmin himself. The cow as a sacred animal, Jha
believes, did not really gain currency until Dayanand Saraswati's cow
protection movement in the 19th century". The
cow became a tool of mass political mobilization with the organized cow-protection
movement," the historian points out. "The killing of cows stopped
gradually with the agrarian society and caste rigidity. The Brahmins
found it convenient to say that those who ate beef were untouchable. But
they themselves continued to consume it, recommending it for occasions such as
shraadh. The beef-eating habits
of Indians which existed in Rig Vedic times and continued till the 19th century
and after, despite repeated Brahminical injunctions against cow-killing. That
ancient Hindus, including Brahmins, were beef-eaters, willing to incur the
minor penalty that an agrarian society began imposing on cow-killers, and that
this fondness for cattle meat had nothing to do with Islam or Christianity.
For
those who blame Muslims for the practice of Cow slaughter in India: Babar’s first
act after conquering Delhi was to forbid the killing of cows. They must read
Babar’s Directives (Wasiyyat namd-i-majchfi) a secret
testament to his son Humayun and his future generations. For the
stability of the Empire, O my son!, “The realm of Hindustan is full of
diverse creeds. Praise be to God, the Righteous, the Glorious, the Highest,
that He hath granted unto thee the Empire of it. It is but proper that thou,
with heart cleansed of all religious bigotry, should dispense justice according
to the tenets of each community.’ “And in particular refrain from the
sacrifice of cow, for that way lies the conquest of the hearts of the
people of Hindustan; and the subjects of the realm will, through royal favour,
be devoted to thee. And the temples and abodes of worship of every community
under Imperial sway, you should not damage. Dispense justice so that the
sovereign may be happy with the subjects and likewise the subjects with their
sovereign. The progress of Islam is better by the sword of kindness, not by the
sword of oppression.” (Abstracted from the 1936 book The
Mughal Empire From Babar To Aurangzeb, by SM Jaffar of Peshawar. It
mentions that “the original document is in Persian and is treasured in the
Hamida Library at Bhopal as one of its heirlooms.”)
The British Origin of
Cow-Slaughter in India (published 2002) by Gandhian historian Dharampal. His book
draws from official documents to show that the riots of 1880-1894 were
not the obvious Hindu-Muslim
conflagration they were made out to be. The book cites accounts of how “many
prominent Muslims as well as the Parsis and Sikhs actively participated in the
(cow protection) movement.” Dharampal wrote that large-scale cow slaughter was
not the handiwork of Muslims who
came to India from central and western Asia. “The question of the sacrifice of
a cow did not arise as the land where Islam arose did not have many cows.”
Mughals
were habituated to the meat of goats and mutton, sacrificing camels on the
occasion of festivals like Eid or for large feasts, the book says. Dharampal rues
the lack of research on cow killing between 1200 and 1700, when a series of
Muslim kings ruled over a large part of India. But he goes on to show that systematic
slaughter of cattle began in India with the East India Company establishing
itself. The British, unlike
the central and west Asians, were habituated to beef. The first
slaughterhouse in India was built in Calcutta (now Kolkata)
in 1760 by Robert Clive, then Governor of Bengal. It could kill
30,000 animals per day. Several
more slaughterhouses were set up in various parts of the country by the
Commissariat Wing of the three British armies of Bengal, Madras and Bombay
Presidencies. A total of 350 slaughterhouses were constructed by 1910.
Nitya Sambamurti Ghotge, a veterinary surgeon who heads Anthra,
a group in Pune that has worked with rural livestock rearers since 1992. Laws
against cow slaughter and Trade Rules will only criminalize the livestock
trade, not protect the animals, said Ghotge. Only the smugglers and the law
enforcement officials will benefit from the ban on cow slaughter, not the poor
farmers or the livestock. Like the agriculture scientist Ramanjaneyulu, Ghotge
holds that the cow protection laws are unjust; it is about powerful urban
people outsourcing the burden of cow protection on the rural poor, she said.
5
As
for the BJP’s claim that “cow is the only divine animal that exhales oxygen”, no living being
other than plants exhale oxygen is also a myth. Animals, however, exhale unused
oxygen, as lungs cannot process all the oxygen that is inhaled. According to
the 2006 FAO report, the livestock sector accounts for 9 per cent of carbon
dioxide derived from human-related activities, but produces a much larger share
of even more harmful greenhouse gases.
Team
Modi is least concerned about the millions of Indians; Hindus as well as
non-Hindus employed directly and indirectly in the cattle trade. The millions
especially children and elderly that depend on bovine meat as the cheapest
source of protein. In the name of misguided Hindutva they are imposing their
personal believes on the cattle breeders, traders, farmers and bovine meat
eaters without considering the economic realities. There was a time when the owner could get Rs 12,000.00 to Rs.
15,000.00 for the unproductive animal from a slaughterhouse, now that has been
reduced to Zero by the Gou Rakshaks/cow vigilantes. Rs 2,500.00-3,000.0 per
month is the cost just to keep the animal alive for 8-10 years after the end of
its economic utility. If the 10 million or so cattle that
possibly end up at the abattoir every year are not culled, farmers will simply
stop caring for them and let them loose in towns and cities. It will cost upward of Rs 22,000 crore to take care of them. And
since the 10 million-plus will keep adding each year, till they die in their
natural course, these costs would only keep on mounting up every year. Just in the 4th year the cost could
be more than Rs. 88,000.00 crore. In BJP
ruled state Rajasthan the state government is providing Rs 70.00/day for cow
and Rs 35/day for calf and at the same time it is providing Rs. 25.63/person on
welfare schemes in the state. Under Modi India has become an international joke
that cow is more valuable than human beings!
Modi government has badly failed practically on all fronts; employment,
economy, education, healthcare, international diplomacy and failed to contain
insurgency in Kashmir and unrest in Bihar, Chattisgarh, Orrisa, Assam etc.
because of rising poverty and inequality. Rather
Modi has become instrumental in breaking up the social brotherhood among the
majority Hindus with Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhist & Christians created
in 70 years of independence. In 2019 Indians have to decide, “Do they want to
vote again for Modi’s exclusive promise of development that has turned out
to be another election rhetoric/Jumla? The reason being even after 3 years of
Modi rule development is as elusive as Hinduwadi’s dream of Bharat Rashtra by
putting the entire country on ethnic clashes fire.”
Compiled by
Devendra Makkar
From the writing of
scholars, historians & journalist
davemakkar@yahoo.com
https://www.theindianpanorama.news/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/TIP-Edition-July-21-NYC.pdf
https://www.theindianpanorama.news/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/TIP-Edition-July-21-NYC.pdf
