The veneration of the cow has been converted into a symbol of communal identity of the Hindus and obscurantist and fundamentalist forces obdurately refuse to appreciate that the cow was not always all that sacred in the Vedic and subsequent Brahmanical and non-Brahmanical traditions—or that its flesh, along with other varieties of meat, was quite often a part of haute cuisine in early India. Although the Shin (Muslims of Dardistan in Pakistan) look on the cow as other Muslims do on the pig, ... self-styled custodians of non-existent monolithic Hinduism assert that the eating of beef was first introduced in India by the followers of Islam who came from outside and are foreigners in this country, little realizing that their Vedic ancestors were also foreigners who ate flesh of the cow and other animals. Fanaticism getting precedence over fact, it is not surprising that the RSS, the VHP, the Bajrang Dal, and their numerous outfits have a national ban on cow slaughter on their agenda. — Dr D N Jha, The Myth of the Holy Cow, 2001, Matrix Books, New Delhi. [and 2009, Navayana Publishing, New Delhi]
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 16:33:02 +0000
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