Cows lying on the streets
As cows are worshipped as God in India, Hindus do never consume beef. There are some cows lying down on the streets, and Indian driver would wait until the cows cross the road. While there is unlimited no. of street children in Mumbai, there exists more than 3000 'gaushalas' across India where even sick and feeble cows are warmly taken care of. Why are the cows so highly regarded? What kind of existence is the cow to Hindus?
The India's oldest scripture compiled 1000 - 1500 BC, Rg. Veda, tells a story of Lord Indra who saved the world. In the old days the Devil locked all the rivers in the heaven, plunging the world into the chaotic drought. Lord Indra slew the Devil and killed him. At that moment, all the rivers were released from the heaven and started to flow with a horde of cows. These cows were all pregnant, and every element of the universe, the sun, the earth, plants and animals in well-ordered manner, were created from them. This is why the cows are regarded as the root of everything in India.
The cow, which created the order in the world, is equated with the cosmos itself. As his feet are standing on the four corners of the cosmos, all the space of the cosmos exist within the cow. The cosmos functions in order under this condition. However, as time passes he lifts up his each foot and when his fourth foot is lifted the order of the cosmos collapses. Then as a process of creation re-starts, the cow will stand on the four corners of the cosmos again. This concept shows that recognition of space, time and order of Hindus is deeply related with the cow.
'The cow provides us everything' is a definite truth in rural India even today. The rural life in India is strongly tied with five sacred gifts from the cows, which are
1. milk
2. ghee
3. curd
4. cow dung
5. cow urine
The cow milk is one of the most important foods for Indian rural society. Ghee, curd, cheese and other dairy products are made from the milk. It is said that a man who drinks cow's milk attain wisdom and brightness, swiftness of the body, mental calmness and tranquility. There is a song which phrase cow's milk. One day when I went to my favorite Indian curry restaurant in Tokyo, I have asked about the song.
'Is it right that in India there is a song which praise the cow's milk?'
'Yeah, I know there is. '
'Really? Would you please sing that song for me?'
'Well, but it is not a serious one. A comedian sings it.'
Although I wondered what it means, I sincerely asked to teach me the relic, which was
"How lucky you are Mr. Balram to have a cow.
You can make money by selling milk.
You can still make money by selling diluted milk."
Ghee is an India's clarified butter which contains only saturated fatty acid. It is made by further evaporating water from ordinary butter. As it can be stored at room temperature, it has been used for cooking in India from ancient times. When taking Ayurveda medicine, it is recommended to take it with ghee as it dissolves active ingredients and increases its absorption into the body. Candles of Diwali festival are made from ghee and offerings to the God of fire, Agni, are also ghee. What's more ghee is also used for baptizing a baby as Hindu. As you can see, ghee is an indispensable gift from the cow essential for cooking, medical treatment and also religious life.
Curd means yogurt in India. Yogurt, made from fermentation of milk by lactic acid bacteria, is necessary for India's drinks; buttermilk and lassi. Buttermilk is a liquid left over from churning butter from cream, or yogurt diluted with water. In south India it is a custom to finish a meal with one or two cups of buttermilk. Rice mixed with buttermilk is also eaten when finishing the meal. There are various kinds of lassi, the drink originally from Panjabu region in north India. While sweet lassi is seasoned with rosewater, lemon, strawberry and sugar, Makhania lassi is made by mixing it with a portion of butter. Chaas lassi is simply seasoned with cumin and salt. At the Holi festival held in spring every year bhang lassi containing marijuana extract is drunk for religious purposes.
In India with two hundred million cows living, eight hundred million tons of cow dung (which is ten times as much as Japanese annual rice production) is produced every year. Of course this is not rubbish but one of the sacred gifts from the cow. Since cow dung has a sterilizing effect, a house with a wall made from a mixture of clay and cow dung can keep insects and reptiles away. For the same reason grains are stored in an earthen pot plastered with cow dung. Surprisingly people roll cow dung into balls which become an important fuel for cooking. This is appropriate for stewing as it keeps burning at a certain temperature for a long period. When people burn the cow dung balls, a peculiar pale-purple smoke comes out. Since it causes a haze in a sky and lowers visibility, it is notoriously known among international pilots. However, the India's first president, Jawaharlal Nehru, says that he was moved to tears when he saw the pale-purple smoke coming out of houses over the Ganges, thinking his motherland is at peace. Ash of cow dung is even more highly valued as it has a power of fire. Hindu disciplinant applies the ash to the body and prays to the God Shiva.
The River Ganges is sacred and precious more than anything for Hindus. They wash themselves in the Ganges and wish to be washed away into the river when they die. It is said that the Ganges has the highest concentration of cholera virus among the world's rivers because just about everything; living sewage, feces, urine, dead animals and humans flows into the river from upper villages. Nonetheless the Ganges is absolutely sacred for Hindus. Water taken from the Ganges is called gangajal which people take back to their villages and use for various rituals. Cow urine is considered to contain a component of gagajal, therefore used for rituals such as purifying wells.
Above-mentioned five sacred gifts from the cow have each unique medical or purifying effect, therefore a mixture of these called pancagavya is thought to have a greater effect. The best mixing method is after straining a mixture of 50 mg of cow dung and 50 ml of cow urine, 20 ml of milk, 20ml of curd and 15ml of ghee are additionally mixed. Ayurveda recommends taking pancagavya regularly to improve chronic disease. Also recent scientific studies have started to reveal the medical effects of pancagavya from a perspective of analytical chemistry.
If you are normal Japanese, you would just laugh at this story thinking 'This is ridiculous!!'. However, switching a point of view, it might be laughed at by foreigners that Japanese believe natto (fermented soybeans) has a dieting effect. In January 2007 it was broadcasted that natto can help lose the weight, and consequently natto was completely sold out in many supermarkets in Tokyo. As the news was over-exaggerated, the sold-out problem has seized a short time later. However, this happening might be written up in Japan times or other foreign papers with a headline saying 'High-tech citizen's obsession with rotten soybeans! ~ Natto disappears from the supermarket ~.
India has a festival to celebrate the sacred cow, Kamadhenu and the Guardian of the cow, God Krishna. The Kamadhenu is a mythical cow who makes devotee's dreams come true, and the Krishna is known for his great deed saving the cows and cowgirls at the time of the Seven-day Flood. On the festival day, avatar of Krishna is purified with milk from Kamadhenu statue with devotee's prayers. At gaushalas people feed the cows and wish for the grace of God.
Many European economists do criticize India's sacred cow based on various kinds of economic calculations. It has been criticized that 4-5 million cows in Punjab are die every year without being fully used as leather or beef, that there will be great improvement in nutrition and health of Indians if they start to consume beef, that acquisition of approximately 7 hundred million US dollars is achievable if India starts exporting beef.
Indian government, listening to these advices, has seriously considered these potentials especially exporting of beef. However, absolute sense of guilt, repulsion and opposition against cow slaughter of Hindus make these possibilities disappear like mist. If it is possible to change the sacred cow concept of Hindus, it could have already changed during 400 years of British colonization of India.
Here exists mystery and depth of religion which cannot be explained by economic theory. That is how India, the land of faith where people do never kill cows, practice ahimsha in everyday life and believe in incarnation, has attracted all the travelers throughout the history. The truth does exist only what one believes in.
