Some Hindus don't Worship Cows, here's why...

In the 21st Century, We are living in a polarised world. By the word 'polarised', I mean that people on one side do not listen to the other side's story.

In this time, the popular Hindutva movement or I should say BJP's Hindutva movement is becoming popular. They emphasize on Cows' worship and want to ban any form of Beef consumption.

First, let me clear some points:

Do not ever believe that BJP's version of Hindutva is the only version of Hindutva.
Hinduism is not a prescriptive religion but descriptive. So it does not strictly order you to follow its teachings but suggests doing so.
By writing this article, I do not support beef products, so please read the whole article before making your perception.

Cows in Ancient India-

Let us divide Hindu History into two parts, i) Vedic Era (1500-400BC) and ii) Post Mauryan Era (400BC-).

In the Vedic Era, many pieces of evidence indicate that Hindus (including sages) not only ate beef but also sacrificed cows for Yajna.

In this time, Vedic people ate cows when they perform a ritual or welcoming a special guest (according to Rig Veda ).

Some people also claim some Vedic texts mistranslated and have distorted meanings. But these claims are not proven Yet.

In Post Mauryan Era Vegetarianism gained popularity as well as many Hindus left eating meat. Also, all the Puranas were written in this period.

In Bhagwat Purana, Samudra Manthan (or Amrit Manthan) story talks about 14 divine things which came out of Samudra. A cow named Kamadhenu was one of them.

And Kamadhenu was honoured as a mother. This fact restricted to kill Cows for Hindus. Also, There are other Puranas like Vishnu Purana talks about holiness of Cow.

Some important points-

Hindu Scriptures are always very contradicting in nature. You can find some verses in Rigveda supporting eating beef as well as some verses that oppose beef.
While older texts indicate that Hindus ate beef, newer ones suggest not to eat it.

My honest opinion-

There are solid pieces of evidence that indicate we Indians have evolved by doing farming and animal husbandry (पशुपालन).

Cows were a big factor in our civilization's growth. So we must have gratitude and respect towards them.

Besides, I follow a religion where even trees get their share of honour for nurturing humans. And with the help of cows, Indians have been able to survive for centuries. So cows also deserve respect.

Relationship between Cows and Hindus is just like what is between Dogs and humans in Western Countries.

->Dog meat is banned in the US because of Americans' love for dogs (a law was made in 2018).

Americans love dogs just like Hindus love Cows in India. This relationship is not bad at all. Also, people who think that someone is regressive just because they have a cow in their home are nothing but sick minded.

An average American would get angry on you if you eat Dog or Cat in front of them. Hindus are no exception.

If Hindus have no right to stop someone from eating beef, why should Americans have a right to stop someone from eating Dog-Cat meat?

There are communities like Sikhs who gave up eating beef just because of their Hindu brothers' sentiments.

All other communities should learn from this.

Today's India-

There are many States in India where beef is banned and many where it is not banned.

Except for Kerala, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, Manipur and Goa,

all the other states have laws that restrict the production of beef products in some manner.

Besides, beef export is allowed in many more states than you might think. India is in the top 3 beef exporting countries.

Future?

Despite the Nationalist BJP's rule, Beef export is not going anywhere to come down. In recent years, beef export has grown a little.

Yogi Adityanath is the rising star of BJP. He triggered the news when he started a crackdown on illegal slaughter-houses just after he became the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

There are loud noises in the air about Yogi becoming Prime Minister in 2024. It will be interesting to see how future scenarios will affect the government's policies on beef.

Also, there is an increasing demand to ban Cow slaughter in West Bengal.

Conclusion-

Listening to the news of lynchings, many of you may think that the situation is becoming worse than before. But I can assure you that we Hindus are becoming more and more aware of the unknows facts.

And in the time we will succeed in protecting the cows. Not because we believe that a cow is a god or anything, but because we respect them and a cow is a holy symbol of our culture.

The Hindu Prayer

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