“The Origins of the Holy Cows of India”

As an uninformed American, raised in a predominantly Christian tradition, I have never understood why the undernourished people of India don’t just eat the millions of scrawny cows that wander the crowded streets. To me, the veneration of cows appeared to be an archaic and even, slightly absurd custom that never evolved with modern life.

There are four main statutes for Hindus regarding cows in India: “1. An absolute abstention for cow-slaughter, 2. An equal abstention from the consumption of beef, 3. A minimum of control of ownership control in general, 4. Belief in the sin-purifying qualities of the five cow products (milk, curd, ghee, dung, urine)“ (Margul 65-66) Not only was the cow sacred itself but its products play essential roles in most Hindu rituals. (Freitag 606)

Fig. 1

Cows are often kept in the house as a symbol of good luck and there are holidays in which the cow is especially recognized; the Cow Holiday (Gopstami or Gosthastami), and during the all-Indian carnival festival Holi. (Margul 65) Cows are still commonly used for “eye-opening” ceremonies in which a bathed and garlanded bovine is brought to the temple to be the first living creature to be seen by the gods. (Eck 89)

In this paper I will attempt to understand how and why cows became sacred in India. There seems to be no one obvious reason, but rather a combination of many. I have classified these possible causes into five categories: economics, secular and religious heritage, politics, and ideology.

I think it may be easiest for Westerners to understand the origins of cow worship in economical terms. As Freitag states, “the cow occupied […] a pivotal position in the agrarian economy.”(606) One can see how the cow might become appreciated, maybe even revered, for its important role in agriculture. After all, without the bull to plow the fields, farming would become an impossible task in India. According to an article on Archeology Online, “The average landholder in India farms approximately one acre. This is nowhere near enough land to warrant the purchase of a tractor. Even if the size of the land plots were increased to make the purchase of machinery cost-effective, the unique weather, a five-season year including the monsoon, would quickly render the tractor useless. After the monsoons, the soil is too soft for planting […] The zebu bullocks are ideal in this connection for they can easily plow the soft earth without overly compacting the soil as would heavy machinery.” (Winter) Even authority Mahatma Gandhi acknowledged that she (the cow) “made agriculture possible.” (qtd. in Margul 64)

There can be no doubt that Indian heritage, both secular and religious, played large roles in the sanctifying of the cow in India. As early as 2300 c. BC., Indus Valley seals illustrated the exalted status of the bull. The sheer numbers of bull-decorated seals leave “little doubt that there was a “bull-cult” in the Indus Valley […]. There are scenes of bull-wrestling and bull-vaulting taking place before a head-icon on a pole […] and of bull sacrifice before a tree; one sealing from Harappa shows a human dancer wearing a bull’s head.”(Rawson 7)

Fig. 2 (left) Pectoral carved w/ ‘unicorn’ bull & ‘manger’ from Mohenjo-daro c. 2300-1750 BC Fig. 3 (right) Impression of a steatite seal from Mohenjo-daro showing a Brahmani bull, c 2300-1750 BC

The Vedic civilization and early religion, from which Hinduism evolved, plays a most important role in the origins of the veneration of the cow. Cattle are depicted in Vedic literature more often than any other members of the animal kingdom. Cows were already central in the early times, as they were ritually sacrificed at important events, such as the consecration of a king and in the worship of the gods. (Korom 187)

The early Vedics were a pastoral community and lived with their animals in an intimate setting. Although, at this time in history, beef was regarded as a chief source of food, Westermarck states that “domesticated animals are often the objects of superstitious reverence, and intimacy with them tends to destroy the appetite for their flesh.” (qtd. Crooke 280) This may have been the beginning of the ban on eating beef. Further, Crooke theorizes that “Two causes seem to have led to the gradual disuse of animal food: - the fear of absorbing through the blood the rational soul of the animal; the old idea still retaining force that the tribal blood ran in the veins of the domesticated animals.”(293)

Historically, the idea of cow protection may have been set in motion because of the early Northerners constant exposure to raids in which their cattle were captured by the Dasyus or aboriginal people. This led to retaliations and skirmishes, which were centered around their herds, making their cows more significant to them. (Crooke 301)

In the Vedas, the religious texts of the Vedics, there are many examples of the significant functions of cows. In one edict, “the cow even assumes the role of psychopomp; she takes up the soul at death and conveys it safely across the heavenly waters and over the Milky Way to the dwelling of Yama, lord of the dead. For this reason, in Hindu belief, a dying person should grasp a cow’s tail in his last moments.” (Burnell 380) In another religious text, the Atharvaveda (10.10.1), cows are referred to as the “all-producing and all containing universe.” (Korom 187)

And finally one certainly cannot overlook the importance of two of Hindu’s most beloved gods and their connections to the zebu cow breed to bolster to cow’s claim to divinity. First, there is Krishna, who is known as the divine cow-herder. As Margul surmises, “The connection of the cow with the divine person of the by far most beloved and worshipped Vishnu’s avatar contributed surely to its growth all over India.” (72) And secondly, there is the god Shiva, who was once himself a bull. As Hinduism evolved, the bull was converted into Shiva’s vahana, Nandi. (Crooke 284) As can be seen by the Chola Dynasty bronzed pictured here, Nandi was worshipped in his own right. His image was often placed in a separate hall facing the Shiva image. This particular bronze has square holes in the base, indicating that this piece was designed to be decorated and garlanded and paraded through the streets for Darsan. Nandi: Fig. 4

Politically, cow veneration was caused and used in a couple of different ways. The Kushan Dynasty proudly proclaimed that the child Krishna tended his herd of cows on its own beloved territory. From there, “royal prestige was linked to local patriotism and started the form of zoolatry which has marked Hindu life for ever.” (Margul 72)

It seems that cow veneration may have been used politically by the Brahman priests when Muslims began to move into India. Possibly afraid of losing power, they used it to drive bigger wedge between Hindus and Muslims by decrying the Muslim slaying and consumption of the holy cow. Margul states it succinctly with “Now abstinence from cow-killing and eating has become an emblem of religious solidarity.” (73)

Another theory suggests that cow veneration is the glue that provides common ground for worship in a fragmented religion with 330 million gods. “The cow is a symbol that reifies faith and belief in Hindu practice on both the individual and community levels.” (Korom 189)( Freitag 598) Crooke also strengthens this view by saying “the adoption of the sanctity of the cow as one of the chief bonds of connection between many rival sects, each provided with its own body of dogma and ritual, which now form the amorphous mass of beliefs constituting Hinduism as we observe it at the present day.” (306)

But of all the possible causes for the sanctification of cows in India, I personally identify with the ideology and spirituality of cow veneration the most. The advent of the concept of ahimsa (nonviolence), as introduced by Buddhism and Jainism, may have nudged the Brahmans into full veneration of the zebu. (Korom 188) As Simmons reports, “ahimsa is ‘an ideological expression’ of ecological pressures. (468) If the Brahmans were already leaning towards non-violence, the slaying of a venerated animal would have been a deep contradiction.

As a pastoral and agricultural community, Vedics and later, Hindus would have felt gratitude towards these animals, maybe even familial love. Indeed, “as soon as Europeans would contemplate killing their grandfathers and grandmothers who were no longer fit for work, would they consider the possibility of shortening the life of the cow, which had nourished them. These are creatures who accompany the family through out their lives, do the field work for it, and nourish it with their milk and share its fortune both good and bad.” (Referred in A. Desjardins: Ashrams. Les Yogis et les Sages, Geneve-Paris 1962, p. 145-146 qtd. Margul 64)

The ultimate authority, Mahatma Gandhi affirms as follows:

“The central fact of Hinduism, however, is ‘Cow Protection’. ‘Cow Protection’ to me is one of the most wonderful phenomena in all human evolution; for it takes the human beyond his species. (…) Man through the cow is enjoined to realize his identity with all that lives. Why the cow was selected for apotheosis is obvious to me. The cow was in India the best companion. She was the giver of plenty. She is the ‘mother’ to millions if Indian mankind.” (qtd. in Margul 64)

Simply put, cow is mother earth and “it is a central belief that the cow is good, whole, pure, and embodying all aspects of the cosmos within her.” (Korom 190) An example of this can be seen in the following mid-twentieth-century poster from Calcutta depicting the “world mother cow of good fortune.” According to Korom, the poster visually narrates the story from the Bhasvisya Purana of Rani Dhanadevi, who is performing puja kneeling in front of the cow.

Fig. 5

“This depiction shows a national and political discourse not articulated in the text, namely, that everyone benefits from the cow. We see Bharat Mata (Mother India) milking the cow, while a Hindu and a Muslim stand behind her. An Englishman and a Parsi are in front of her, all eagerly awaiting a glass of milk. Yama, the god of death, stands with folded hands in front of the cow, and emerging from her side is Vishvarajlakshmi, telling Yama that he can make no claim upon anyone who worships the cow. Within the cow we witness the Hindu Pantheon.” (Korom 191)

In conclusion, while I can’t say I now fully comprehend ‘cow worship’, I feel much more able to empathize with this very unique circumstance. I have learned, and now at least appreciate that there are a host of possible reasons as to why and how the cow came to be sacred in India. While scholars argue over which are most valid, I personally believe that it must have been a combination of all of them. Economically, the cow makes farming possible. The Hindu secular and religious heritage set the stage for revering the cow with its long history with cattle, both in the religious arena and as a pastoral community. Politically, the Brahman priests latched onto the laws of abstention of cow-slaughter and consumption as a way to keep power and divide Hindus from Muslims. In effect, cow worship created solidarity within the Hindu community. Ideologically, it’s really quite simple. The cow gives much to the Hindu peoples. As Mahatma Ghandi said so eloquently, “She is the ‘mother’ to millions if Indian mankind.” (qtd. in Margul 64)

Works Cited

Burnell, F. S. “The Holy Cow.” Folklore 58.4 (1947)

Crooke, W. “The Veneration of the Cow in India.” Folklore 23.3 (1912)

Eck, Diana L. Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India. New York: Columbia University Press

Freitag, Sandria. “Sacred Symbol as Mobilizing Ideology: The North Indian Search for a ‘Hindu’ Community.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 22.4 (1980)

Korom, Frank J. “”Holy Cow! The Apotheosis of Zebu, or Why the Cow Is Sacred in Hinduism.” Asian Folklore Studies 59.2 (2000)

Margul, Tadeusz. “Present-Day Worship of the Cow in India.” Numen 15.1 (1968)

Rawson, Phillip. Indian Art (Great Britain: Studio Vista, 1972)

Simoons, Fredrick J. “Questions in the Sacred-Cow Controversy.” Current Anthropology 20.3 (1979)

Winter, Robin. “Sacred Cow.” Archeology Online 4 November 2006




Fig 1 The cow Darling to receive the divine gaze after the eye-opening, Illus. in Diana L. Eck, Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image In India New York: Columbia University Press 89

Fig. 2., Pectoral carved with a ‘unicorn’ and ‘manger’ from Mohenjo-daro, National Museum of Pakistan. Illus.in Roy C. Craven, A Concise History of Indian Art 14.

Fig. 3. Impression of a steatite seal from Mohenjo-daro showing a Brahmani bull, National Museum of Pakistan. Illus.in Roy C. Craven, A Concise History of Indian Art 14.

Fig. 4 Nandi, 12th century, Chola Dynasty Bronze, H: 56.0 W: 38.5 D: 65.5 India, Sackler Gallery, Washington DC

Fig. 5 Jagat Mata Go-Laksmi, mid-twentieth-century, poster, Calcutta, Illus. in Frank J. Korom, “”Holy Cow! The Apotheosis of Zebu, or Why the Cow Is Sacred in Hinduism.” Asian Folklore Studies 59.2 (2000) 191