Sacred Cows

Contrary to popular belief, cows in India are not worshipped. But consistent with popular belief, cows in India are considered sacred.

For instance, a cow is much pretty much the only thing in India that doesn’t get honked at for standing in the middle of the street and blocking traffic.

On paper, the life of a cow sounds free and easy – they get to go wherever they want and do whatever they want. (The fact that they don’t seem to want to go anywhere or do anything is beside the point.)

Birds jump in the air at your slightest movement. Monkeys will steal that bag you’re carrying at the first opportunity. Everything you do makes an elephant want to stamp on you. But cows just sit there. After a while, they get up, walk a little way off and sit over there.

Cows are patient. They know you’re busy. They can wait. Plus, if you catch them in the right mood, they’ll give you milk. In ancient India, higher caste Hindus admired the cow’s blasé attitude – thought it was dignified – and everyone liked the give-you-milk part. So long ago, cows were declared worthy of reverence and protection.

While Hindus and Muslims frequently come to blows over how much respect cows should have, what I see in practice isn’t so much respect as indifference. It’s almost as if Indians don’t even see their cows. And Indian cows are equally oblivious to the all these go-go humans. I’ve never seen any Indian talk to a cow or pat one the way Americans do, “Hey, bossy-bossy, good ol’ bossy.” It’s just as well. An Indian cow would probably sneer at such inter-species camaraderie. “Go pat a dog.”