Indian Culture: How Cow is our Mother and can Bull be our Father! (Most read post)
Recently, there was some discussion about cow
slaughtering and protection of cows. In one of the states, government banned
cow slaughtering and this discussion came into limelight that might have helped
many news channels to get good TRP. I thought of explaining this topic a little
further so that you understand the concept behind calling cow ‘gomata’
as many people laugh at this idea.
If you go through my previous blog post about rationale
behind astrology you might be aware of the principle behind Indian
sciences. The same principle is used at many places in Indian culture. You
might wonder how come cow is such a popular animal even though there are so
many pet animals in Indian culture and how come only cow milk is prescribed.
It will be interesting to compare gestation period of
various animals out of curiosity and the data is available here. The main
principle behind all Indian sciences is, “The way it is in nature that same
way it will contribute to the nature”. Milk has been indispensable to our
daily life and so when we choose type of milk we shall be very careful so that
it contributes to our health. The main reason behind choosing cow milk might be
the gestation period or length of pregnancy of cow is very similar to that of
humans. This is clearly based on above principle. Gestation period
(Pregnancy duration) of humans is 280 days and of Indian cow
ranges from 280 to 285 days. That is how cow milk is being prescribed.
Of course, time has proven that cow milk suits us very well. Have you also
started thinking about buffalo? Ok. Buffalo’s gestation period is 315 days and that is little
higher than cow’s period.
As a new born baby, we are only on breast feeding (mother’s
milk) for few months. Later, we also start having solid food along with breast
feeding. Generally at the age of 10 months we completely stop breast feeding and
are introduced to cow’s milk. From that time on wards we consume cow’s milk in
various forms till we are alive. This is how our ancestors started calling cow as
‘gomata’ or just ‘mata’ meaning mother.
In one of my posts, I have also explained the concept
of god in Indian culture. Considering that concept, our ancestors would
have anyway worshiped cow. The idea of taking milk for life without paying any
gratitude wouldn't have been possible to our ancestors and slaughtering the cow
is just impossible. Over the period of time everything is getting
industrialized and so is milk. Even the idea of religion is so personal now
days that everyone follows it in their own way. This is also true as far as
cows are concerned.
My suggestion to all is to consider that we get favours from Mother
Nature every now and then and we shall be obliged to her one way or the other. You
may consider what suits you well but ignorance is not bliss.
If you agree, kindly share it with more people to spread awareness.
Nice post. I don't want to comment on cow/bull slaughter, but there's a slight misinformation which, I hope you don't mind if I point out.
ReplyDeleteAs per current research, giving cow's milk to infants below 1 year isn't recommended, because the complex proteins in it are hard to digest for the immature gut.
Also, stopping breastfeeding at 10 months isn't recommended. In fact, it wasn't a norm in India until recently. Even WHO recommends breastfeeding upto 2 years and beyond.
You have many followers to this blog and a,slight misinformation can impact someone. Hence the comment.
Many Thanks. I agree with you about breast feeding and I am not recommending anything here but putting today's trend. I am not a medical expert and the article is not about a medical advice. So I would leave it for the experts. The only point I am driving here is why cow is called 'gomata'.
DeleteOn another note, many medical researches are driven or sponsored by pharma companies so it's up to the readers to decide how they want to look at latest researches.
Thanks. I admit I am being cautious about the introduction of cowmilk before 1 year. It's a controversial topic and I prefer to be on the safer side. As for the WHO recommendation about breastfeeding, I stand by it. Pharma companies have nothing to gain by something that can't be bought or sold. :-)
ReplyDeleteOn a completely different note, we do recognise and even worship different animals and birds like peacock, eagle, rats etc, because they are termed as vehicles of Gods. But people have been eating goats, chickens, fish and other animals. Does this mean that those people are being ungrateful to the nature? Why a big hullabaloo about cow slaughter and not for all those poor animals?
Many Thanks. Pharma companies' interest is mainly in baby food as it is difficult for working women to feed their newborns for long.
ReplyDeleteI curious to know how and when we worship the animals mentioned above as vehicles of god.
Aah.. I really don't know much about it. I still don't have any problems with vegetarians, being one myself. But I genuinely don't understand this: if man is going to eat animals, why some animals are food grade and some are sacred and so worshipped? Isn't that a biased view?
ReplyDeleteBiases are very natural in all of us. Not calling man an animal itself is a bias. Even today, we have idea of eatable animals even though the animals are not sacred; otherwise we would have had dogs and cats that are easily available around rather than going for specific animals like pigs or cows. There are cultures in the world who eat cats and dogs but we are biased towards them ;). As a vegetarian I have bias towards certain vegetables and I call it as preference or like.
ReplyDeleteWe shall focus on the purpose and things become simpler. If we are taking something from some animal that is very similar to what our mother offered then we shall show enough gratitude towards that animal. That's the purpose. If it is sheep then the gratitude would have gone to sheep and if it is buffalo it would have gone to buffalo. Again to reiterate my purpose is to explain the rationale. I do not want to comment on slaughtering. I leave it up to readers to decide. It's a personal choice.
Why only Indian cow milk (http://www.prosperitynjoy.com/2015/10/the-milk-of-our-second-mother-gomatha.htm)
ReplyDeleteThe article on "How Cow is Our Mother" by Prosperitynjoy beautifully articulates the cultural and spiritual significance of cows. A2 Milk Chennai The information about the benevolence of cows and their revered status in various traditions is enlightening. The inclusion of the role of bulls in
ReplyDelete