Cattle in religion and mythology
[3][4][5] Respect for the lives of animals including cattle, diet in Hinduism and vegetarianism in India are based on the Hindu ethics.
The Hindu ethics are driven by the core concept of Ahimsa, i.e. non-violence towards all beings, as mentioned in the Chandogya Upanishad (~ 800 BCE).
[6][7] By mid 1st millennium BCE, all three major religions – Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism – were championing non-violence as an ethical value, and something that impacted one's rebirth.
[13][14] To the majority of modern Indians, states Alsdorf, respect for cattle and disrespect for slaughter is a part of their ethos and there is "no ahimsa without renunciation of meat consumption".
[17] A Gryhasutra recommends that beef be eaten by the mourners after a funeral ceremony as a ritual rite of passage.
Many ancient and medieval Hindu texts debate the rationale for a voluntary stop to cow slaughter and the pursuit of vegetarianism as a part of a general abstention from violence against others and all killing of animals.
[8] This practice was inspired by the beliefs in Hinduism that a soul is present in all living beings, life in all its forms is interconnected, and non-violence towards all creatures is the highest ethical value.
Hindu and Muslim sepoys in the army of the East India Company came to believe that their paper cartridges, which held a measured amount of gunpowder, were greased with cow and pig fat.
Because loading the gun required biting off the end of the paper cartridge, they concluded that the British were forcing them to break edicts of their religion.
[38] According to some Jain scholars, slaughtering cattle increases ecological burden from human food demands since the production of meat entails intensified grain demands, and reducing cattle slaughter by 50 percent would free up enough land and ecological resources to solve all malnutrition and hunger worldwide.
The Jain community leaders, states Christopher Chapple, has actively campaigned to stop all forms of animal slaughter including cattle.
[53] According to the Bible,[54] the Israelites worshipped a cult image of a golden calf when the prophet Moses went up to Mount Sinai.
[55] Observant Jews study this passage every year as part of the weekly Torah portion called Chukat.
[65] While addressing to children of Israel, it was said: And when We did appoint for Moses forty nights (of solitude), and then ye chose the calf, when he had gone from you, and were wrong-doers.
In the Ahunavaiti Gatha, Zoroaster accuses some of his co-religionists of abusing the cow[67] while Ahura Mazda tells him to protect them.
[71] As cattle were a central part of the pastoralist economy of Ancient Nubia, Africa, they also played a prominent role in their culture and mythology, as evidenced by their inclusion in burials and rock art.
In Greek mythology, the Cattle of Helios pastured on the island of Thrinacia, which is believed to be modern Sicily.
The mythical lady Flidais, the main figure in the Táin Bó Flidhais, owns a herd of magical cattle.
Today, in Hindu-majority countries like India and Nepal, bovine milk holds a key part of religious rituals.
In Myanmar, beef is typically obtained from cattle that are slaughtered at the end of their working lives (16 years of age) or from sick animals.
[95] In 1885, Ledi Sayadaw, a prominent Buddhist monk wrote the Nwa-myitta-sa (နွားမေတ္တာစာ), a poetic prose letter that argued that Burmese Buddhists should not kill cattle and eat beef, because Burmese farmers depended on them as beasts of burden to maintain their livelihoods, that the marketing of beef for human consumption threatened the extinction of buffalo and cattle, and that the practice was ecologically unsound.
[96] On 29 August 1961, the Burmese Parliament passed the State Religion Promotion Act of 1961, which explicitly banned the slaughtering of cattle nationwide (beef became known as todo tha (တိုးတိုးသား); lit.
This ban was repealed a year later, after Ne Win led a coup d'état and declared martial law in the country.
[98] A beef taboo in ancient China was historically a dietary restriction, particularly among the Han Chinese, as oxen and buffalo (bovines) are useful in farming and are respected.
[101][102] Beef is not recommended in Chinese medicine, as it is considered a hot food and is thought to disrupt the body's internal balance.
[103] In written sources (including anecdotes and Daoist liturgical texts), this taboo first appeared in the 9th to 12th centuries (Tang-Song transition, with the advent of pork meat.
[104]) In Chinese society, only ethnic and religious groups not fully assimilated (such as the Muslim Huis and the Miao) and foreigners consumed this meat.
[106] [107] Due to water buffalo being the primary working animal for farming, beef consumption was generally considered a taboo in early 20th century.
[108] Historically, there was a beef taboo in ancient Japan, as a means of protecting the livestock population and due to Buddhist influence.
[109] Meat-eating had long been taboo in Japan, beginning with a decree in 675 that banned the consumption of cattle, horses, dogs, monkeys, and chickens, influenced by the Buddhist prohibition of killing.
