Holy Cow! The Apotheosis of Zebu, or Why the Cow Is Sacred in Hinduism

Korom, Frank J.

doi:10.2307/1178915

Cited by 44 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…In the case of India, cattle are of course especially charged sites through which national cultural and religious identities are produced 2 (Yang 1980;Pandey 1983). Cows are represented in Hindu-origin myths as one of the sources from which the world was created and an acceptance of the sacred nature of cattle is part of popularly held religious beliefs across India (Korom 2000). Proscriptions on beef eating, and in fact on consumption of meat in general, are thus the unofficial and increasingly official norm as part of the wider hegemony of Hindu beliefs.…”

Section: Politics Of Development and Cultures Of Cattle 1 In Indiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Success and Failure of Crossbred Cows in India: A Place-Based Approach to Rural Development

Basu

2009

Annals of the Association of American Geographers

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Although India's cooperative dairying program is lauded as a model of successful rural development, lack of uniformity in replication of the program across rural India has raised questions about the meanings of success. Differences between dairy cooperatives become especially apparent when crossbred cows are considered, so that the promotion of crossbreds by dairy development agencies has not always resulted in their actual adoption by farmers. This article seeks to explain the mixed reception accorded to crossbred cows by focusing on the link between development and place. By discussing both official discourses and local perspectives, the article enables two kinds of understanding of dairy development. First, the rise and fall of support for crossbred cows within India's national plans suggest that contrasts between official policies and local practices of dairying need to be attentive to the dynamics of both discourses and places. Second, the comparison between two villages-one utilizing crossbred cows and the other water buffaloes as principal dairy animals-shows that evaluations of success or failure cannot be made simply on the basis of adoption or rejection of crossbred cows but requires engagement with place-specific agricultural economies and social relations. Given the liberalization of India's dairy sector, official discourses and material experiences of cooperative dairying become significant for ascertaining future possibilities for small-scale farming and equitable economic growth in rural India. Key Words: agriculture, dairy animals, India, place, rural development.Pese a los elogios que se prodigan al programa cooperativo de lechería de la India, como modelo de desarrollo rural exitoso, la falta de su réplica uniforme en todo elámbito rural de aquel país genera interrogantes sobre cómo debiera entenderse eléxito. Las diferencias entre las cooperativas lecheras se hacen especialmente notorias cuando se trata de vacas mestizas, porque la promoción de esta clase de animales por las agencias de desarrollo del sector lechero no siempre produce adopciones reales por parte de los granjeros. En el artículo se pretende explicar la acogida mixta dispensada a las vacas cruzadas, con la atención centrada en el vínculo que hay entre desarrollo y lugar. Al discutir los discuros oficiales, lo mismo que las perspectivas locales, el artículo habilita dos maneras de pensar el desarrollo lechero. En primer término, el auge y caída de la preferencia por las vacas mestizas en los planes nacionales de la India, sugiere que los contrastes entre las políticas oficiales y las prácticas lecheras locales necesitan poner atención a las dinámicas tanto de los discursos como de los lugares. Y segundo, la comparación entre dos aldeas-una que utiliza vacas mestizas y la otra búfalos como sus principales animales lecheros-muestra que las evaluaciones deléxito o fracaso no pueden simplemente hacerse con base en la adopción o rechazo de vacas cruzadas, sino que requiere considerar las economías agrícolas y relaciones sociales especí...

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Section: Politics Of Development and Cultures Of Cattle 1 In Indiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Success and Failure of Crossbred Cows in India: A Place-Based Approach to Rural Development

Basu

2009

Annals of the Association of American Geographers

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“…In the Bhagavad Gita, one of the central texts of Hinduism, Lord Krishna equates the cow to the entirety of the Universe. Frank J. Korom writes, “One thing that we can discern from the portrayal of the cow during [the early Vedic] period is that she was identified with the totality of the universe” (Korom ). Since the early Vedic times (1500 bce ), the lactating, fecund, mothering cow, and her generous outpouring of milk, symbolize fertility and material abundance.…”

Section: Sexual and Gendered Harms In Dairyingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Cow Is a Mother, Mothers Can Do Anything for Their Children!” Gaushalas as Landscapes of Anthropatriarchy and Hindu Patriarchy

Narayanan¹

2019

Hypatia

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This article argues that gaushalas, or cow shelters, in India are mobilized as sites of Hindutva or Hindu ultranationalism, where it is a “vulnerable” Hindu Indian nation—or the “Hindu mother cow” as Mother India—who needs “sanctuary” from predatory Muslim males. Gaushalas are rendered spaces of (re)production of cows as political, religious, and economic capital, and sustained by the combined and compatible narratives of “anthropatriarchy” and Hindu patriarchy. Anthropatriarchy is framed as the human enactment of gendered oppressions upon animal bodies, and is crucial to sustaining all animal agriculture. Hindu patriarchy refers to the instrumentalization of female and feminized bodies (women, cows, “Mother India”) as “mothers” and cultural guardians of a “pure” Hindu civilization. Both patriarchies commodify bovine motherhood and breastmilk. which this article frames as a feminist issue. Through empirical research, this article demonstrates that gaushalas generally function as spaces of exploitation, incarceration, and gendered violence for the animals. The article broadens posthumanist feminist theory to illustrate how bovine bodies, akin to women's bodies, are mobilized as productive, reproductive, and symbolic capital to advance Hindu extremism and ultranationalism. It subjectifies animal bodies as landscapes of nation‐making using ecofeminism and its subfield of vegan feminism.

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“…Cows were central to the subsistence and culture of the Indo-Aryan pastoralists who settled in the north of the South Asian subcontinent, and Vedic literature describes the high esteem in which they were held (Batra 1986). They were symbolically linked to the earth and mothers, both with life-giving properties (Korom 2000). The sacredness of cows, laws protecting them, and religious rituals involving milk or ghee (clarified butter) all came to be core tenets of Hinduism.…”

Section: Indiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Milk for “Growth”: Global and Local Meanings of Milk Consumption in China, India, and the United States

Wiley

2011

Food & Foodways

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Holy Cow! The Apotheosis of Zebu, or Why the Cow Is Sacred in Hinduism

Cited by 44 publications

References 34 publications

Success and Failure of Crossbred Cows in India: A Place-Based Approach to Rural Development

Success and Failure of Crossbred Cows in India: A Place-Based Approach to Rural Development

“Cow Is a Mother, Mothers Can Do Anything for Their Children!” Gaushalas as Landscapes of Anthropatriarchy and Hindu Patriarchy

Milk for “Growth”: Global and Local Meanings of Milk Consumption in China, India, and the United States

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