Why Do Hindus Worship Cows?
Our attention was drawn to the above-mentioned question published in the Daily Mail on 17 April 2000. VHP (UK) has published a book entitled “Explaining Hindu Dharma” which represents the view of practising Hindus. We quote the following from the book in response to the question.
“Hindus have raised the status of mother to the level of goddess. The first value a Hindu child learns from his or her family is respect for the mother. This concept of respect for mother is extended to other natural phenomena, which provide sustenance for life. For example, the cow, the provider of milk, is considered holy and worshipped as a mother; similarly, the earth and nature are treated with great respect. The cow was perhaps the first animal that Hindus in India domesticated. In the Vedic age (much more than 5000 years ago) the cow was a real blessing to the rural community. It provided them with milk and milk products. Its dung was used for fuel and mixed with mud as a plastering for walls and floors. On the farm the bull ploughed the fields and was also a means for travel and transport. It was hardly surprising that soon the cow occupied in the life of man the same position as a mother in the life of a child. Hindu scriptures prohibit cow slaughter. In some states in India there is now a legal ban on cow slaughter.”