E.M.M.T.
September 28, 2019
On India’s Sacred Cow
With the coming of the Aryans on the Indus valley region of the subcontinent, they brought with
them the cattle- a sign of wealth and prestige. Mingling with their predecessor inhabitants of the land,
which is not only in the social aspect, is the birth of Hinduism. Taking into account that majority of
Indians nowadays are Hindus, it is inevitable to think that the notion of the “holy cow” is always a part of
the belief system. From tourist observation and local toleration of the wandering population of cattle, it
became a renowned idea almost all over the world. Before, I thought that the treatment of the cow as a
sacred entity of the Hindu belief system is purely religious, no more no less. I was amazed how Hindus
are really rooted in terms of their conviction and stand regarding the animals. However, upon reading
Marvin Harris’ manuscript, I was a little apprehended by his revelation. It was not purely religious or
cultural at all!
The power that structure holds over the agency is very evident in this situation of India today. Just
like how Saudi Arabia had empowered its people to abstain from pigs. In one of the sharing of a
classmate before, the Arabs are apparently pig-eaters. However, pigs take a lot of cleaning, therefore
consuming more water than two people can consume in days. Due to the scarcity of water resources,
those in power thought of a possible “ultimate” solution to make people do away from pigs. Since merely
putting abstinence of pigs as part of their political laws where people can still have the choice of
conscious negligence, they incorporated this as part of their religious laws. Saudi Arabia then was a newly
born Islamic country; this situation provided the law a perfect camouflage of the real economical and
practical reasons in the banning of pigs from their lives permanently. In the structure and agency
relationship, for me, it’s always the latter who gives in. In India’s earlier times, the people have many
uses for their cattle, from its labor, milk, hides, dung and even its meat. The abstinence of treating the
cattle as a source of stomach fulfillment is a recent development in the Hindu system of beliefs and
practices as Harris’ claims. Indeed, religious systems have a stronghold of controlling and even
manipulating how people tend to treat some things, if not most. It’s either through punishment-rewards,
self- actualization or even fear.
In my own opinion, Hindus may have the struggle of choosing between being hungry or being an
abomination. The first is temporary and physiological; people can live through it undisturbed by the
society. The second is much different and in the very sense of the word, grave. Before encountering
Harris, I would have said that religion and culture might have already taken its toll. The people must act
against the tyrannical superiority of the cattle over the hungry people. Time is changing, the world
changing, why not change practices which in fact is not originally rooted from their religion? The cattle
are more than enough to suffice and remedy the growing numbers of hungry mouths that needs to be fed.
Where is the humanity in all these somewhat like crazed beliefs? How can they turn a blind eye from
people who are victims of their ill-fated birth in a land who gives more value to animals than her own
children? But I’ve reached the turning point of my stand when I read Harris’ account. As an agricultural
country and considering the unparalleled contribution of the cattle to their livelihood, it’s not a good thing
to use the animals as temporary solution for their aching stomachs. Cows are not only a good source of
milk but also of their priced tillers of the land-bulls and oxen. Losing a cow for farmers is like losing their
limbs. Going hungry for days is much tolerable thinking that the tilled land will soon bore its crops that
will feed the farmers family for longer days than the times they were starving.
Structure has really established its roots from the very beginning. “It is how it is”, I often hear
people say when things don’t happen as to what was planned or according to their hearts desires. The
agency might alter how things are done but results always boil down to one point- the dictates of the
structure. As for India’s stand regarding the “holy cow”, structure is holding the ways of living like a
puppeteer does to his marionettes. The incorporation of the abstinence of cattle eating to the Hindu
structure has proven and is still proving its success until now, to an agriculturally dependent India.