Cow (Cattle) was one of the first few species domesticated by humans (or evoluting modern humans) after dogs and horses. Few civilizations like Aryans and Indian were so much dependent on cattle over a period of time that they started worshipping them like mother and Goddess.
The designation of mother was given because of her ability to give milk which was suitable for human consumption. Milk and its products then became one of the base material for almost all Indian food and sweets, which we still have.
Apart from milk different benefits of keeping cows with you are:
- Drought animal power from bulls and bullocks. For centuaries they were main source of animal power in Indian agriculture (maybe in other parts of world too). They were also used as a means of transportation in form of bullock carts (slower than horses).
- Cattle dung as manure for agriculture systems. Before industrialization the main source of manure for agriculture was cattle dung, whcih was decomposed in specific ways by Indians and used in their fields. Still the modern concept of Organic farming promotes this way which was earlier used in all Indian subcontinent.
- Medicinal and Pesticidal properties of cow urine. In Ayurveda (An Indian system of healing) there are many uses of cow urine. Cow urine can be fermented with some herbs like Neem and Mahua to make effective pesticide for agriculture.
- Worshipped on certain occasions. There are certain celebrations in India when people worship the cow.
- Religion and Recreation. Some priests recommend people to worship and feed cattle in order to get rid of some sins of your past or present birth.
No comments :
Post a Comment