The Myth of the Holy Cow

THE HISTORIAN Dwijendra Narayan Jha shows us how the ‘holiness’ of the cow is a myth and how its flesh was an important part of the cuisine of ancient India. The earliest evidence for beef-eating comes from the oldest Indian texts—the Vedas and their auxiliaries. Citing Hindu Buddhist and Jaina scriptures Jha underlines that beef-eating was not Islam’s ‘baneful bequeathal’ to India. Nor can abstention from it be a mark of ‘Hindu’ identity like Hindutva enforcers argue. Atho annam vai gauh / the cow is verily food—TAITTIRIYA BRAHMANA