"Sacred Cow" is an idiom. It is an expression used without the literal meaning of being about a cow or religion. When spoken or written it means a person or a belief that has been respected for a long time. It has become sacred and people are then afraid or unwilling to criticise or question it.
The idiom is based on the honour shown to cows in Hinduism. It is thought to have started in America in the early 20th century. Similar idioms are used in many other languages. Saying "holy cow!" when surprised may be another example.
An actual 'sacred cow' or 'sacred bull' is a real animal that is treated with sincere respect.
Why the humble cow is India's most polarising animal
Why do Indians love cows so much?One of the reasons, writes historian Mukul Kesavan, is that 'for Hindus the desi cow is a beautiful thing". "Its large eyes, its calm, its matte skin tinted in a muted palette that runs from off-white to grey through beige and brown, its painterly silhouette with its signature hump, make it the most evolved of animals," he says.
t is also a sacred animal for the majority Hindu community, and they amble unmolested in traffic-choked streets. The animal is worshipped and decorated during festivals; holy men take around cows, with their foreheads smeared in vermillion, to seek alms.
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Hindu cow taboo
Why is the cow important to Hindus?
In Hinduism, the cow is revered as the source of food and symbol of life and may never be killed. However, many non-Hindus interpret these beliefs to mean that Hindus worship cows. This is not true. It is more accurate to say the cow is taboo in the Hindu religion, rather than sacred. This is just one example of the misunderstandings people have about the Hindu faith.
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To Americans and Europeans, the attitude of most people in India toward cows
is perplexing. Hindus regard the cows as sacred and will not eat beef. Hinduism bans
(prohibits, considers taboo) killing cattle and eating beef.
In India a large population of cows wanders freely through both rural areas
and city streets, undisturbed by the millions of under‐nourished people. Why?
By collecting information, Marvin Harris develops an answer. In this famous
article, he suggests that India's sacred cow is in fact quite a rational cultural
adaptation ‐‐ because the cow is so extraordinarily useful.
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Life of the Holy Cow in India
Posted on September 20, 2014
Of all the myths and mystiques associated with India, the most puzzling for a westerner to grasp is the cow’s elevated status in Hindu society. With my many decades of travel in India, the veneration of cows is just another aspect of Indian life that I now take for granted, find charming and in an odd way, has rubbed off on me but it is not something that I understood easily at first.
Most Hindus claim that they do not worship the cow, per se, but honor the cow for what it represents, that which they hold dear, important and sacred. The average person on the street in India would probably tell you that the cow is like the mother who protects its offspring and whose body produce milk to nourish it. Hindu rituals employ all the products and by-products that come from the cow for their prayers or pujas. These five products include milk, curd, ghee (clarified butter), urine and dung. The cow gives selflessly as the undemanding provider, never considering what it will receive in return. It gives more than it takes, just as a good mother does.
It has taken many centuries for this view to evolve. In ancient verses of the Rigveda, there are references to the cow being associated with Aditi, the mother of the Gods. Before the birth of Christ, the giving of a cow as a gift to a Brahmin was the only gift acceptable to give to a Brahmin. Later, this evolved into the strict protection of cows until the killing of a cow became associated with the killing of Brahmins or priests. For the Hindus, the cow is Aghanya or that which cannot be slaughtered.
What this boils down to is that Hindus adore cows. All over India, except in the downtown areas of the big cities, cows roam freely. Indians feed them, touch them with reverence and treat them like royalty.
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