FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2024
Pradeep Lawande
In the first week of the last month the Allahabad High Court opined that parliament should make a law declaring cow as the national animal of India.
Most Indians would certainly welcome the opinion expressed by the above court. In fact India has the largest number of cattle in the world and cow belongs to cattle class. Again, cow is not an objectionable creature. Within the cattle category cow is female whereas bull is male. Both cow and bull are regarded as sacred animals by Hindus. But the utility value of bull is far more than that of the cow. From times immemorial bulls tilled lands, drew waters from deep wells, thrashed paddies, moved oil expellers and pulled carts. Some experts say that in Indian culture cow commands greater respect primarily because it gives birth to bulls.
There is another strong reason for making cow our national animal. It is that cow is female. Presently the national animal of our country is tiger. Not tigress. Prior to it, it was lion. Not lioness. Our national bird is peacock. Not peahen. Similarly our national fish is mackerel, national fruit is mango, national tree is banyan and national vegetable is pumpkin. This clearly shows that grave injustice is done to feminine gender. And in order to lessen this gender inequality to some extent, it would be appropriate that cow be made national animal. Secondly, cow is normally a vegetarian creature. Like lions or tigers, it does not hunt or kill other animals. Therefore, honouring of cow would tantamount to honouring of the principle of non-violence.
Furthermore, the above court opines that eating of cow’s meat be banned. But this opinion is discriminative. People all over the world consume the meats of different creatures including cows, goats, pigs and chicken. The name itself of one important festival of Muslims is Bakri eid. Bakri means goat. On this Eid day millions of goats are slaughtered across the world. There is a legend. Once a young goat asked its mother, “mother, how many types of ‘fov’ (puffed rice) shall we eat during this Diwali?” And the poor mother replied, “child, let Dussehra pass off safely. Only then shall we think about Diwali”! On Dussehra day thousands of goats are killed for meats in our country. Again there is no any tradition of not eating the meat of national animals. Kangaroo, goat and camel are national animals of Australia, Iraq and Saudi Arabia respectively. But the people in the above mentioned countries eat meats of their national animals.
It is natural that cow becomes national animal of India. This is because the disposition of our country is similar to that of cow. But we are failing to take care of this cultural animal of ours. Today the conditions of many cattle of which cow is a member have become pitiful. They are deprived of sheds and herdsmen. These animals move from place to place hungry and thirsty. They do not know how to graze. They eat the leftovers from the garbage bins. The cattle are also seen squatting on the roads and causing accidents. All these miseries of the stray cattle should be stopped before cow is conferred the honourable title. Otherwise, it would be mockery of the national animal.
