History of Vegitarianism and Cow Veneration in India

SR No.: 006921
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Willem B Bollee
Publisher: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd
Publication Year: 2010
Total Pages: 186
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 103

Appendix I REVIEWS
by J.C. Heesterman
Ludwig Alsdorf, Beiträge zur Geschichte von Vegetarismus und Rinderverehrung in Indien (= Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz, Abhn. der Geistes- und Sozialwiss. Klasse, Jahrg. 1961, Nr. 6). Wiesbaden, in Kommission bei Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH., 1962. 69 pp.
Vegetarianism, or rather ahimsā, and sanctity of bovine animals (not only the cow, as the author rightly stresses), although never general or even valid for the majority of Hindus, have come to be recognized as the hallmark of Hinduism. Patriots in search of national identity have invoked these doctrines. They can be said to be part of the national ideology of modern India. For all that, they put baffling problems to the administrator and the economic planner. An inquiry into origin and cause of the twin doctrines does not only present an academic interest, it has a bearing on India's present-day reality as well. It is therefore to be welcomed that Professor Alsdorf compressed his findings in an eminently readable essay, that should appeal also to the non-sanskritist.
In accordance with the title the author's viewpoint is purely historical. The problem he has set himself concerns the historical development of the twin doctrines, not their meaning. Paraphrases like 'magisch-ritualistisches Tabu auf das Leben', p. 15, will not be intended as an explanation. Accordingly the author seeks an answer to the question when and in what form the twin doctrines arose and developed; or rather, when and how they manifested thernselves in the texts. The Vedic texts do not know the ahimsā doctrine and enjoin the killing of cow and bull at certain occasions (e.g. at the ceremonial reception of a guest). It is only in the later dharma literature that the ahimsă doctrine and the inviolability of the cow find full expression. The matter is further complicated by the fact that the dharma texts contradictorily contain both the Vedic injunctions and the rigorous
90 For Personal & Private Use Only