Indian Cow History

Cow is not a mere animal for Hindus. They consider Cow as an adobe of 33 crore Hindu Deities and hence Cow is taken into account as sacred in Hindu Dharma. Cow has been treated as auspicious and also a logo of compassion and piousness. Cow is treated because the highest and most pious animal and is given the utmost importance, being at the apex within the Animal world. The belief is that one can attain salvation (Moksha) by worshipping the Cow and serving her and both Lord Krishna and Balram spearheaded the “Cow worship and preservation” culture. The first Jain Tirthankar, Adinath was also named as Vrashbh meaning ‘Oxen Sorub’. Of all beings, the Cow is treated, in India, because the most sacred and sanctified. This sense of the unique sacredness of the Cow is expressed within the works of ancient Indian Rishis (like within the Vedas, Smritis, Srutis and Puranas, etc., as well as in later literature and folklore.

So highly were cows held in esteem by the Society that there have been days fixed within the yearly calendar for exclusive worship of the Cow. Three days prior to the festival of Deepavali is called “Bachvaras (Vasubaras), which is a festival when cows are offered “Pooja”.

Dhanteras may be a day when cows are worshipped alongside Dhanwantari the Sage and therefore the diety of medicine) Balipratipada or Padwa is widely known the day after Deepavali when, in many parts of India, cows are ceremoniously worshipped. Not only cows, but bulls also, were, and still are, the objects of worship. The Judgment Day of the month of Shravan, called POLA, may be a day when bulls are decorated and brought during a procession to a public place for collective worship, after which they're then taken from house to deal with where each family offers "pooja". The day after this is often celebrated as Children’s Pola, when the youngsters decorate and worship the wooden idols of bull and take them during a procession to a public place.