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: Yes, actually Hinduism seems to have legends where Kshatriyas
: conflicted with Brahmins on the issue of eating cows -- battle between
: Vishwamitra and Vasistha, legend of Parashurama etc. What is
: interesting is that Magadha had a tradition of eating cows and it rose
: to great prominence as a kingdom -- it originated using a ritual where
: a cow was sacrificed. Kerala still has a tradition of eating cows and
: it was never conquered even by the British, its Kshatriya tradition
: has to this day preserved Kalaripayettu which is considered to be a
: highly developed martial art. And now the United States eats cows and
: rises to prominence. So I say eat cows and be prosperous.
How canthe battle between Vasishtha and Viswamitra
be interpreted about to eat or not to eat. Nothing
in any scripture tells me that the fight was about
eating cows. It was about the ownership of the cow
posseseed by Vashishtha. Viswamitra wanted to take
it bey force. Vashishtrah refused.
Further, this specially for Kunal. His idea that
Vishwamitra was a Shaivite is entirely incorrect.
Nothing to my knowledge tells me that that is
true. On the other hand, Vashishstha, for all we
know was a great bhakta of Shiva. A Shiva Pancha_
Akshara stotra praises Shiva, in which it alludes
to Vashishtha as one of the devotees of Shiva.
The stotra says:
Vashishtha_kobhodbhava gatuama_aarya .... charchitaya
((He/Shiva) has been praised by Vashishtha, Agastya,
Goutam).
In the same mamahamntra, Shiva is also described
as the lord of Nandi, a male cow. It alludes to
Shiva as:
nandeeshavar.
It is said, that Nandi is no small cow. He is very
pwerful, and a great bhakta of Shiva. I have yet
to see a Shiva temple, which does not also have ann
idol Nandi.
The greatest bhakta of Shiva, that is
Shri Ram, is himself in Ramayan described as the
protector of cows. His ancestor, (I think Dilip)
offered a lion to eat himself, when the lion
was almost going to kill a cow. The entire Raghu
Vamsha, starting from Dilip to Ram, were great
devotees of Shiva. It was not by accident. Perhaps,
the reason for their Shiva bhakti, was the fact
that their Kulguru was Vashishtha. Still further,
you will find a lot of Vashishtha gotra brahmins
in N. India, who have Shiva as their kul devataa.
As far as I have read, there is NO major school
iof Hinduism, that has in any sense argued FOR
killing cows. You will have of course all sorts
of variant groups, for a variety of reasons. But
all the three major traditions: Shakta, Shaiva
and Vaishnav, have accorded a great deal of respect
to cow.
Perhaps, the Vaishnavas, have gone further, and
actually most voviferously advocated abstinence
from meat at all. That Shaiva and Shakta tradition
have not so strongly insisted on vegetarianism.
But cow killing is one thing, that all these 3
traditions, have actively discouraged.
-- Nachiketa Tiwari
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