Cow Dung
This is considered both ritually pure and
purifying, perhaps because of its origin
in the sacred cow. A piece of ground can
be purified (as when preparing a site for
a ritual) by smearing it with cow dung.
Cow dung is one of the ingredients in
the “five products of the cow” (pancha-
gavya), which is drunk as a means of
purification from sin. In addition to its
spiritual significance, cattle dung is very
important for daily life in the villages of
India. When mixed with clay it forms a
hard, dustless, and easily cleaned sur-
face that is preferable to an earthen
floor. It is also a reliable source of fuel
available to even the poorest people.
Cow Protection Movement
General term for a grassroots conserva-
tive Hindu effort to ban the slaughter of
cattle, particularly the cow. The tradi-
tional Hindu devotion to the cow has
been articulated in calls for a ban on
cow slaughterfor more than a century.
The call was first raised in 1875 by
Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the
founder of the reformist Arya Samaj. It
continued to be a basic demand of later
conservative Hindu-oriented groups,
including the Hindu Mahasabha,
the Ram Rajya Parishad, and the
Vishva Hindu Parishad. The call for this
ban occasionally surfaces even in
contemporary times, since it carries
strong support from many religiously
conservative Hindus.
The cow protection demand contin-
ues to have profound political implica-
tions. Swami Dayanand Saraswati’s
work in the late nineteenth century
coincided with the awakening of Indian
political consciousness and the begin-
nings of the struggle to regain power
from British imperial rule. Under British
power, overt political dissent was subject
to heavy government restrictions, and
outright rebellion was impossible. Since
the British did not generally interfere
with “religious” issues, the demand for a
ban on cow slaughter was a way for
Hindus to assert and define their identity
and by implication affirm that India was
a Hindu land.
The Cow Protection Movement also
caused friction between the Hindu and
Muslim communities, since HindusCow Dung
Girls carry dried cow dung mixed with straw to be used as fuel.