INDIA: Sacred Cows

Cows hold a special place in Indian culture, symbolizing prosperity, agriculture and spirituality.

They are often seen roaming freely in cities and villages.

India has the largest cattle population in the world. 

Cows play a vital role in dairy production, making India the biggest producer of milk globally.

 

Families will have a cow to provide milk for their consumption. They do not provide meat.

Not only are cows valued for their milk, but they also provide dung which is used as fuel and fertilizer. These lumps are hand-packed by the women. It is hard to complain about your job knowing that someone else is packing dung for their survival.

Cows also live in the cities.

In the city of Mysore's suburbs we went for a pre-dinner stroll and saw the cows being hand milked on the city streets.

Our guide told us people will keep the cows for milk, and then when they stop producing milk they just let them wander freely.

 

 

I am a city girl, so it was a bit unnerving at first to walk past cows on city streets. 

But the cows certainly have no fear of people and are not at all perturbed by traffic. 

It is all about what you get used to.