The sacred cow and the constitution of India
- 1 January 1973
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Ecology of Food and Nutrition
- Vol. 2 (4) , 281-295
- https://doi.org/10.1080/03670244.1973.9990349
Abstract
The sacred cow concept of Hindu India has many interesting and important socio‐cultural and ecological manifestations. This article focuses on one of these: the ban on cow slaughter included in the Constitution of India, and the legal controversy that followed efforts to implement the ban. The conclusion is reached that to understand the problem one should not focus narrowly on the unquestioned economic utility of cattle in Indian life, that one must also consider religious belief as a force that in some respects has a detrimental impact on the ecology of food and nutrition.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- An Approach to the Sacred Cow of IndiaCurrent Anthropology, 1971
- The Prime-Mover of Cultural EvolutionSouthwestern Journal of Anthropology, 1968
- On the Cultural Ecology of Indian CattleCurrent Anthropology, 1967
- The Cultural Ecology of India's Sacred Cattle [and Comments and Replies]Current Anthropology, 1966