Some of you may have already come across the controversy surrounding a decision by the Welsh assembly government in UK to slaughter a �sacred bull� which has tested positive for tuberculosis. (read here and here).

The bull, Shambo, lives in a shrine that belongs to the Skanda Vale Temple in Llanpumsaint, Carmarthenshire.� The fight has been joined by the Hindu Forum of Great Britain as well.

Amitabh Soni recently wrote a very good article titled �Shambo : A symbol of Divinity and Development� on this issue from which I am reproducing some excerpts.

As Amitabh brilliantly puts it, the issue is really one of trying to understand, �why is the bull sacred to Hindus? How could Hindus, who in the UK are doctors, engineers, accountants, lawyers, IT professionals ,scholars and to be found in all walks of British life� be so dumb witted to consider a bull sacred and form a human chain to protect it ?�

Excerpts:

�..The significance of the cow/bull to Hindus is� more due� to social reasons stemming from the Hindu idea of growth and development of the individual and society, rather than for religious reasons�

The core and heart of the Hindu model of development is the resolve to ensure the collective welfare and well being of all manifestations of life. This includes all known, and unknown, forms of life that exist on earth, water, air, space and the outer space. The basis of Hindu philosophy is the milking of nature and not its molestation and rape as witnessed in the modern world. It believes in the judicious use of natural resources and not in their frantic consumption to the extent that our own continued existence has come under serious threat.

� In a nutshell the core of Hindu philosophy is what the modern world has started understanding and describing as “sustainable development”. In India this philosophy of co existence, over the period of time was demarcated by certain symbols and one of them happens to be the cow. Why ?

…Before the modern era the villages in India used to be self-sufficient and self-sustaining. In a simple blissful life� , the cow played a major role and still does, in feeding the people with milk and a variety of milk products. The cow dung is used as manure for the plants and the crop. There is ample of evidence of diseases being treated with cow’s urine. ( This has been substantiated by western scholars as well ).

The ox is� still used to till the land and for transportation covering distances within and nearby villages. This leads to a diesel free environment and the production of healthy organic food, which comes at a premium these days.

Hence, in� the due course of Indian society the cow became an “icon” of divinity and prosperity. (Cows being divine does not mean that only the cows are divine but it implies that cows are also divine).

…(Over time) The cow (became)…a symbol of respect towards the so-called lower forms of life and the� mutual interdependence which Hindus observe� between man and the rest of the� natural world.

…It is very rare in any nation or civilisation that meaningful social practices would have influenced religious beliefs to such a great extent as it has done� in India.

…yet, from a� modern scientific perspective, the idea� of Hindus worshipping cows would always seem to be stupid and nescient, unless “modern progressive society ” stops and “thinks”.

The world needs to understand that, on its own, no philosophy is nonsensical, preposterous or backward or forward-looking. The merits or demerits of a philosophy or belief can be ascertained only by the social psyche and the social systems it generates. (It is) Over a period of time (that) these beliefs and practices/systems become the “norm” and “culture”.

*** End of Excerpts ***

See also the comments on David Miliband’s blog�(Mr Miliband�is UK’s Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) on this issue.

UPDATED:�Copy of the full article is in�Docs and Slides (In the Sidebar below Categories on the main page).