The Myth of the Holy Cow

by D.N. Jha

Overview

Hugely controversial upon its publication in India, this book has already been banned by the Hyderabad Civil Court and the author’s life has been threatened. Jha argues against the historical sanctity of the cow in India, in an illuminating response to the prevailing attitudes about beef that have been fiercely supported by the current Hindu right-wing government and the fundamentalist groups backing it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781859844243
Publisher:	Verso Books
Publication date:	02/17/2004
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dwijendra Narayan Jha is Professor of History at the University of Delhi. His books include Ancient India in Historical Outline and Feudal Social Formation in Early India.

Table of Contents

	Preface to the Verso Edition	9
	Abbreviations	13
	Note on Transliterations	16
	Introduction	17
1.	'Animals are verily food' but Yajnavalkya Favours Beef	27
2.	The Rejection of Animal Sacrifice: An Assertion of the Sacredness of the Cow?	61
3.	The Later Dharmasastric Tradition and Beyond	90
4.	The Cow in the Kali Age and Memories of Beef Consumption	113
5.	A Paradoxical Sin and the Paradox of the Cow	127
6.	Resume: The Elusive 'Holy Cow'	138
	Bibliography	149
	Index	173

Editorial Reviews

A well-argued and soundly documented study ...”—Choice

“Not since Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses ... has a book caused such a violent reaction.”—Observer

“While cow veneration and vegetarianism may be the hallmarks of Hinduism today, Mr. Jha compiles copious evidence that this has hardly always been the case.”—New York Times

“A meticulously researched, strongly worded, persuasively articulated challenge to long-held religious beliefs, The Myth of the Holy Cow is a unique and iconoclastic contribution to the study of Hindu beliefs, practices, history and customs.”—Wisconsin Bookwatch

“Jha draws on an amazingly wide range of material ... an enlightening endeavour, demonstrating a critical understanding of a popular misconception.”—Journal of Asian Studies

“The pen might still be, if not mightier than the nuclear arsenal, at least a weapon worth scanning for, like knives at airports, a weapon capable of subversion.”—Times Literary Supplement

“This book may not please Hindu fundamentalists, but its research is impeccable.”—The Telegraph, Calcutta, India

From the Publisher

The pen might still be, if not mightier than the nuclear arsenal, at least a weapon worth scanning for, like knives at airports, a weapon capable of subversion.

Times Literary Supplement

Jha draws on an amazingly wide range of material … an enlightening endeavour, demonstrating a critical understanding of a popular misconception.

Journal of Asian Studies

A meticulously researched, strongly worded, persuasively articulated challenge to long-held religious beliefs, The Myth of the Holy Cow is a unique and iconoclastic contribution to the study of Hindu beliefs, practices, history and customs.

Wisconsin Bookwatch

While cow veneration and vegetarianism may be the hallmarks of Hinduism today, Mr. Jha compiles copious evidence that this has hardly always been the case.

New York Times

Not since Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses ... has a book caused such a violent reaction.

Observer

A well-argued and soundly documented study...

Choice

Jha, a distinguished historian at the University of Delhi, received death threats when he tried to publish this book in India. The first Indian publisher backed off after ominous warnings, and the somewhat braver second publisher had to give in when a group of Hindu fanatics declared the book "blasphemous" and succeeded in getting a court order to constrain its circulation. What Jha has done is to document in great detail the fact that in ancient times Hindus and Buddhists ate beef. Indeed, the oldest Indian texts — the Vedas and their auxiliaries dating from 1500 BC to 600 BC — establish that the eating of flesh, including beef, was common in India. Hindus have argued that it was only with the Muslim conquest that cows were first slaughtered in India, but in truth it was only in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that the cow became the sacred animal of Hinduism. Western scholars of ancient India have no trouble with Jha's thesis, which is backed by copious footnotes and a bibliography in several languages. However, such scholarship only makes the Hindu fanatics more passionate than ever, especially now that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has given a degree of legitimacy to the violent expression of Hindu nationalism.

Foreign Affairs