Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1881-10-07
Brahmuans and Beef.

The pious Hindoos OF Benares are
about to send n deputation to England
10 persuade Parliament to prohibit the
slaughter OF cows in any part Of India.
Such Is the news from Calcutta; and, as
the Maharajah of Benares is said TO
have engaged to defray all the expenses
of the mission, there can be little doubt
as to its reality. Indeed, the Hindoos
Of the old school have clung to the pro-
ject of suppressing the consumption of
beef throughout India from the day OF
the Moguls down to our own time.
Della Valle, the Roman traveller, who
visited Western India in the reign of
James l., says that the Hindoos in Cam
bay, in Guzerat, prevailed on the Mogul
Governor, with q large sum Of money
to prohibit the slaughter of cows under
heavy penalties; and any man in Cam
bay, Mussulman or otherwise, who dis
obeyed this order was in danger of
losing his life. Tho Emperor Aurung-
zebe was more intolerant, and was de-
tested by he Rajpoot princes because
he slaughtered COWS in Rajpootna, not
for the sake of the beef but in a spirit
of persecution and revenge. As late rs
the end of the last century Tippoo Sui
tan excited horror throughout Southern
India because he compelled large num-
bers of Hindoos to eat beef, in order to
pollute them beyond all hope of being
restored to their caste, and thus forced
them, as 1t were, to become Mohamme-
dams. Strange to say, nearly all the
civil posts in his Government were
filed by Brahmans, while his Prime
Minister was Brahman of the purest
caste. They all pocBeted the affront
to their religion in consideration that
they were pocketing large sums of
money out of the Golfers of the State;
while Tippoo Sultan could not dispense
with their services, since they were the
only educated men in his dominions.
1t may naturally be asked what there
is in the COW to command such super
stitious reverence. AS a matter of fact
the worship of the COW is associated
with one OF the oldest religions in the
world. From the remotest antiquity
the COW has been regarded as the in
carnation of the female element in ma
ture-the universal mother, as we'll as
the giver of milk and butter, which are
the choicest delicacies in the eyes of a
pious and primitive people. The Egyp-
tians worshiped the goddess Isis in the
I'LL VI u Wonldh, VIII bllC iOiho Va d
COW. The Hindoos worship COW as
an incarnation of Lakshmi, the wife of
Vishnu, the holy, beautiful and pure
ideal of woman, who rose out of the sea
like another Aphrodite. To wake up
in the morning and see COW is the
best omen of good luck that can befall
Hindoo, just in the same way that to
wake up and see widow drives him
into state of the most acute appre-
hension of coming misfortunes. The
ideas of Hindoos as to beef are alto
gether different from those of Budd.
hists. The Hindoos regard the COW as
deity. 1t has been said that they
would eat human flesh rather than taste
beef; and they have been known to
perish of starvation on board ship rath-
er than eat salt beef. Yet, for all this,
Brabmans travelling in England have
} been known to eat beef and like it. In.
deed, one Brahman boasted during s
visit to England that the sacreligiou;
nourishment cured him of a bad asthma
which had affected him for years, ant
which had been originally brought OF
by series of bathings in sacred rivers
undertaken with the pious view of wash
ing away the sins of his deceased father
: st. James Gazette.