The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1882-03-08

Della Vale, the Roman traveller,
who visited Western India in the
reigh Of James l., says that the Hin
docs in Cambay, in Guzerat, pre-
vailed on the Mongul Governor with
large sum Of money to prohibit
the slaughter ef cows or calves un-
der heavy penalties and any man
at Canabay, Musselman or otherwise
who disobeyed this order was in dan
ger of losing his life. The Emperor
Aurungzebe was more intolerant,
and was detested by the Rajpoot
princes because he slaughtered cows
in Rajootana, not for the sake of the
beef, but in spirit of persecution
and revenge. As late ss the end of
the last century Tippoo Sultan excit-
ed horror throughout Southern In
dia because he compelled largenu
bers of Hindoos to eat beef, in or
der to pollute them beyond all hope
of being restored to their caste, and
thus forced them, as it were, to
become Mohammedans. Strange
to say, nearly all the civil posts in
his Government were filed by Brah-
mans; while the Prime Minister.
was Brahman of the purest caste
They all pocketed the affront to
their religion consider in that
they were pocketing large sums of
money out of the Golfers of the State
while Tippoo Sultan could not dis
pense with their services, since they
were the only educated men in his
dominion.
It may naturally be asked what
there is in q cow to command
such superstitious reverence. AS
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 incarnation of
the female element in nature-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 Egyptians worshipped the god
dess Isis in the form of a woman
with the horns of COW. The Hin
docs worship the COW as an incarna-
ton of Lakshimi, the wife of Vishnu
the holy, beautiful and pure ideal
of woman, who rose from 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 a Hindoo, just in the
same way that to wake up and see
a widow drives him into state of
the most acute apprehension of COM
ing misfortunes. The ideas of Hin
docs as to beef are altogether differ
ent from Buddhists. The Hindoos
regard the cow deity. 1t has been
said they would eat human flesh
rather than eat beef; and they have
been known to perish of starvation
on board ship rather than eat beef.
Yet for all this Brahmans travelling
in England have been known to eat
beef and like it. Indeed, one Brah-
man boasted during a visit to Eng
land that the sacrilegious nourish-
ment cured him of a bad asthma
which had effected him for years,
and which had been originally |
brought on by series of bathings
in sacred rivers, undertaken to wash |
away the sins of his deceased father.
Buddhists, on the contrary have
no superstitious beliefin the COW as
a divine incarnation, but only OBJ
ject to killing AM nails for any pur-
pose whatever rs contrary to the
law of benevolence and loving kind
ness and their O .ection vanishes
in the case of AMI. Is that have |
died of a natural des.. 1 or killed by
some one else. Gotana Buddha |
himself died-or rather passed away
into the nothingness Of Nirvana-
from having unfortunately eaten too
mnch sncking- pig, which had heen
provided for his supper by faithful
disciple and Notwithstanding all
that has been said about the respect
of the Buddhists for anything that
has life, it is certain some of them
will eat almost anything after it is
dead, including rats, snakes and
slugs, provided only that they have
had nothing to do with the slaugh-
ter.-PaH Mall Gazette.