India's Sacred Cow
India's Sacred Cow
by Marvin Harris
The cultural practices of other people often seem strange, irrational, and even inexplicable to outsiders. In fact, the members of the culture in question may be unable to give a rationally satisfying explanation of why they behave as they do: they may say that "the gods wish it so," or that "it is always done that way." Yet a fundamental assumption of social science is that no matter how peculiar or even bizarre human cultures may appear, they can be understood at least in part. To Americans and Europeans, the attitude of most people in India toward cows is perplexing. Hindus regard the animals as sacred and will not kill or eat them. In India a large population of cows wanders freely through both rural areas and city streets, undisturbed by the millions of hungry and malnourished people. Why? Marvin Harris suggests an answer to such puzzles. In this quite famous article, he suggests that India's sacred cow is in fact quite a rational cultural adaptation -- because the cow is so extraordinarily useful.
News photographs that came out of India during the famine of the late 1960s showed starving people stretching out bony hands to beg for food while cattle strolled behind them undisturbed. The Hindu, it seems, would rather starve to death than eat his cow or even deprive it of food. Western specialists in food habits around the world consider Hinduism an irrational ideology that compels people to overlook abundant, nutritious foods for scarcer, less healthful foods. Many Western observers believe that an absurd devotion to the mother cow pervades Indian life. Many Indians agree with Western assessments of the Hindu reverence for their cattle, the zebu, a large-humped species of cattle prevalent in Asia and Africa. M. N. Srinivas, an Indian anthropologist states: "Orthodox Hindu opinion regards the killing of cattle with abhorrence, even though the refusal to kill the vast number of useless cattle which exists in India
by Marvin Harris
The cultural practices of other people often seem strange, irrational, and even inexplicable to outsiders. In fact, the members of the culture in question may be unable to give a rationally satisfying explanation of why they behave as they do: they may say that "the gods wish it so," or that "it is always done that way." Yet a fundamental assumption of social science is that no matter how peculiar or even bizarre human cultures may appear, they can be understood at least in part. To Americans and Europeans, the attitude of most people in India toward cows is perplexing. Hindus regard the animals as sacred and will not kill or eat them. In India a large population of cows wanders freely through both rural areas and city streets, undisturbed by the millions of hungry and malnourished people. Why? Marvin Harris suggests an answer to such puzzles. In this quite famous article, he suggests that India's sacred cow is in fact quite a rational cultural adaptation -- because the cow is so extraordinarily useful.
News photographs that came out of India during the famine of the late 1960s showed starving people stretching out bony hands to beg for food while cattle strolled behind them undisturbed. The Hindu, it seems, would rather starve to death than eat his cow or even deprive it of food. Western specialists in food habits around the world consider Hinduism an irrational ideology that compels people to overlook abundant, nutritious foods for scarcer, less healthful foods. Many Western observers believe that an absurd devotion to the mother cow pervades Indian life. Many Indians agree with Western assessments of the Hindu reverence for their cattle, the zebu, a large-humped species of cattle prevalent in Asia and Africa. M. N. Srinivas, an Indian anthropologist states: "Orthodox Hindu opinion regards the killing of cattle with abhorrence, even though the refusal to kill the vast number of useless cattle which exists in India