Scientific temper, social benefit the only holy cows
Cow sacrality is a significant religious article in India that has violent political possibilities, and academics of all hues must tread cautiously
Can there be “public science of cow sacrality”? Veezhinathan Kamakoti, the director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, recently attempted this when he advocated cow worship based on some scientific research and considerable religious passion. This did not go down well with many. Would public sociology of cow-sacrality be different from such advocacy and interpretation? Can it be non-controversial?

Cow sacrality is a significant religious article in India that has violent political possibilities, and academics of all hues must tread cautiously. Public sociology could, however, complement the public commitment to hard sciences by evoking a better understanding of culture and society. Cow protection, worship, and the passion surrounding panchagavya could even evoke violent “humaneness” among touchable Hindus, close in nature to the violent interpretations of jihad in Islam. While the ethic of service and sacrifice is at the heart of cow worship, what is understated generally is the violent and hierarchical nature of such sacrifice. Chapter 11 in Laws of Manu, for instance, advocates the following:
80. He who unhesitatingly abandons life for the sake of Brahmanas or of cows, is freed from (the guilt of) the murder of a Brahmana, and (so is he) who saves (the life of) a cow, or of a Brahmana.
81. If either he fights at least three times (against robbers in defence of) a Brahmana’s (property), or reconquers the whole property of a Brahmana, or if he loses his life for such a cause, he is freed (from his guilt).
One can, therefore, kill another being or even sacrifice their own life to save a cow. A good public sociologist or even a lay scientist may, however, want to reflect on how and why a Brahman and cow are equivalent. Is there some similarity in the genetic material of the cow and the Brahman? Even if we leave aside the “untouchable”, can a touchable shudra’s life not have equal value? The hierarchical values of caste, in several ways, construct the metaphysical purity of the cow and its worship.
The historical material significance of the cow in a rural economy strengthens the sacral superiority of the animal in India. It is not surprising to find the sacrality of cows in other cultures and civilisations, but the violent emotions and outcomes around cow worship are most peculiar to India and stem from the ethic of caste.
In our collective modern quest and search for the greatness of Hindu civilisation, cow worship is, of course, presented as a scientific practice by most pure caste scientists with very few contesting the idea. The sacrality of the cow has thus consolidated under Hindu modernity and beef consumers are increasingly out-casted as permanently impure. Studies have noted that the withdrawal from beef consumption has been higher in urban areas as compared to rural areas amongst the Scheduled Castes. In the anonymous environment of an urban setting, Scheduled Castes conform to the beef abstinence norm and wear the masks of urbane Hindu purity.
Religion and science can go together, but public science must avoid tweaking science for religious purposes. Anything can pass as a method in science only if it enables the growth of science and scientific temper. When Hindu radicals in the Constituent Assembly were forcing recognition for the cow as an equal citizen, BR Ambedkar used scientific metaphors instead of religious ones to protect the cow in the Constitution. Is the cow sacred because of scientific reasons? Any scientific study on the extraordinary medicinal qualities of cow urine and cow dung needs to be comparative so as to avoid privileging a prejudiced view. It was only last year that the Bareilly-based ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) found that the urine of the buffalo was more effective on certain bacteria and fresh cow urine may, in fact, contain potentially harmful bacteria and is not suitable for direct human consumption. Public use of science should instead question how and why cow urine is widely sold and consumed without approval from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
Public engagement by social and natural scientists is necessary for making academics socially relevant. In a multi-faith country like ours, it is also a critical social responsibility that demands a universal understanding of service, sacrifice, and humaneness. What social qualities do we generate by emphasising the extraordinary powers of the Indian cow, its urine, and its dung as scientific and medicinal? Does it further civility or a violent public culture? Academics need to cautiously draw from multiple disciplines beyond myth and misplaced passion in any public science or sociology of cow worship. Science as a public good should be open-ended and not begin with prejudice, minimally.
Commitment to genuine cosmopolitanism and civility is a difficult value to find in caste-ridden societies. Should universities and educational institutions be different from caste-sociality? Universities and educational institutions must not run gaushalas (cow shelters) nor should they be run like gaushalas. Compassion is not a Hindu-specific value or quality; it can only be universal — and not limited to the sacred cow.
Suryakant Waghmore is professor of sociology at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. The views expressed are personal