The so called moral guardians of the nation,
garbed in saffron yet often caught in compromising situations or immoral
activities demeaning their sadhu or saadhvi status, bark a lot over the issues
which majority of the educated Indians shuns with disdain. They on numerous
occasions preach on what should be the length of the skirt of the heroine
dancing on the silver screen, or the duration of a kissing scene in a movie.
They prefer blocking the Websites with adult contents nationwide to inculcating
sex education in the school education. It’s awful but it is the only reality.
More so because, the party in power with a thumping mandate, owes its bread and
butter to these sadhus and sadhvis. It’s like a double headed monster, where
one speaks of breaching the digital gap by creating Digital India while the
other leads the nation to an age of primates, voodoo and black magic. When one
card fails, the other makes an ugly entry. And politics finds a way into
innocent man’s kitchen, drawing room or even bed room.
It is presumed that Indian history has been
antagonistic to beef eating. As least the advocates of shunning beef eating say
so. Now let’s explore the realm of truth.’Gau’ as cow was referred to, was the
most important possession during the Rig Vedic era. Most of the terms
associated with Rig Vedic age have connection with cow. And if the society was
cow centric, how could the food habit of individuals shy away? The most revered
Brahmin guests were served with beef meat and they were termed as ‘Goghna’.
Isn’t this a fascinating piece of history? Indra has been described as a connoisseur of bull meat whereas Agni was
referred to having special affinity for cow meat. In the Mahabharata there is a
mention of a king named Rantideva who achieved great fame by distributing food
grains and cow meat to the Brahmins. The Manusmriti, the strictest of the
scriptures was lenient towards beef eating. The Taittiriya Brahman or Yajnavalkya
Smriti of even the later Vedic age advocated beef eating for health and virility.Even
Chanakya’s Artha Shastra categorically mentions that those draft cattle, not
fit for milching or ploughing should be savored as meat. Swami Dayananda
Saraswati, the illustrious founder of Arya Samaj was of the opinion that beef
eating even among the Brahmins was common in the ancient India.
Ignorance is often bliss. But when it tends to
divide a nation, it is definitely a curse. And those fanatics, who harvest the
benefits of common man’s ignorance and use it for propagating venomous
propaganda, must be banished. India has been a prey to such war mongers.
Whether to eat beef or not, that can never be a dictum. One may even have
disliking for even mutton or venison. But if someone uses religion, or Indian
history or rather misleads people by falsifying, it is rather a sin. I am a
Hindu and I love beef and it is neither a matter of pride nor is something to
be ashamed of. It is my personal choice and when, an entire part of my
country’s constitution talks about fundamental rights ( Part III of the Indian
Constitution), it is definitely intolerance when the ugly card of religion or a
false base of history is played to prohibit me from relishing my plater. So,
before you use the anti-social network, sorry social network to share or like
or comment on any selfish propaganda of the fanatics, it is better you turn the
pages of documented works on history or the pages of your GK book. And if you can’t,
at least be tolerant towards those who prefer cow meat to cow dung.
This
article is based on Historical documents and does not intend to hurt any
religious sentiments.
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