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Animals are worshipped in India in many ways: as deities—the elephant-god Ganesha and the monkey-god Hanuman; as avatars—like Vishnu’s fish, tortoise and boar forms; and as vahanas—the swan, bull, lion and tiger were all vehicles of major deities and are thus sacred by association. Some animals, like the snake, are worshipped out of fear. Birds such as the crow are associated with the abode of the dead, or the souls of ancestors, while the cow’s sanctity may derive from its economic value. There are also hero-animals, such as the vanaras, and animals which were totemic symbols of tribes that were assimilated into Vedic Hinduism. Sacred Animals of India draws on the ancient religious traditions of India—Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism—to explore the customs and practices that engendered the veneration of animals in India. This book also examines the traditions that gave animals in India protection, and is a reminder of the role of animal species in the earth’s biodiversity.
Animals are worshipped in India in many ways: as deities-the elephant-god Ganesha and the monkey-god Hanuman; as avatars-like Vishnu's fish, tortoise and boar forms; and as vahanas-the swan, bull, lion and tiger were all vehicles of major deities and are thus sacred by association. Some animals, like the snake, are worshipped out of fear. Birds such as the crow are associated with the abode of the dead, or the souls of ancestors, while the cow's sanctity may derive from its economic value. There are also hero-animals, such as the vanaras, and animals which were totemic symbols of tribes that were assimilated into Vedic Hinduism. Sacred Animals of India draws on the ancient religious traditions of India-Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism-to explore the customs and practices that engendered the veneration of animals in India. This book also examines the traditions that gave animals in India protection, and is a reminder of the role of animal species in the earth's biodiversity.
Hugely controversial upon its publication in India, this book has already been banned by the Hyderabad Civil Court and the author's life has been threatened. Jha argues against the historical sanctity of the cow in India, in an illuminating response to the prevailing attitudes about beef that have been fiercely supported by the current Hindu right-wing government and the fundamentalist groups backing it.
Plants personify the divine— The Rig Veda (X.97) Trees and plants have long been held sacred to communities the world over. In India, we have a whole variety of flora that feature in our myths, our epics, our rituals, our worship and our daily life. There is the pipal, under which the Buddha meditated on the path to enlightenment; the banyan, in whose branches hide spirits; the ashoka, in a grove of which Sita sheltered when she was Ravana’s prisoner; the tulsi, without which no Hindu house is considered complete; the bilva, with whose leaves it is possible to inadvertently worship Shiva. Before temples were constructed, trees were open-air shrines sheltering the deity, and many were symbolic of the Buddha himself. Sacred Plants of India systematically lays out the sociocultural roots of the various plants found in the Indian subcontinent, while also asserting their ecological importance to our survival. Informative, thought-provoking and meticulously researched, this book draws on mythology and botany and the ancient religious traditions of India to assemble a detailed and fascinating account of India’s flora.
How practitioners of Hinduism feel about animals by Janine Bergmeir Pdf
Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject Theology - Hinduism, grade: 1,5, University of Tubingen (Anglistik), course: It's just Emotions? On the role of Affects and Emotions, language: English, abstract: The importance of animals in human lives differs greatly from one person to another, especially from one culture to the other. Animals of all kinds have always been omnipresent for mankind – for the purposes of domestication, as workers, as companions, as tools or as resources in the form of food for consuming. They appear in ancient cave paintings, and nowadays on commercial farms. As long as humanity existed, animals have always played an important role and society could not have advanced to the point it has today. Nevertheless, there are different perceptions of animals and how they are treated. A popular instance is the case of dogs. In some cultures, like the United States or the United Kingdom, they are loved and considered a great pet to have with the family and at home. In other cultures, such as those where Islam is the majority religion, dogs may be perceived as dirty or dangerous. In China, milk-fed puppies are considered a delicacy. So why do human beings assign different levels of importance to animals? In Hinduism, every single living being possesses a soul, from the animals down to the insects and tiny organisms. In their belief system, like human beings, animals are also beings and subject to the cycle of birth and death and the laws of nature. Hinduism is a compassionate religion and treats all living beings with great respect. This could be one explanation why animals occupy an important place in Hinduism. According to that, Hindus have special feelings about animals and treat them in another way then people of other religions and cultures do. A widespread view of Jains, Buddhists and Hindus is that animals should not be used by humans as food or for other purposes. Differing attitudes and beliefs regarding the relationship of humankind to other creatures lies in the inner motivation of how to see and treat them and is expressed in forms of emotions and feelings towards the animals. Therefore, the human-animal-relationship, in a Hinduist way of life, depends on their belief system and hence emotions and feelings are coherent with that. Accordingly, faith determines how these people, who belong to the oldest religion in the world, feel about animals.
Cow Care in Hindu Animal Ethics by Kenneth R. Valpey Pdf
This open access book provides both a broad perspective and a focused examination of cow care as a subject of widespread ethical concern in India, and increasingly in other parts of the world. In the face of what has persisted as a highly charged political issue over cow protection in India, intellectual space must be made to bring the wealth of Indian traditional ethical discourse to bear on the realities of current human-animal relationships, particularly those of humans with cows. Dharma, yoga, and bhakti paradigms serve as starting points for bringing Hindu—particularly Vaishnava Hindu—animal ethics into conversation with contemporary Western animal ethics. The author argues that a culture of bhakti—the inclusive, empathetic practice of spirituality centered in Krishna as the beloved cowherd of Vraja—can complement recently developed ethics-of-care thinking to create a solid basis for sustaining all kinds of cow care communities.
“A delightful read [and] an important addition to human-animal relations studies.” —Anthropology Matters What does it mean to live and die in relation to other animals? Animal Intimacies posits this central question alongside the intimate—and intense—moments of care, kinship, violence, politics, indifference, and desire that occur between human and non-human animals. Built on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in the mountain villages of India’s Central Himalayas, Radhika Govindrajan’s book explores the number of ways that human and animal interact to cultivate relationships as interconnected, related beings. Whether it is through the study of the affect and ethics of ritual animal sacrifice, analysis of the right-wing political project of cow-protection, or examination of villagers’ talk about bears who abduct women and have sex with them, Govindrajan illustrates that multispecies relatedness relies on both difference and ineffable affinity between animals. Animal Intimacies breaks substantial new ground in animal studies, and Govindrajan’s detailed portrait of the social, political and religious life of the region will be of interest to cultural anthropologists and scholars of South Asia as well. “Immerses us in passionate case studies on the multiple relationships between Kumaoni villagers and animals in Uttarakhand.” —European Bulletin of Himalayan Research “A memorable and innovative ethnography.” —Piers Locke, University of Canterbury
Beast and Man in India by John Lockwood Kipling Pdf
This book presents a comprehensive account of the popular animals and birds used and abused by humans from the times of kings and queens until recent times in India. After immense research, the author describes the culture and traditions of the place along with the myths attached to certain practices. In addition, the book includes simple yet beautiful illustrations that complement the narrative beautifully.
The basis of Hinduism is dharma or righteousness, incorporating duty, cosmic law and justice. Five thousand years ago, the Vedas showed a clear appreciation of the natural world and its ecology, the importance of the environment and the management of natural resources. Hinduism and Nature delves into the religion's deep respect for all life forms, the forests and trees, rivers and lakes, animals and mountains, which are all manifestations of divinity. Nature is venerated all over India: every village has a sacred grove, every temple a sacred garden and sacred tree. In this fascinating book, scholar and environmentalist Nanditha Krishna explores both the classical and the tribal traditions that venerated nature, and convincingly argues that we can save the environment only by seeking answers in ancient wisdom.
A Buddhist monk takes up arms to resist the Chinese invasion of Tibet - then spends the rest of his life trying to atone for the violence by hand printing the best prayer flags in India. A Jain nun tests her powers of detachment as she watches her best friend ritually starve herself to death. Nine people, nine lives; each one taking a different religious path, each one an unforgettable story. William Dalrymple delves deep into the heart of a nation torn between the relentless onslaught of modernity and the ancient traditions that endure to this day. LONGLISTED FOR THE BBC SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE
Krishna movement's pioneering and even visionary efforts in popularizing vegetarian cuisine and the compassionate treatment of animals in the West -- how they did so from the days of their first Sunday Love Feast (in 1966) and how they continue to do so in the present day. Book jacket.
• A fish saves the world. • A horse flies across the sky. • A king discovers that his beloved wife is actually a frog. Hindu mythology is full of tales in which animals play important roles. Some animals are looked upon with fear and dread, while some are worshipped along with the gods. Some shape the fate of the world, others form everlasting bonds with humans. Where did the animals come from? From Vishnu’s avatars or Shiva’s asanas? How was a deer responsible for the events of the Ramayana? Why is Garuda the sworn enemy of the nagas? How did a mongoose teach Yudhishtira the true meaning of sacrifice? Devdutt Pattanaik answers all these questions and more in this exquisitely illustrated book, retelling numerous animal stories from ancient texts, with his trademark charm and wit.
A Communion of Subjects by Paul Waldau,Kimberley Patton Pdf
A Communion of Subjects is the first comparative and interdisciplinary study of the conceptualization of animals in world religions. Scholars from a wide range of disciplines, including Thomas Berry (cultural history), Wendy Doniger (study of myth), Elizabeth Lawrence (veterinary medicine, ritual studies), Marc Bekoff (cognitive ethology), Marc Hauser (behavioral science), Steven Wise (animals and law), Peter Singer (animals and ethics), and Jane Goodall (primatology) consider how major religious traditions have incorporated animals into their belief systems, myths, rituals, and art. Their findings offer profound insights into the relationship between human beings and animals, and a deeper understanding of the social and ecological web in which we all live.
