Hyderabad:
In India ‘COW’ is considered a sacred animal. It is worshipped and revered.

Reverence for the cow is an important feature of India’s biggest religion Hinduism. For Hindus, the killing of as cow is a serious crime. The ‘Arthashashtra’ refers to the killing of cattle as a
crime worthy of death. This explains why during the
Second World War, “American servicemen in Calcutta
were instructed that if a traffic situation arose in
which the driver had a choice of striking a cow or a
human, hit the human and proceed without stopping to a
police station”. Such is the reverence of Cow in this
nation. But, offlate they have been slaughtered and
its beef is exported.

One man from the city decided to fight against cow
slaughter and has been on this mission for the past
sixteen years. Mr. Dharam Raj Ranka,a 63 years old
jeweller from Shahlibanda whose family migrated to the
city 200years back from Rajasthan. Retired from his
business handing over its responsibilities to his two
sons and jumped into the crusade against cow slaughter
during Al-Kabeer Controversy. Soon launched
“Al-Kabeer Hatao Andolan”. And was instrumental in
setting up ‘Bhagyanagar Go Seva Sadan’ at Lower Tank
bund in 1991-92 with about 300 cows. And he remained
as its President for several years.

Later in 1997-98 started ‘Shiv Mandir Go Shala’ at
Shamsherganj with 700 to 800 cows. Now the number is
increased to 1200 animals. Three years later, in the
year 2001-2002 it expanded its operations to Gagan
Pahad, where he set up yet another Gau Nivaas “Satyam
Shivam Sundaram Gau Nivaas”, giving a new meaning to
the concept of cow protection. Where cows who just
escaped from the jaws of their death, get a decent
life and royal treatment. No one can imagine a better
life than what they get at this well maintained cow
shelter. One needs to see it to believe it. It
claims to be the one of the biggest in South India and
well maintained in the country. Satyam Shivam
Sundaram Gow Nivaas is the most hygienic Gow Shala
one can ever see in the country.


Working under Shiv Mandir Goshala, Shamshergunj,
Satyam Shivam Sundaram Gau Nivaas is located in 3
acres of donated land and houses about 2000 cows
rescued from slaughter houses by various animals
activists, ardent lowers of animals and individuals
who are believers of Go Mata. Besides 2000 plus cows,
it also houses about 300 calves and 200 bulls.

How do you expect a cow shed with few animals to be?
What if there are thousands of animals housed? You
expect it to be full of Cow Dung everywhere and
smelling rotten. But, the entire place is clean and
tidy. It is kept clean continuously all through the
day by about 110 workers. They clear of cow dung in a
push cart. The three lorries load of cow dung
collected every day is sent to poor formers’ fields as
a bio-pesticide free of cost. After removing cow
dung, the place is washed with phenyl, spread with
haldi powder and chunna to prevent insect bites to the
animals. Occasionally the place is covered with a
fresh soft soil to accommodate smooth walking for the
cows’ hoofs.

These beasts are fed three times a day 8am in the
morning, 1 in the afternoon and 6 in the evening.
Their feed comprises of Green Grass cut into small
pieces mixed with Kutti and other ingredients. Five
feeding sheds are arranged for their Feeding. A Green
Grass Cutting Machine is put in place. Besides these
feeding sheds, 128 huge tubs and 35 plus big bowls are
put to use for the convenience of smaller animals who
do not compete with big animals and eat in feeding
sheds. The responsibility of procuring 7 tonnes of
Kutti and 36 tonnes of greens grass a day is handed
over to a contractor. Their monthly fodder bill runs
into several lakhs(approximately Rs 15 lakh) which is
being contributed by philatrophists. The
discipline(standing in a row) with which these
animals eat their food is worth seeing(a photo is
enclosed for your perusal). Besides the fodder being
provided in house, Gau Nivass is inundated with fruits
and fresh vegetables from individuals who come along
with trucks loads of them to feed cows as part of Gow
Puja.

To take care of these 2500 plus animals health is two
veterinary doctors and a hospital housed at
Shamsherganj. No Cow is milked, nor done any business
with their milk. The total milk is left to the
babies of the cow, thus maintaining ZERO infant
mortality rate, informs Shri Dharam Raj Ranka,
Secretary of Shiv Mandir Goshala.

Mr. Ranka who dedicated his life for the welfare of
these beasts invested his own money to a great extent.
And always enjoys support of his family members. His
two sons, three daughters and wife were always there
when it deserved their time, help and cooperation.

Speaking on the occasion Shri Ranka says cows needs
to be protected from butchers and slaughter houses.
There is a need for more Gau shelters to come up
everywhere to rescue cows from being slaughtered. The
Supreme Court of India has stated that cows should not
be slaughtered in the name of religion in the country.
Let us return the cow to its rightful place,
culturally, religiously and economically, he said.
In India, the cow represents the sacred principle of
motherhood. She symbolizes charity and generosity
because of the way she distributes her milk, which is
essential for the nourishment of the young. Like many
societies societies in the world, we, consider Cows
to be “wealth”. Whether its measured in stones
(jades, diamonds), metals (gold, silver, bronze),
skins / furs, feathers (quetzal feathers in South
America), shells, silks, weapons or animals
(elephants, cows), wealth is wealth.

With time passing, other modes of wealth took greater
precedence than the cow. Milk and dung are still an
essential to the rural masses. Rituals still required
milk and its by-products, especially when Hinduism
became more vegetarian, added Mr. Ranka.

Due to cow’s multi-purpose usefulness, it became a
“good luck charm”. If a cow passes you, it is
considered to be good luck. If a black cat can be
interpreted as bad luck in 21st century Europe, why
can’t a cow be considered as lucky in modern India, he
questioned.

The Indian farmer sees his cattle like members of the
family. Since the farmers depend on the cattle for
their own livelihood, it makes perfect sense both
economically and emotionally to see to their
well-being.

Cattle are India’s greatest natural resource. They eat
only grass —which grows everywhere—and generates more
power than all of India’s generating plants. They also
produce fuel, fertilizer, and nutrition in abundance.
India runs on bullock power. Some 15 million bullock
carts move approximately 15 billion tons of goods
across the nation. Newer studies in energetics have
shown that bullocks do two-thirds of the work on the
average farm. Electricity and fossil fuels account for
only 10%. Bullocks not only pull heavy loads, but also
grind the sugarcane and turn the linseed oil presses.
Converting from bullocks to machinery would cost an
estimated $30 billion plus maintenance and replacement
costs, informed Mr. Ranka.

The biggest energy contribution from cows and bulls is
their dung. India’s cattle produce 800 million tons of
manure every year. Cow’s dung, far from being
contaminating, instead possesses antiseptic qualities.
This has been verified by modern science. Not only is
it free from bacteria, but it also does a good job of
killing them., he added.

Most of the dung is used for fertilizer at no cost to
the farmer or to the world’s fossil fuel reserves. The
remainder is used for fuel. It is odorless and burns
without scorching, giving a slow, even heat. A
housewife can count on leaving her pots unattended all
day or return any time to a preheated griddle for
short-order cooking. To replace dung with coal would
cost India $1.5 billion per year, said Mr. Ranka.

Dung is also used for both heating and cooling. Packed
on the outside walls of a house, in winter it keeps
heat, and in summer produces a cooling effect.

Cow urine has medicinal value. Scientists at the
Centre for Medicinal Plants in Lucknow say distilled
cow urine enhances the effects of any medicine and is
used in traditional Indian medicine along with dung
and fat. THE U.S. Patent Office (USPTO) granted the
U.S. Patent, 6410059, titled “Pharmaceutical
Compositions containing Cow urine Distillate and An
Antibiotic”. The U.S. Patent made us realize that all
traditional practices from Indian Systems of Medicine
have a strong scientific base, said Mr. Ranka.

The price we pay for killing cows and meat eating is
degradation of the environment, Mr. Ranka informed.
Slaughterhouses are a major source of water pollution.
In a book “Population, Resources and Environment”,
Paul and Anne Ehrlich found that to grow one pound of
wheat requires only 60 pounds of water, whereas
production of a pound of meat requires anywhere from
2,500 to 6,000 pounds of water, he stated.

In 1973 the New York Post revealed that one large
chicken slaughtering plant in America was found to be
using 100 million gallons of water daily. The same
volume would supply a city of 25,000 people!

The great Greek philosopher Socrates recommended a
vegetarian diet because it would allow a country to
make the most intelligent use of its agricultural
resources, reminded Mr. Ranka.

Bahadur Shah ‘Zafar’, after regaining Delhi in 1857
for a brief interlude, made the killing of cow a
capital offence. Bahadur Shah was not the first Mughal
king to make such a proclamation. Babur may have been
an ardent Ghazi of Islam, but he, in his letter dated
935 Hijri, advocated his son Humayun to stop cow
slaughter in India. As recorded in his famous firman
of 1586, Akbar too completely forbade cow slaughter
throughout his empire. Then Emperor Jehangir
promulgated an order that on Sundays, when Akbar was
born, and Thursdays, when Jehangir ascended to the
throne, no animal should be sacrificed. Even bigoted
Aurangazeb always refrained from making cow-sacrifice
during Bakr-Id. We are also aware how in Maharaja
Ranjit Singh’s kingdom the only crime that had capital
punishment was cow slaughter, he highlighted.

Even Albert Einstein, in a letter to Sir CV Raman,
wrote: Tell the people of India, that if they want to
survive and show the world path to survive, then they
should forget about tractor and preserve their ancient
tradition of ploughing.

To procure 1 kg of beef it takes 7 kg of crops and
7,000 kg of water. This contributes to water shortage
in regions where beef is prevalent.

Mr. Ranka reminded of scientist James Watson Scott
who noted long back that if food shortages were to be
banished from populous countries, the food habits of
the people should be altered to vegetarianism, which
is fast catching up in Europe. Thus protection of cow
makes good economic and ecological sense.

Reachout's News Bureau
July' 2005