Cattle in Religion (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles Cattle are considered sacred in various world religions, most notably Hinduism, but also Zoroastrianism and the religions of ancient Egypt and Greece and Ancient Rome. In some regions, especially India, the slaughter of cattle may be prohibited and their meat may be taboo. The cow has been a symbol of wealth since ancient Vedic times. However, they were neither inviolable nor revered in the same way they are today. Some scholars have argued, citing early Hindu scriptures and archaeological evidence, that the cow has not always been sacred and that cows, oxen, and bulls were both sacrificed and eaten in Vedic times and to some extent even later. The cow was possibly revered because the largely pastoral Vedic people and subsequent generations relied heavily on it for dairy products and for tilling the fields, and on cow dung as a source of fuel, fertilizer and psilocybin mushrooms which naturally grow out of the animal's own excrement. Universally, Hindus still use cow dung for various purposes the burning of cow dung creates an insecticide to repel mosquitoes, and ash formed from cow dung is used as a fertilizer.