ABSTRACT
The chapter examines features in the cultural landscape of western India that reflect the impact of ahimsa on man's attitudes towards animals and suggests a rationale for their continued existence in modern India. It explores the contention that ahimsa ultimately derives its strength as a religious philosophy from the protection it affords cattle under the general rubric of the sacred cow doctrine. Although regional differences exist in attitudes towards animals in India, it is in the western states, and especially Gujarat, that animal life is held in greatest respect. While elements of the religion appear to have existed in the Indus Valley culture, suggesting a considerable antiquity, Jainism is usually seen as originating in northeastern India during the sixth century before Christ. Such support for pinjrapoles and their functions in protecting animal life is viewed as a matter of ahimsa, of jiv-daya, and, above all, of dharma, correct religious behavior.
