ABSTRACT

This chapter aims to describe briefly the position of India's some other bovines, to identify the main impact of the sacred cow concept on the other bovines, to investigate other economic impacts of the concept. It explores how the sacred cow concept, as one element in Hindu commitment to dairying and dairy products, may have contributed to notable genetic differences among Indian ethnic groups in prevalence of primary adult lactose malabsorption. In either case, the suggestion is that notable genetic changes in certain human populations have developed as a result of consuming a particular class of food, lactose-rich dairy products, over a long historical period under conditions of dietary stress. Common cattle are vital in Indian economic life as plow animals and as providers of dung, milk, and other products. Whereas the water buffalo is by far the most important of India's other bovines, the mithan is most unusual in its role in economic and socio-religious life.