Sikhism and Cow by Taranjeet Singh

SIKHISM AND COW PROTECTION
In this article we will find out whether the Sikh Gurus considered Cow as a holy
animal or not , we will also find out how the Gurus advocated the Sikhs to protect
Cow and not consume beef. First let’s find out what Sikh sources says about this
topic:
1. The Khaamadhenu, the cow of miraculous powers, is the singing of

the Glory of the Lord's Name, Har, Har! (265-5)
2. Without milk, a cow serves no purpose. Without water, the crop

withers, and it will not bring a good price. Similarly, If we do not
meet the Lord, our Friend, how can we find our place of rest? (133-
7 and 8)
Here it is said that a cow without milk has no purpose, which

means that the cow only serves one purpose, which is milk,
not any other purpose like meat. Here attention should be
paid because meat is considered to be one of the main
purposes of animals, but from the above lines we can
interpret that a cow has only one purpose, which is Milk.
3. Says Ravi Daas, Your slave, O Lord, I am disillusioned and
detached; please, spare me Your anger, and have mercy on my
soul. He is the ocean of peace; the miraculous tree of life, the wish-
fulfilling jewel, and the Kaamadhenu, the cow which fulfills all
desires, all are in his power. (658–12)
4. The four great blessings, the eight supernatural spiritual powers of

the Siddhas, the wish-fulfilling Elysian cow, and the wish-fulfilling
tree of life - all these come from the Lord, Har, Har! O Nanak,
holding tight to the Sanctuary of the Lord, the ocean of peace, you
shall not suffer the pains of birth and death, or fall into the womb
of reincarnation again. (717-18,19)
5. [May I] eliminate the great sin of cow butchering in this world. ⁣

Ugardanthi, Chakka 5
From here, we can interpret that the Gurus connected the cow mostly
with the Lord as a wish-fulfilling being, and Guru Gobind Singh Ji even
said that cow butchering is a grave sin.
The line of Guru Gobind Singh Ji should have closed the topic, but I’ll
provide you with more real-life incidents that will prove that beef eating
is a sin in Sikhism.
 When Guru Arjan Dev was tortured by Jahangir by making him sit on a
hot pan, and hot sand was poured over him, Guru ji had not flinched
an iota and continued to face the torture in silence and peaceful
composure. But when Jahangir decided to take the torture to another
level and ordered that Guru Arjan Dev ji be wrapped by a freshly
slaughtered cowhide, Guruji requested Jahangir to allow him a bath
first. Jahangir relented to the request. Guruji entered the river Ravi,
and never came out of it by merging with the Almighty. It was obvious
that Guruji preferred to merge with the Almighty rather than face the
humiliation of being wrapped with a slaughtered cowhide, and this
incident depicts how a cow was held in great sanctity by Guruji during
his times.
Page 254 of History of Punjab by Syed Muhammad Latif
 Guru Amar Das condemned atrocities against Brahmins and cattle.

According to W. Owen Cole and P. S. Sambhi, an aggregate of evidence
tenatively suggests that the Guru refrained from censuring Hindu
traditions one of which was cow slaughtering. Under Sikh rule, cow
slaughter was punishable by death, an injuction adhered to by even
the British after the annexation of Punjab. Sikhs and Hindu traditonally
held the cow as sacred due to their role in providing sustenance and
haulage
 During a hunting expedition outside of the village of Ramdas, Guru

Hargobind Sahib was approached by a local Hindu who was requesting
help to stop a group of Muslims butchering cows: ⁣
⁣
After [saluting Guru Hargobind] he clasped his hands and began to say,
"There are vile people close to here butchering cows and they are
trying to get hold of more cows with great effort.⁣
Listening to this Satiguru Hargobind mounted his horse and proceeded

ahead with great anger, seeing where they were they closed the
distance, taking out his sword he quickly slaughtered them. ⁣
⁣⁣
Some of them ran away, but they were flanked, surrounded and
attacked, they were chopped down and then into pieces. ⁣
Gurpratap Suraj Prakash Granth (1843), Raas 6, Chapter 55 ⁣
Author: the Great Poet [Mahakavi] Santokh Singh ⁣
 In the subsequent years following the assassination of Banda Singh

Bahadur, when Abdali was angered at the massacre of his troops by
Sikhs, in retribution he attacked Sri Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar and
blew it with gunpowder. And he desecrated the holy Sarovar with
slaughtered cow carcasses. Later, Massa Rangar committed a similar
sacrilege, and apart from the desecration of the holy Sarovar with
slaughtered cows, he also made sex workers dance and sing in the
premises of Sri Harmandir Sahib. However, this time, he was duly
punished by Mahtab Singh and Sukha Singh, who swiftly beheaded
Massa Rangar in Sri Harmandir Sahib.
Therefore, it was at least obvious to the Mughals of those times
that the massacre of cows would seriously hurt the sentiments of
Sikhs
 Maharaja Ranjit Singh has been an example of the zenith of the Sikh
empire that broke off the shackles of slavery of North Indian Hindu-
Sikhs from the Afghans and Mughals, who were bent on establishing
Islam in India to replace Hinduism. And during the rule of the
Maharaja, beef eating and cow slaughter were prohibited. This was
although the population of the areas ruled by the Maharaja included a
Muslim population over 55%. And this was because even though
Sikhism had adopted a distinct identity as a nascent religion, it had not
severed its roots and connections with Hinduism from whom its
cultural and religious values were resourced, including the newly
baptized Sikhs who were drawn exclusively from Hindu families,
especially when they raised their eldest son as a Sikh. And many North
Indian families were seen to have both Sikh and Hindu members
within the same family, and intermarriages were considered as an
accepted and unquestionable norm and conducted with no objections
or afterthought as these 2 were inherently intertwined and
inseparable. Therefore, the eating habits remained the same for both,
as it would be unusual for separate dinner plates for 2 brothers of the
same family.
 According to Mark Doyle, the first cow protection societies on the

Indian subcontinent were started by Kukas of Sikhism, a reformist
group seeking to purify Sikhism. The Sikh Kukas or Namdharis were
agitating for cow protection after the British annexed Punjab. In 1871,
states Peter van der Veer, Sikhs killed Muslim butchers of cows in
Amritsar and Ludhiana, and viewed cow protection as a "sign of the
moral quality of the state". According to Barbara Metcalf and Thomas
Metcalf, Sikhs were agitating for the well-being of cows in the 1860s,
and their ideas spread to Hindu reform movements.
Therefore, it was at least obvious to the Mughals of those times that the
massacre of cows would seriously hurt the sentiments of Sikhs, and that
beef would not be accepted as food. Sadly, this knowledge is lost to
some Sikhs of modern days living in the West or being deliberately
ignored by them because of the aforementioned reasons.
Keeping aside the topic of whether the cow is considered holy or not in
Sikhism, we can conclude that there is a clear prohibition on eating beef.
At the same time, I challenge anyone to bring up any instance where the
Gurus have consumed cow meat.
Written By
Daas Taranjeet Singh

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SIKHISM AND COW PROTECTION

1. The Khaamadhenu, the cow of miraculous powers, is the singing of

2. Without milk, a cow serves no purpose. Without water, the crop

Here it is said that a cow without milk has no purpose, which

4. The four great blessings, the eight supernatural spiritual powers of

5. [May I] eliminate the great sin of cow butchering in this world. ⁣

 Guru Amar Das condemned atrocities against Brahmins and cattle.

 During a hunting expedition outside of the village of Ramdas, Guru

Listening to this Satiguru Hargobind mounted his horse and proceeded

Gurpratap Suraj Prakash Granth (1843), Raas 6, Chapter 55 ⁣

Author: the Great Poet [Mahakavi] Santokh Singh ⁣

 In the subsequent years following the assassination of Banda Singh

 According to Mark Doyle, the first cow protection societies on the

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