Sacred Slaughter: An Analysis of Historical, Communal, and Constitutional Aspects of Beef Bans in India
Cow protection is not new to India. However, the political ascendancy of the Bharatiya Janata Party and by extension, that of its parent organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, gives new force to beef bans. These have significant consequences for the religious freedom and material welfare of...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2016
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| In: |
Politics, religion & ideology
Year: 2016, Volume: 17, Issue: 4, Pages: 329-351 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Cow protection is not new to India. However, the political ascendancy of the Bharatiya Janata Party and by extension, that of its parent organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, gives new force to beef bans. These have significant consequences for the religious freedom and material welfare of India’s minorities. The article locates the beef bans among rising Hindu chauvinist trends, and examines the textual, communal, and historical antecedents of cow protection. We subject the bans to the essentials of religion test which the state has used to resolve contentious religious issues in the past, finding that proscriptions on beef consumption are not essential components of Hindu religious practice. The beef bans are also emboldening violence by fringe groups such as cow vigilantes. Though ostensibly supported by the Constitution and enacted in order to protect Hindu sensibilities, in practice beef bans endorse an excessively narrow, Brahmanical form of Hinduism—Hindutva—while simultaneously impoverishing the material, religious, and physical well-being of minority communities such as Muslims and Dalits. The cumulative effect is totalitarian and inimical to the democratic and secular foundations of the Indian state. |
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| ISSN: | 2156-7697 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Politics, religion & ideology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/21567689.2016.1259108 |