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This open access book provides both a broad perspective and a focused examination of cow care as a subject of widespread ethical concern in India, and increasingly in other parts of the world. In the face of what has persisted as a highly charged political issue over cow protection in India, intellectual space must be made to bring the wealth of Indian traditional ethical discourse to bear on the realities of current human-animal relationships, particularly those of humans with cows. Dharma, yoga, and bhakti paradigms serve as starting points for bringing Hindu-particularly Vaishnava Hindu-animal ethics into conversation with contemporary Western animal ethics. The author argues that a culture of bhakti-the inclusive, empathetic practice of spirituality centered in Krishna as the beloved cowherd of Vraja-can complement recently developed ethics-of-care thinking to create a solid basis for sustaining all kinds of cow care communities.
List of contents
1. Introduction.- 2. The Release of Cosmic Cows.- 3. Cows in Contested Fields.- 4. Surveying the Cow Care Field.- 5. Cow Care and the Ethics of Care.- 6. "These Cows Will Not Be Lost" - Envisioning A Care-Full Future for Cows.- 7. Concluding Ruminations.
About the author
Kenneth R. Valpey is a research fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and a research fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, UK. Besides Hindu animal ethics, he has published on Vaishnava Hindu temple worship traditions and on India’s enduring favorite of bhakti literature, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa.
Summary
Offers a focused insight into a key aspect of Hindu religious practice
Integrates primary research and tertiary sources to give a multifaceted understanding of the intricacies of cow care practice
Challenges conventional Western thought on cow care and its worldwide implications for animal ethics
Additional text
“It is a work of ethics meant also for a wider audience. … Cow Care in Hindu Animal Ethics thinks within the Hindu tradition without posting an exotic, perfect India; it reads history with a sympathy that is real but critical; it is a constructive work of ethics that will interest the wide range of readers who care about the earth, its community of living beings, and a future in which no living being is left behind.” (Francis X. Clooney, International Journal of Hindu Studies, Vol. 26 (2), 2022)
“The book succeeds in providing an account of the topic that is well-informed, practically engaged and constructive in advocating forbetter treatment of cows.” (David Clough, Modern Believing, Vol. 61 (3), July, 2020)
Report
"It is a work of ethics meant also for a wider audience. ... Cow Care in Hindu Animal Ethics thinks within the Hindu tradition without posting an exotic, perfect India; it reads history with a sympathy that is real but critical; it is a constructive work of ethics that will interest the wide range of readers who care about the earth, its community of living beings, and a future in which no living being is left behind." (Francis X. Clooney, International Journal of Hindu Studies, Vol. 26 (2), 2022)
"The book succeeds in providing an account of the topic that is well-informed, practically engaged and constructive in advocating forbetter treatment of cows." (David Clough, Modern Believing, Vol. 61 (3), July, 2020)
