Hindus, however, are vegetarians and they consider the cow to be a sacred symbol of life that should be protected and revered. In the Vedas, the oldest of the Hindu scriptures, the cow is associated with Aditi, the mother of all the gods.
Cattle are considered sacred in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and in African paganism. Cattle played other major roles in many religions, including those of ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Israel, ancient Rome.
Cows. A cow is held in high regard and is constituted as being one of the most sacred animals in Hinduism, Jainism, and Zoroastrianism. In Hinduism alone deities like Lord Shiva whose steed was a bull called Nandi, cows are honored in sacricity by having statutes erected in their reverence.
THE LEGEND of the sacred monkey traces back more than 20 centuries to an old Hindu epic of Hanuman, the god of monkeys. In a battle of good versus evil, Hanuman leaps from the coast of India to rescue his king's abducted queen from the island of Lankah (present-day Sri Lanka).
Elephants are sacred animals to Hindus. It is the living incarnation of one of their most important gods: Ganesh, an elephant-headed deity who rides atop a tiny mouse.
Religion, Belief, and Customs
All Hindu informants referred to pigs as deities. They considered pigs to be sacred animals to be raised and worshiped. According to pig raisers, in the Hindu religion, slaughtering pigs is considered the best offering to satisfy God while performing religious rituals (puja).
Hindus do not consider the cow to be a god and they do not worship it. Hindus, however, are vegetarians and they consider the cow to be a sacred symbol of life that should be protected and revered. In the Vedas, the oldest of the Hindu scriptures, the cow is associated with Aditi, the mother of all the gods.
Snakes are sacred in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, especially the Naga, or hooded cobra.
Cats are also considered as the worshipful animal in Hinduism, since cat is the vehicle of Mata Shasti Devi, a female incarnation of Lord Muruga, who is worshipped mainly in North India, for child birth and for protecting the children. She is also considered to be Devasena, the consort of Lord Muruga.
In the Hindu religion, the cow has acquired a sacred status. It used to be sacrificed like other animals and offered to the gods and its meat was eaten. The cow was gradually incorporated into a religious ritual and itself became sacred and an object of veneration from the 4th century BCE.
The Lion and the Lamb
The scriptures refer to Jesus Christ as both the Lamb and the Lion (Isa. 31:4; Hosea 5:14; Rev. 5:5). That is to say, Jesus Christ has qualities that remind us of these two animals.
some people say that God's favorite animal is a sheep. after all the Bible frequently refers to the people of God as sheep and to God as a shepherd Psalm 23 says the Lord is my shepherd and Isaiah 53 says that we all like sheep have wandered the stray.
CHIMPANZEES. RECKONED to be the most-intelligent animals on the planet, chimps can manipulate the environment and their surroundings to help themselves and their community. They can work out how to use things as tools to get things done faster, and they have outsmarted people many a time.
Hindus, who make up about 80 per cent of India's 1.4 billion people, are not prohibited from eating pork, but many consider the meat impure and this has made restaurants wary about putting it on their menus.
The highly revered Hindu God, Lord Ganesha, is said to be a remover of obstacles and a provider of fortune and good luck. Considering this beloved God has been envisioned with an elephant head and a human body, elephants are believed to be an incarnation or representation of Ganesha.
Tigers occupy an important place in the Indian culture. Since ages, it has been a symbol of magnificence, power, beauty and fierceness and has been associated with bravery and valor. The tiger also has a significant place in Hindu mythology as the vehicle of Goddess Durga.
Shiva, in his aspect as Bhairava, has a dog as a vahana (vehicle) (mentioned in the Mahabharata).
The worship of Shashthi is prescribed to occur on the sixth day of each lunar month of the Hindu calendar as well as on the sixth day after a child's birth. Barren women desiring to conceive and mothers seeking to ensure the protection of their children will worship Shashthi and request her blessings and aid.
Bhairava (also known as Shiva) is worshipped in Tantra and sometimes is shown with a dog face. He also rides a dog. Temple dogs. Stray dogs are fed at temples and statues of dogs also adorn some temples, like the Kali Bhairava temple.
Nanditha Krishna
Animals in India are worshipped in myriad ways: as deities, like the elephant (god Ganesha) and the monkey (god Hanuman); as avatars, like Vishnu's fish, tortoise and boar forms; and as vahanas, or vehicles, of major deities-the swan, bull, lion and tiger.
Manasa, goddess of snakes, worshipped mainly in Bengal and other parts of northeastern India, chiefly for the prevention and cure of snakebite and also for fertility and general prosperity.
Deer is the divine vehicle of Lord Vayu Bhagavan, and it serves him faithfully for several millions of years. According to the Indian Wild Life Act, killing of deers is strictly prohibited, and doing such an act by the people would be awarded with severe punishment.
Around 80 million Indians eat beef, including more than 12 million Hindus, according to government data published by the Indian business newspaper Mint after the Akhlaq murder. Trade in cattle and water buffaloes (a related bovine species) provides livelihoods to millions of others.
For example, Hindu texts often praise vegetarianism, and Hindus may also avoid eating beef because cows are traditionally viewed as sacred. Muslim teachings, meanwhile, prohibit pork.
Non-uniformity
No state law explicitly bans the consumption of beef. There is a lack of uniformity among State laws governing cattle slaughter.