Why Mother cow is the Backbone of our Culture & Festivals

In the agricultural economy of India and the life style of Indian culture, mother cow has a place as the backbone, that is why in ancient times, the sages named mother cow as Gaudhan and made her the main axis of the economy. By serving just one mother cow, complete development of all three aspects of man, spiritual, scientific and economic, is possible.

The usefulness of cow worship and Panchgavya has been ensured in all the Hindu families of our Sanatan Dharma, from the smallest ritualistic functions to the biggest events. In Hindu homes, the first roti made on the stove every day is considered to be cow's roti, this is what we call Gau-grass. After waking up in the morning, the members of the Hindu family first go to the home-made cow shed, pay obeisance to the cow and offer it green grass as food.
Collecting cow dung and preserving it in a systematic manner has been considered a part of our ancient daily routine. This routine can be seen even today in Indian traditional families. The time from early morning till the time of cow harnessing, cow herding and in the evening when the cows come back to the house in groups, is considered as the sacred Godhuli bela.

Cow in religion and mythology

Cow service has been described as a very sacred duty in our Indian religious scriptures. Cow has been called the goddess who provides religion, artha, kama and moksha. This importance of cow has been ingrained in the minds of millions of Hindus for centuries. For this reason, we keep the cow and the entire cow progeny at the center of our faith and reverence. Indian festivals have their own unique style of celebration, in which date, constellation, day, yoga and festival centered customs and festival's God, Goddess and their worship, remembrance and social significance lies.

Economic Factors in Caring for Indigenous Cow
Desi aka Indigenous Cow has been considered the basis of India's economic prosperity, the cow progeny is the basis of Indian agriculture, protector of the environment, center of research in physics, the basis of Ayurveda and has influenced various disciplines. The glory of the Indian cow progeny is immense. Today the cows are being rendered destitute by the farmers or cow herders. They are being thrown out of the house saying that the cow is not giving milk and the bull is no longer useful in farming. The reason is now mechanization of agriculture while the fact is the opposite. Whether the cow is giving milk or not, whether the bull is suitable for agricultural work or not, cow progeny cannot be called uneconomical and useless.

We get cow dung and urine from the cow progeny throughout our life. Milk is the cheapest product of cow but cow dung and cow urine are valuable products or precious substances. Cow's milk is nutritious food for humans but even more than that, cow dung and cow urine are nutritious food for the earth.

Milk, curd, mahi, ghee, butter to keep the human body and human intelligence healthy and cow dung and cow urine to keep the earth healthy and fertile are the traditional food of the earth. Like humans, the earth also needs nutritious food, which is fulfilled by cow dung and cow urine. Not only this, many products are being prepared from cow dung and cow urine today through scientific methods.

Mother Cow importance in Festivals and Folk Culture
In the series of Indian traditional festivals, many festivals are directly for the cow progeny, like Vatsa-Dwadashi, Gopashtami and the festival of Govardhan Puja on the second day of Diwali.

Mother cow is also worshiped during Diwali and Holikotsav and Panchagabya is used. Based on the cultural and religious beliefs of India, Diwali and its surrounding dates are the festival dates of Lakshmi, the goddess of economic prosperity. Many cow dung products obtained from cow sheds like cow dung lamps, pots, paints, gonyal made from cow urine are sold.

Similarly, there is a tradition of burning Holika with sticks made of cow dung and cow wood. This also protects the environment. If forest trees are not cut, then the environment will also be safe. We can also start the tradition of performing the last rites of a human dead body in cow shelters using cow dung cakes and wood.

Overall, every festival related to Sanatan Dharma of India is related to the honor of Mother Cow in some way or the other.