Savarkar Objected To Cow Worship, Treated It Only As A Useful Animal : Grandnephew Tells Pune Court

Continuing his deposition before a special MP/MLA Court in Pune, Satyaki Savarkar on Tuesday (August 4) admitted the fact that his granduncle Vinayak Savarkar had always regarded a cow as a 'useful' animal and in fact in one of his books, he had clearly written that a cow is plainly an animal and regarding it as a deity or goddess would amount to an insult not only to humanity but also to the very concept of divinity. Satyaki is presently being cross-examined in a criminal defamation case, which he filed against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleging that he had defamed Savarkar by delivering an objectionable speech in London. He is being cross-examined by Gandhi's counsel Milind Pawar.On Tuesday, when Satyaki entered the witness box before Special Judge Amol Shinde, a book titled विज्ञान विनष्ठ विनबंध (Essays based on Scientific Reasoning), was brought on record by Pawar. To this, Satyaki admitted that the book is actually written by Savarkar and he also admitted to the contents of the book, wherein Savarkar has made various comments and criticised the very idea of 'worshipping' cow as a goddess, and that he advocated protection of cow only because it has been useful to humankind. Satyaki also admitted that Savarkar wrote that a cow is as useful as dog, horse or a donkey to the mankind and thus, just like the three animals are often protected, cow too must be only protected and not worshipped. "The category of gods consists of beings—whether real or imagined—who are superior to human beings, whose virtues, powers, and noble qualities are more highly developed than those of man. Such beings are called Gods or Goddesses. Animals, on the other hand, belong to a category inferior even to human beings. Above mankind stand the Gods; below mankind stand animals and insects. The cow is plainly an animal. To regard as a deity an animal that does not possess even as much intelligence as the dullest of human beings is an insult not merely to humanity but to the very concept of divinity. One may perhaps regard as divine a symbol that embodies qualities nobler than those of mankind. But to elevate to the status of a deity an animal which possesses no superiority over man except pointed horns and a tufted tail, and which is esteemed only because it is useful to human beings, is to degrade not only humanity but even divinity itself, reducing it below the level of an animal," Savarkar wrote. "The animal becomes a god, while a godlike human being is treated as an animal. What better example can there be of how, under the stamp of religion, sheer inconsistency, irrationality, and folly come to appear as wisdom, virtue, and sanctity, and how human reason itself is destroyed? Even if the degradation of humanity resulting from treating an animal as a deity were merely philosophical or symbolic, that alone would be objectionable. But the consequences of this excess are far more serious", Savarkar argued in the book. Further in his book, Savarkar gave instances wherein during the Muslim/Mughal invasion, the cows were used as 'shields' by them whenever there was a confrontation with Hindu armies and to avoid killing cows, the Hindu armies, he said, retreated from the battlefield, which he argued cost a lot to the nation. Similar were the instances wherein Hindu armies retreated from the battlefield merely on threats by Muslims of desecrating or demolishing temples or killing Brahmins. "To avoid the sin of the destruction of ten temples, a handful of Brahmins, or a few cows, the nation itself was sacrificed. To avoid the sin of cow slaughter, national destruction was allowed to take place. A single animal was regarded as being more valuable than the nation itself. The loss of national freedom caused no such anxiety as the possible destruction of one temple. Even if only one such incident had occurred in history, such religious naïveté would deserve to be condemned as worse than irreligion itself.... When enemies had come to destroy Hinduism itself and overthrow Hindu sovereignty, the Hindu armies should have cut down every cow that stood before the enemy ranks. As atonement for each cow thus killed, they should have washed their hands in the blood of the hundreds of invaders hiding behind those animals. For, by sparing those few cows on the battlefield and thereby allowing Hindu independence itself to be strangled by Muslim power, every battle that was surrendered in order to save a single cow, a single temple, or a single place of pilgrimage ultimately resulted in the fall of one Hindu kingdom after another and the establishment of successive Muslim empires over the land." Savarkar wrote. Pawar further pointed out from the book wherein Savarkar stated that science plainly said that the cow is a useful animal to mankind; therefore, so long as it continues to be useful, it should not be killed. But when, under particular circumstances, it ceases to be useful and instead becomes harmful, then even slaughtering the cow may become...

Savarkar Objected To Cow Worship, Treated It Only As A Useful Animal : Grandnephew Tells Pune Court

Narsi Benwal

Regarding the cow as a deity is an insult to both humanity and divinity, Savarkar's book stated, as per his grandnephew.

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Narsi Benwal

Savarkar Objected To Cow Worship, Treated It Only As A Useful Animal : Grandnephew Tells Pune Court

Narsi Benwal

Regarding the cow as a deity is an insult to both humanity and divinity, Savarkar's book stated, as per his grandnephew.

This is a premium content Available exclusively to Our subscribers

INR 1099+GST

Tags

Narsi Benwal

This is a premium content
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