Sir.
We, in India, have a tradition of being kind and compassionate to all the creatures in the world.People in India since ancient ages have had the tradition of the animals, birds and human beings living in harmony with eachother.In Hinduism, animals and birds are treated with so much reverence that many of them are regarded as vahans (carriers)of various Gods and Goddesses.For instance, the mouse serves as carrier of Lord Ganesha, the peacock for Lord Kartikeyi,Garuda for Lord Vishnu,the lion for Goddess Durga, the owl for Goddess Lakshmi etc.Besides, the elephant is shown carrying Lord Indira and seven horses serving as vahans of Sun.The Vahans become completely entwined with the Deity and is worshipped alongwith the God and the Goddess.Since times immemorial crow has been considered as the harbinger of good news.In the days of yore when there were no means of communication, the women would consider as being an envoy from her in laws and sing songs asking him to take their message to her paternal home.So as the crow crowed in their compound, they would offer it some food expecting some good news.There have also been songs and books in which the lovelorn lover /beloved entreats the birds such as pigeon and parrot to bring a message eachother.Birds also find reference to various yogic postures.Similarly, dogs, cats and other domestic animals such as cows etc were offered food as a gesture of piety and humanity.It is considered good to offer food to cow and she is worshipped by Hindus.Even at the time of half yearly,yearly and four yearly rituals after death, the female calf of a cow is worshipped and offered to somebody as being given in donation. In other words there was a strong bond between animal and man since the ancient times.But with the passage of time, man has become self centred and this bond has weakened.Man has encroached on their land and habitat by deforestation, urbanisation and industrialisation with the result that the forest area for the wild animals has shrunk and they have started frequenting the human habitations leading to man-animal conflict.Thus, there is need for man to realise that this planet belongs to all the animals, man being one of them and he is not the sole owner of this beautiful planet.
Ashok Sharma,
Housing Colony,
Udhampur
Follow our WhatsApp channel