Tradition of the Gaushalas
The tradition of community cow shelters, called gaushalas, are at least several thousand years old in India, according to a report by the National Commission on Cattle.
People used to donate their land to the cows, and the community set aside certain grazing areas for them because the animal was seen as a symbol of material and spiritual wealth. This is how the gaushala in Kishangarh came by its urban real estate.
Under British rule however, this tradition of caring for unwanted cows became less common, and in the rapid development and urbanization of the country, Gaushalas were largely left out of the city planning.
The Delhi government has tried to remove the urban cows by catching and tagging them with a microchips. Then they either sell them outside the city or give them to a shelter, a strategy that doesn’t appear to be making a dent in Delhi’s stray cow population.
The cow shelter in Kishangarh is one of a few hundred left in the country. As long as Indians still consider the cow too sacred to kill but a good source of milk, the idea of community-supported cow sanctuaries may well be the only humane way to deal with India’s cattle problem.
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