Note 96 — Chapter IV · ANIMAL-WORSHIP.

Of the unhappy agitation against cow-killing, which has been in recent years such a serious problem to the British Government in Northern India, nothing further can be said here. To the orthodox Hindu, killing a cow, even accidentally, is a serious matter, and involves the feeding of Brâhmans and the performance of pilgrimages. In the Hills a special ritual is prescribed in the event of a plough ox being killed by accident.96 The idea that misfortune follows the killing of a cow is common. It used to be said that storms arose on the Pîr Panjâl Pass in Kashmîr if a cow was killed.97