Rajasthan Cow Festival 2014
March 10, 2015As our Hinduism Today subscribers are busy reading their recently arrived April 2015 issue, we'd like to offer you a look at some of the extra photos from the feature story. Some of these you'll recognize and others will be entirely new.
Last October our editor, Paramacharya Sadasivanathaswami, received an urgent call from Swami Gopal Sharan Devacharya (Hinduism Today's Hindu of the Year, 2009) to join him and dozens of other swamis for the culmination of a nine-day festival honoring cows at the Shree Pathmeda Godham Mahatirth in Rehsil, Rajasthan, and the nearby Manorama Goloktirth in Nandgaon. The extraordinary event revealed the persistent reverence the Hindu community has for the cow, and highlighted efforts to protect the species and to craft a compassionate place for the holy bovine in a threatening modern world.
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Young devotee with an equally young calf in the main yagna area.
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Brahmachari Vrajvihari Sharan, one of the main organizers of the festival
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These delicious sweets are unusual in that they are meant for the people, where as most of the delicacies at the event were prepared for the cows.
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Moo.
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Parading around the Peshamehta cow sanctuary.
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Children of a family of cow care-takers.
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The gentleness of the Indian cow is seen in their eyes.
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A lot of, well, fertilizer, departs the sanctuary for the nearby farms.
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Packaging dried milk in the cow sanctuary\\\
s state-of-the-art milk processing facility.'
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Operating room in the cow hospital.
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Cow-bulance
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Singing to the injured and sick cows in the sanctuary\\\
s hospital.'
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Entry to the main ashram.
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Butter destined to be processed into ghee.
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Ghee reading for its lids.
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Paramacharya Sadasivanathaswami and Sannyasin Yoginathaswami visiting devotees. Hinduism Today\\\
s reporter, Palak Malik, standing in for her injured father, Rajiv, is at right.'
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Actually grazing cows on pasture is impossible in over crowded Rajasthan, so food is brought to the cows.
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Preparing bananas to feed to the cows the next day.
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The giant yagasala where the main cow worship took place.
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One of the many guest swamis at the festival.
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Fanning one of the cows selected for the main worship.
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Paramacharya offers some goodies to a cow who appears to have had her fill for the day.
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This one, however, was only to eager to have some more.
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Hmm, shall I just eat the ripest ones?
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Hindus tend to take for granted the gentle nature of the Indian cow. They are a separate breed and very different from the common cattle of Europe and America, who can be downright aggressive.
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Cow Communion.
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One of the guest swamis.
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Young Vaishnavite swami--in fact, our swamis were the only Saivites there.
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More feeding. Leftovers went to the rest of the cows at the sanctuary.
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Mom still keeps a close eye on her calf being petted by a young devotee.
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This is Swami Rajendra Das ji, of the Ramananda tradition, the most respected swami here. He is said to know fully all the sacred texts nearly by heart, plus he is a musician and master katha performer--the best in the world, they tell us. Swami conducts katha daily here for four to five hours, sitting cross-legged and ramrod straight on stage the whole time without moving; he later told us he does so 300 days in every year.
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Our city girl reporter, Palak Malik, makes a tentative connection with one cow.
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Aarati lamps for the cows. In the background are the many homa fires conducted for this event, but which we were not allowed to film.
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Govats Shri Radha Krishna Ji Maharaj
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Gathering for the daily katha retelling of the Ramayana.
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The local cow herders wear this distinctive Rajasthani turban.
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This particular cows is a direct descendant of the original eight cows rescued by the swami who founded this sanctuary.
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Devotee dancing during the katha
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The swamis joined in from the stage.
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One of the huge cow pens where the herds are kept.
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Palak and a cow herder in requisite turban
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Parading the cows around the sanctuary.
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One of the Nandi bulls, huge and powerful animals.
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Worshipping the bael fruit trees at the sanctuary. These are regularly fed to the cows for their health.
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Palak (back to camera) at an interview with Gopal Sharan Das (seated at left).
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