SLAUGHTER OF COWS Hindu Leader To ‘Fast Unto Death’

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31223, 22 November 1966, Page 17

SLAUGHTER OF COWS Hindu Leader To ‘Fast Unto Death’

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyrtght)

NEW DELHI, November 21.

A bearded ascetic whose word is law to millions of Hindus yesterday began a “fast unto death” in protest against the slaughter of cows in India.

The Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Puri, one of Hinduism’s four leading spiritual leaders, said he would live

on holy water until the Government acceded to his demand for central legislation banning the slaughter of cows, worshipped by Hindus as symbols of motherhood and nature’s bounty. The Indian Government has so far resisted this demand, maintaining that the cow-slaughter question is a matter for individual legislation by the 16 Indian States. The Shankaracharya’s fast comes after riots in front of Parliament two weeks ago in which eight people died, by demonstrators protesting against the slaughter of cows.

Violence Condemned

He has condemned the riots as “insane acts of violence.”

His secretary said: “Our movement is perfectly nonviolent. It hurts us to break a blade of grass under our feet.”

Sitting cross-legged, the Shankaracharya watched silently as hundreds of devotees prostrated themselves before him in the precincts of his Delhi temple. He has vowed to speak only in Sanskrit, the language of the Hindu epics, until the end of his fast. His secretary claimed that an estimated 10 million people throughout India yesterday joined him in a oneday protest fast to mark Gopashtami (cow-worship) Day.