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VHP offers to protect cows donated to Guruvayoor temple

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has offered to take up the protection of cows offered to Lord Sri Krishna, the presiding deity in the Sri Krishna temple at Guruvayoor in Kerala.

The offer follows reports that the cows offered to the temple were dying without proper care by the Guruvayoor Devaswom Board, which administers the temple.

The reports said that 107 out of 500 cows kept at the Gokulam (cow ranch) maintained by the Board had died so far this year. Chairman of the managing committee M Venugopala Kurup had admitted that majority of the cows in the ranch were sick and unhealthy. The condition of 75 cows was reported to be hopeless.

"In many cases, cows are offered to the temple after their fifth and sixth deliveries and, often, in an unhealthy condition," Kurup explained putting the blame on devotees who were, apparently, trying to cheat the deity, which is believed to be the protector of cows.

According to him, the temple's ranch at Vengad in Mallapuram district has virtually become an old age home for cattle. "Devotees offer the cattle after they find it difficult to manage them. A large number of the cattle received were sick and aged and some of them were in the last stages of their life," he added.

However, VHP president Dr Puthezhath Ramachandran disputes this allegation. He said the Devaswom could not treat the cow care centre as a profit venture. "We consider it is the duty of the Devaswom to look after the cows as devotees consider killing of cows as a sin," he added.

Earlier, the Devaswom had the practice of auctioning the animals, but this was discontinued as the auctioned animals were slaughtered for meat. This decision caused the number of cattle in the ranch to shoot up to over 500.

Kurup said the problem was due to the fact that the Devaswom did not stipulate any specific condition about the health of cattle offered to the temple, unlike in the case of elephants. At present, the Devaswom spends approximately Rs 6.5 million each year for maintenance while the revenue from the ranch is a mere Rs 600,000.

Devaswom administrator K N Satheesh said that the Devaswom would continue to do everything possible to keep the cattle in good health. A detailed study for improving the conditions at the ranch, including a master plan for a cow shelter, was under way. An isolation ward is also being planned for sick and aged animals.

He said media reports about fodder shortage were baseless. He, however, indicated that if devotees continued to practice the art of palming off unwanted, sick and old cattle to the temple, all efforts by the authorities to improve conditions at the ranch would be futile.

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