"Ethical Systems as Ecological Forces

Hinduism in India"

MARY A. GONZALEZ

Introduction and Statement of the Problem

Human ecology is briefly described as the "man-culture-en-

vironment" complex. The interrelationships of these three factors
are succinctly summed up by Marston Bates who writes:

Francis Bacon expressed the paradox of man and

nature neatly with the aphorism, "We cannot command
nature except by obeying her." Mankind is part of na-
ture, subject to the force of gravitation, to the laws of
energy transfer, to the need for food and reproduction.
Yet at the same time, mankind is apart from nature in
the possession of the curious quality of awareness, of the
ability to analyze and describe, to think and to record
and communicate thoughts. As men, we can be detach-
ed and contemplative, at least to a certain degree. We
can look at nature, study it and change it in many ways.
Mankind can be viewed as a sort of geological force, re-
shaping the landscape, favoring some kind of organism
and destroying others ... 1

Thus, as long as certain physiological requirements are met

and the physio-bio-chemical tolerances of nature are not defied,
man as a member of society and a bearer of culture, is allowed
a diverse selection in developing cognitive strategies of behavior.
10 MARY A. GONZALEZ
He linguistically transmits these codes and patterns by a process
of socialization: teaching and learning.
How and why a particular culture is possessed by a certain
society is not easily explained. Historical data when available
provide empirical material, but for a grasp of the coherence of
the culture, three crucial factors have to be analyzed within the
context of each other: environment, technological stage, world
view and its derivative value system.
The most urgent adjustment of man is to obtain from the
material environment the necessities of life, so that in the early
stages of cultural evolution, man's strategies of behavior and
energies have been focused mainly on the extraction and produc-
tion of food. The selectivity allowed in this is very much in-
fluenced by the environmental factors (climate, soil, vegetation
and animal species) and by the techniques he has accumulated.
It would seem that the more harsh the environmental factors and
the less technology he possessed, the less diversity allowed man
in his adaption. Since it is within the context of production of
food that man has his main and primary experience with nature
and participates in social relations with other peoples, we could
perhaps say that these experiences mold the people's "Weltans-
chauung." Their experiences in the level of production and its
consequent social structure are reflected in their supernatural
concepts, in their "collective representations." 2 The fertility cults
and mother goddess worship of the earliest agricultural commu-
nities archaeologically unearthed, are examples of this. 3 However,
it must he added that I am not advocating a one-dimension en-
vironmental determinism, for environment vis-a-vis the social or-
ganization and the collective representation is an interlocked re-
ciprocal process. Furthermore, environmental adaptations are in-
complete and secondary—human societies are characterized by
consideration above ecological pragmatism.
A civilization cannot be explained as consequences of an in-
crease in food production or technological advances, although,
surely, certain thresholds—sufficient to support a class of non-pro-
ducing specialists—are basic conditions. A third factor needs to
be postulated: its "form," a certain consistency in orientation or
a cultural style. 4 Whitehead expresses this idea very well:

In each age of the world distinguished by high act-

ivity, there will be found at its culmination, and among
 HINDUISM IN INDIA 11

the agencies leading to the culmination, some profound

cosmological outlook implicitly accepted, impressing its
own upon the current springs of action." 5
It is also noted that the group interests, especially those of
the ruling group or innovators, tend to favor the ideology which
justifies it. The socio-economic interests of the group will in-
fluence the values which correspond to them and the organiza-
tions and relations that result from them. Thus, social inequality
in a society is justified by a world view in which inequality is
essential and will appear in their myths and folktales. Whatever
were the processes or historical events that led to this world
view, it has the same main function: the source of motivations,
goals, and reference in the daily lives of the people. The world
view provides the values and ideals from which the ethical sys-
tem (defined as the code of moral principles which guide human
behavior, applying the value judgments of good and right, evil
and wrong—the former to be encouraged and fulfilled, the latter
to be discouraged and prohibited—enforcing these with super-
natural sanctions and/or approval and ostracism of society.) is
derived and the latter is further codified in the social structures
and institutions of a society, in their traditional practices and
habits. Thus, ethical systems are fundamental coding devices
which act as regulating mechanisms of man's behavior. This
ethical code has its symbols—the investiture of sacredness in cer-
tain elements in the culture. It has its innovators, transmitters
and conforming adherents, the latter usually forming the majority.
As a member of society with a culture, man is an ethical man
in his interactions with other men and with the environment. It
is in this manner that the ethical systems are said to be ecolo-
gical forces.
Ethical systems or codes have no ecological influence except
when viewed as systems of rules, which a given population apply
in their physical interaction among themselves and with the phy-
sical and biological environment. It is these selective effects of
ethical man on his society and environment that is to be mea-
sured and analyzed.
In this paper, an attempt will be made to delineate the food
chain (the production and distribution of food and, ultimately
12 MARY A. GONZALEZ
energy) interactions of the Hindu population among themselves
and with the environment of the sub-continent of India, as much
as possible using quantitative indices of measure.

Hinduism
As a religion, Hinduism stands out among all the great re-
ligions in that it was not established by a single person—it is
the gradual development of ideas, rituals and beliefs over a span
of five thousand years, absorbing and assimilating all the reli-
gious and cultural movements of India. Thus, Hinduism is not
only a religion and a philosophy, it is the way of life of the people of
India; it is its culture, its strategy of behavior.
Its earliest form is Vedic animism, which is the worship of
Nature, presided by the powerful being, Indra. The earliest arch-
eological evidence of culture found so far is that of the site of
Mohanjo-daro. It is a Dravidian culture characterized by a mo-
ther goddess fertility cult, as was common throughout the Near
East at that times Hinduism as a religion is unusual in that
it is not God-oriented (i.e. that God is not its main conce rn ). As
Paul Thomas comments:

The Hindus have no theology; they only have mytho-

logy and philosophy. Mythology is the religion of the
masses and philosophy of the intellectuals; the two how-
ever, are so blended that it is difficult to say where the
one begins and the other ends.?

At present, orthodox Hinduism is Puranic Hinduism which can

be divided into six orthodox sects, on the basis of the main deity
worshipped. 8 If pursued far enough, the Puranic pantheon admits
a supreme Being, but one who is without attributes and there-
fore, unknowable. Thus, for the common Hindu, the different
gods and goddesses of the Puranic pantheon are the supernatural
beings resorted to and called upon and worshipped.
The six schools of philosophy are intensive speculations and
rationales about the after-life and its attainment. They range
from the Sankhya school which does not postulate the contingency
of a First Cause or God to the absolute monism of the Vedanta-
Advaita school. Many of the doctrines of these schools are beyond
 HINDUISM IN INDIA 13
the grasp of the common Hindu who lives according to the duties
and roles prescribed by caste laws and the norms of tradition.
One cannot discuss Hinduism without mentioning the caste
system and its ubiquitous repercussions. Both Hinduism and caste
are complicated and complicating codes of behavior which defy a
simplistic explication. It is noted that the Rig Veda, the most
ancient and sacred book of Hindu, does not mention caste. Thomas
writes that caste was a deliberate social system imposed by the
Indo-Aryans to preserve their social purity. The foreign groups
were admitted into the Hindu fold, but each was "organized into an
independent social unit with a definite status and code of its own
and social intercourse between any two communities was prohi-
bited."' As it has always been, Hinduism allowed diversity in
religious belief, but adherence to the rules of social organization
and interaction was enjoined.
The code of Manu, the main law code of the Hindus, speci-
fies the rules and duties, the prohibitions and prescriptions speci-
fic to the caste. There are more than 3,000 castes and sub-castes,
which practice extreme exclusivism in a wide scope of activities
especially in marriage, dining, and occupation.
The caste hierarchy is definitely slanted in favor of the pri-
vileged upper castes and in the other extreme, against the lower
castes . , especially the untouchables who are considered so infer-
ior that they are not allowed to own land.
The caste and subcaste structure, with their attendant roles
and occupations, duties and obligations, are functional for they
are the basis of the division of labor and maintenance of activities
of the society. For the Hindu, the importance of the individual
is slight—life is worked out in terms of destiny and duty as out-
lined by caste and tradition. This is the "jajmani reciprocity."
There are four main castes, Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Su-
dra, which are divided into numerous castes and subcastes; but
agriculturalists are found in all four castes.
The Hindu conception of the universe is essentially cyclic
—creation, existence, and destruction are endless repetitive pro-
cesses. There is belief in the creation and end of a particular
universe, but it is a mere link in the endless chain of universes.
This is the natural process of Nature: Samsara—birth, death and
rebirth endlessly occurring. In this cyclic process, man is not an
exception; he is subject to it as are all types of life—plants, ani-
14 MARY A. GONZALEZ

mals, even the Hindu gods and goddesses—for all life is an in-
tegrated whole, from the highest god to the lowest vegetable.
Corollary to the cyclic process or Samara is the belief in metem-
psychosis—that at death, the soul undergoes a transformation
into a god, Brahmin or Chandala, an animal or a tree, etc. What
decides the transformation is the Law of Karma or Action which
may be summed up in the formula: The actions of the past life
determine the statue of the present life, while the latter determines
the status of the future life. The rationale for this position is
lucidly explained by Karve:

Every action of a human being has a positive or

negative worth At death, there is always an accumu-
lated capital of positive values and negative values and
the soul must pay for both. The account is never made
up in such a way that a positive value can c ancel out a
negative value. The soul must receive the meed for both.
Therefore, one and the same being can live in heaven for
sometime and in hell for some time for the good and evil
one has done and be born as a human being to start again.
The type of status in which a being is born in human
society also reflects the award of positive or negative
worth which is not all exhausted by heaven, well or non
human birth. A man being born as a king or Brahmin is
a sign that there was accumulated plus balance, being
born a member of a lowly caste or of vicious parents is
a sign of minus balance. 1 °

The Law of Karma justifies the caste structure with all its
absolute hierarchy, disparate social distinction and disproportio-
nate distribution of rights, privileges and duties. At the same time,
together with the prospect of rebirth and transformation, it offers
a hope for the future.
The hope for the future is realized if one conforms to Dharma,
the social and religious duties proper to one's caste and status in
life, together with the traditional rituals, practices and habits,
one of which is the special position accorded to the cow, 11 which is
considered the "personification of the gods of the pantheon and
of the centers of pilgrimage and whose very part, including its
dung and urine are sacred." 12 There are three main attitudes to-
ward the cow: to feed and take care of the cow is a meritorious
act; to kill the cow is strictly prohibited; and to eat beef is can-
nibalism.
 HINDUISM IN INDIA 15

The law codes are the source of Dharma duties and counsel.
One of the insistent counsel it gives is child marriage, and the
law speaks of terrible imprecations on parents whose daughters
have reached puberty and are unmarried. Once enforced, child
marriages became fashionable, with some carrying it into the ex-
tremes of infant marriage.
The ultimate goal of the Hindu is Moksha or salvation, which
is conceived to be the liberation from the endless cycle of life,
death and rebirth. This release is Mukti. It is in the achievement
of Mukti or release that the Hindu scholars and thinkers have
addressed themselves to.
Since Dharma teaches that one must unquestionably fulfill
the duties and functions of his caste and status into which he
is born and that it is only the upper caste who are supposed to
be priests and scholars, one concludes that Mukti is attainable
only by those who have been born into the upper caste. The lower
castes must work out their lives according to Dharma so that in
their next re-birth they may be born into the upper caste.
To attain release or Mukti, one must be able to arrive at a
stage or perfection of detachment wherein all desires are eradi-
cated. Only when one has ceased to love or hate and be person-
ally motivated can his actions be of neutral value, and thus, be
finally released. The enlightened man who seeks or attains this
stage of detachment is above common morality, but must never-
theless, conform to these norms since he must serve as the model
for the common people to follow—"You may have ceased to love
or hate, but you must support your family and punish the enemy."
Therefore, even if one should differentiate between the conceptual
codes of the upper from the lower castes, behavioral and ritualis-
tic codes are common to all Hindus. 13
Pertinent to the doctrines of cyclic nature and transmigra-
tion is the attitude of Ahimsa which is the dread of physical in-
jury and killing living organisms and the positive duty to support
and foster the life of animals and insects. This attitude found
extreme expression in the movement known as Jainism. The
attitude of Ahimsa, together with the belief of transmigra-
tion and some contingent environmental factors, makes compre-
hensible the animistic worship of the River Ganga and the sacred
cow, and the abstinence from meat among many Hindus.
16 MARY A. GONZALEZ
Hinduism, its Weltanschauung, Values and Ethical
Systems in Relation to Hindu Population's Position
And Interaction With Its Environment

The industrialized Western societies have viewed nature as

a whole and its different organisms and elements as the biosphere
to be dominated by man; much of human talents and energies
have been channeled to sciences and technologies to harness Na-
ture's energies for man's benefit and to eradicate man's competi-
tion in the food chain. Man's agricultural efforts are fundament-
ally to minimize the trophic levels, to simplify the food regulations
in the biological community, and to maximize nature's yields for
man's consumption. To do this, he had to rearrange, eliminate
and propagate certain organisms in the biotic community, hope-
fully, careful not to upset the balance of Nature.
Hinduism has definitely channeled its adherents' talents, and
energies away from dominance of nature. Its "dematerialized
spiritualism" has made the Hindu suspicious of pragmatic values
and neglect material progress and technology, because they may
be dangerous to the detachment they seek. The upper castes who
have the function and the opportunity to be scholars, scientists
and innovators of Hindu society have been more interested in the
after-life to he concerned with the present-life. 14 Furthermore,
the Hindu view of nature as a process of cyclic metempsychosis
together with the attitude of Ahimsa (i.e. non-injury and sup-
port of living organisms) is opposed to the Western concept of
man as a master of Nature. In Hinduism, man is simply an
element to be absorbed in Nature. This uncontrolled fostering
of other organisms is detrimental to man's survival or at least
diminishes man's share of the food supply and of living space.
Precisely because Hinduism is not merely the religion but
the culture of the people, it penetrates into their daily lives and
therefore, its transmission has been most effective throughout
thousands of years. The entertainments, the festivals, the music
and dances, the literature and folktales are permeated with tradi-
tional Hindu concepts and practices. The learning of the code
starts with the socialization of the child in its mother's arms—
with songs and stories of the Hindu gods and spirits. In fact,
story-telling to-large crowds (Katha) by the Hindu priest and by
the professional scholar and philosopher is an old and widespread
practice
 HINDUISM IN INDIA 17
Dharma or Duty and Karma or Action are mechanisms of
stability, which have reinforced the social rigidity of the caste
system and the persistence of traditional rituals and practices.
Those who would seek change find it difficult to do so because
the codes are too well-learned. Here, perceptual facilitation has
done its job of patterning too well.
Previously, it was mentioned that ethical systems are ecolo-
gical forces because man in his physical interactions with society
and environment is not simply a pragmatic, aesthetic or affective
agent, but also an ethical man—his mode of behavior has conno-
tations of rightness and fulfillment; of wrongness and prohibition.
With regards the Hindu Ethical System, the two precepts
which have important ecological significance are:

1. The Marriage Customs:

a. Insistence on child marriage 15—It is shameful to have
girls who have reached the age of puberty remain un-
married.
b. The orthodox Hindu prohibition of widow remarriage.

2. The Ahimsa attitude of non-injury and positive fostering

living organisms, manifested in the sacredness of monkeys
and serpents and reaching its supreme expression in the
sanctity of the cow:
a. to feed and to care for these animals is a good and me-
ritorious act.
b. to kill these animals is strictly prohibited, with some
likening cow slaughter to Brahminicide.
c. to eat beef is cannibalism, generalizing into the absti-
nence from all meat among many people.

Before the ecological analysis of the above is attempted, a

brief description of the Indian situation and its relevant variables
would best be given. It is an extremely complicated and inter-
locked situation, wherein the movement of one variable sets off
concomitant reactions and effects on the others. The precis is
intended to be a handy form of reference.
Except for Mainland China, India has the largest human po-
pulation--400 million. Of this, 275-300 million (three-quarters of
total) live in 550-600 thousand villages and depend directly on the
soil for subsistence. These small villages are heavily concentrated
18 MARY A. GONZALEZ

in the alluvial plains of the Ganges Valley and the Ganges-Brah-

maputra Valley. As an instance of the pressure of population
on the land, in the Punjab, within a radius of two miles, there
are about eight villages with an average population of 900 each. 1°
For this tremendously concentrated population, life revolves
around the soil—it is a cultivation society firmly based on a plow
with draft animal technology. It is a subsistence economy—eighty
per-cent of the total production are food crops of rice, millet and
wheat. 17
The Indian peasant society cultivates 287 million acres of
which 38 million acres are double-cropped, out of a total land area
of 812 million acres. In ratio, the per capita sown area is 0.9
acre. Its level of agricultural yield is extremely low: in 1953,
which was a good year for India, it had a rice yield thirty per-
cent lower than that of Japan which had a bad year. 18 India is
one of the most underfed countries and one wherein a substantial
number of people die of starvation.
To eke out his subsistence, the Indian peasant is dependent
on three critical factors: the soil, with its problems of erosion, fer-
tility and available acreage; the availability and control of water
and rainfall; and the use of cattle as draft animals in plowing the
fields.
The original vegetation of India except on the higher moun-
tains and in the more arid parts was primarily arboreal. How-
ever, thousands of years of human settlement, unregulated graz-
ing, and agricultural clearing have greatly modified the landscape.
There is very little forest left, degenerating into scrub plains,
erosion and a shift in its animal population. Intensive cultivation
has robbed the soil of much needed nutrients.
Food or famine is a consequence of the availability and con-
trol of water and rainfall. India is dependent on the monsoons
as Egypt is on her Nile. The monsoon season of June to Sept-
ember is responsible for eighty per-cent of the total annual rain-
ful. For areas with fifteen-twenty inches of rainfall such as the
arid northwest, cultivation is dependent on irrigation. The areas
with 45-50 inches are relatively the most secure, while the mar-
ginal areas with 25-35 inches, are precariously dependent on rain-
fall. In the latter, on a long period basis, there may be more good
than bad years, but a successive two or three bad seasons lead to
catastrophe. 19 Aside from time distribution, the intensity of rain-
 HINDUISM IN INDIA 19

fall must be considered. The latter has been a factor in soil

erosion and flooding. The water dependency of India sheds light
on the sacredness accorded the river Ganga,P for truly, for India,
water is life.
The uniquely privileged position of the cow in Hindu society
is a phenomenon that the rest of the world has found difficult
to comprehend. However, it becomes more comprehensible when
its pragmatic importance in the agriculture of India is realized.
Without cattle, the fields will remain unplowed and unproductive.
It should be pointed out that it is mainly the bullock which is
used for plowing and carting 21 and the sacred cow is useful for
its procreative capacities and dairy yields.
Thus the man-cattle relationship in India is truly one of sym-
biosis. Dr. Wyon, who spent a number of years in India for de-
mography and ecology studies, relates that a pundit (i.e. Hindu
priest) quite seriously explained the genesis behind the cow cult
with this story:
It seems that the Indo-Aryans, who are the ancestors of the
upper caste, deliberately made the cow sacred. They came from
dry country and were very aware of the consequences of droughts.
Work animals were slaughtered to stave off starvation. They de-
cided that it would be better for even a third of the population
to die rather than slaughter the cattle during droughts or crisis,
so that when the rains finally came, there would be animals to
plow the field. Therefore, the sanctification of the cow was a
deliberately rational act. Through the course of time, this prac-
tice has developed to its present extreme proportions. 22 This ex-
planation may or may not have historical validity, but it helps
one to understand the unusual situation.
India has certainly the world's largest bovine population-200
million. It comprises two-thirds of India's total an imal popula-
tion. In comparison, the United States has only about 90 million,
and it is estimated that India supports about one-third of the total
bovine population of the world. 23 It is not so much the excess of
cattle that is the problem, but the consequence of the prohibition
to slaughter and injure or lay a sacrilegious hand on the sacred
cow, which has led to unrestricted breeding: millions of cattle
which serve no human use as living animals and are complete
parasites.
20 MARY A. GONZALEZ

Mukerjee writes:
It may be estimated that about 125 million cattle out
of a total stock of 200 million are superfluous and uneco-
nomical. There are as many as sixty-seven cattle per
one hundred acres of sown land...while the total num-
ber of working cattle is only 60 million for about 300
million cropped acres (one pair of bullocks for every one
hundred acres), a number totally inadequate for intensive
farming. 24
In the preceding paragraphs, we set forth the general out-
line of the web of interrelationships of the Indian situation. A
more precise delineation of the ecological repercussions of the two
Hindu precepts follows.
The statistics of population in human societies are not di-
rect and simple consequences of the physiological reproductive ca-
pacity. The latter is the underlying contingency on which the
cultural patterns are superimposed. The Hindu premium on child
marriage and its prohibition on widow remarriage have demogra-
phic implications which can be stated in logical inferences, but
of a total stock of 200 milion are superfluous and uneco-
marriage exploits the effective reproductive period, since human
fertility is greatest between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five
years. This would lead to a high birth rate if it were an automatic
consequence, but it is mitigated by the observation that early con-
summation is associated with lower fecundity and that the post-
ponement of childbearing to a more mature age of eighteen years
or above may enhance fecundity in the later reproductive period. 25
The prohibition of widow remarriage has certainly been a ne-
gative factor in India's birth rate. India has several million young
widows whose reproductive potentials are not allowed realization
in remarriage. Should Orthodox Hinduism allow widow remar-
riage, its effect on raising the birth rate will certainly contribute
to the critical population/food ratio.
The Ahimsa attitude expressed in the monkey, serpent and
cow cults:
The ecological relevance of the uncontrolled numbers of the
sacred mo'nkeys and snakes in terms of statistics and ratios are
not available and shall not be dealt with here, except to state that
these animals can be injurious to the human population, compete
in the food supply as crop pests and are disease-carriers.
 HINDUISM IN INDIA 21

The sensitive and extremely complicated Hindu population

and bovine population symbiosis will be analyzed in reference to the
core problem of India—the pressure of population and its insuf-
ficient food supply.
In terms of living space, crude statistics show that some three
hundred million Hindu peasants and the majority of the two hun-
dred million cattle are concentrated around the three hundred mil-
lion acres of cultivated fields. The habitat of man and cattle are
one and the same because the latter are the beasts of burden and
are where the men are. Its implications on hygiene and sanita-
tion, disease and epidemics cannot be ignored.
In terms of trophic levels (i.e. the number of steps away from
the basic producers [i.e. plants], a loss of energy occurring in
each step), the herbivorous bovines and the non-meat eating Hin-
dus share the same second trophic level. However, it should be
emphasized that the cattle is fed very little grains and subsist
mainly on the roughage of the cereal crops and on the natural
vegetation and scrub on fallow land. The grain of all kinds is
for human consumption. As a result, the cattle are underfed and
undernourished, with an extreme lack of concentrates and nu-
trients. As such, they are not efficient sources of power and
energy.
It would seem that an overpopulation of cattle (at a rate of
5 bullocks for every 4 cows 26 ) would more than meet the animal
power needs, but it is not the case—there is actually an insuf-
ficiency of animal power to work the land. The numbers are there,
but the undernourished bullocks are simply not strong enough
for their work. This leads to what Spate calls "circle of starva-
tion"—numbers are substituted for efficiency.
However, inefficient they may be, the cattle as a draft animal,
is indispensable to the Indian peasant: "The essential equipment
of the peasant farmer includes a pair of bullocks or buffaloes to
do the plowing and draw the cart; a cow to propagate the species,
and quite secondarily, to give milk. 27 In the Punjab, an attempt
to introduce more efficient machinery to till the soil, had the un-
foreseen consequence of displacing the soil too deeply and loosely;
thus, it was easily blown by the hot winds from Weste rn Asia 2 8
Being undernourished, the milk yields of Indian cattle is un-
believably low: 413 pounds a year per head. (The non-sacred buf-
falo gives a richer and greater quantity of milk: 1100 pounds a
22 MARY A. GONZALEZ

year per head and supplies about forty-five per-cent of the total
milk output.) To show its inadequacy, Spate reports that with
61 million milk cattle, Indian milk output is only about one-fifth
of the European total., which has only about 30 million milk cat-
tle. 29 Thus, a rich source of protein that the Indian diet sorely
needs and which is not prohibited by their sacred cow ethic is
unexploited. Even its prohibited meat, which should be a tre-
mendous source of animal protein, is not very edible nor palat-
able.
Even for the "unpreyed" cattle, death is inevitable and finally,
its hides and skins accrue to human benefit. The Muslims and the
untouchable caste of leatherworkers work on its hide and skin. In-
dia has been the world's foremost exporter of leather and hides.
It has been mentioned that due to the pressure of human set-
tlement and agricultural activity and the intense grazing and
browsing over thousands of years, India suffers from deforesta-
tion. The latter has set off a chain reaction which has become
a vicious circle. It has contributed to soil erosion, flooding, pre-
cipitation, run-offs, dessication due to loss of transpiration, etc.
It has effected a selective change in the animal species popula-
tion—the diminishment of the wild animal population has resulted
in their prey's multiplication: wild pigs, rodents and monkeys (last
with religions sanction) which are crop pests and disease-carriers.
Deforestation has led to a lack of humus or plant nutrients
which are needed by the soil for bacterial activity, absorption and
retention of moisture. This deficiency is reflected in the low ag-
ricultural yields. An obvious solution to this would be the appli-
cation of cow-dung, but again, the Indian situation does not allow
such simple strategies. Because of the lack of firewood cow
dung is used extensively for fuel instead of manure. Even if cow
dung were used for fertilization, it would not be adequate because
the dung of the undernourished cattle is deficient in nutrients and
concentrates. The alternative solution of developing forest growth
is not easily realized because once more we are faced with the
problems of the pressure of human and cattle populations on the
land.
If one considers the fact that cattle need . 40-50 gallons of
water per capita daily—most of which is utilized by the rumen to
process cellulose into amino acids 3°—its tremendous burden on
India's precarious water supply can only be imagined. -
 HINDUISM IN INDIA 23

The low agricultural yields and the lack of animal protein in

their diet make the Indian population one of the most underfed
and malnutritioned population in the world. In terms of energy,
Thompson cites the average per capita consumption of India in
1950-51 as 1,640 calories. The insufficiency of this figure is strik-
ingly shown when it is compared to the average per capita consump-
tion of 3,300 calories in the United States. Using a more absolute
scale, studies show that to maintain basal metabolism 31 alone, a
normal American male between 20-50 years of age, needs 1,740
calories per day, allowing 75 calories per hour. How the Indian
population has managed to survive is explained by the fact that
"The basal metabolism may be reduced fifty per-cent in cases of
severe and prolonged malnutrition. This reduction represents an
adaptation of the body to conserve energy in order to maintain
life on a total energy intake for less than would be required for
normal basal meta.bolism." 32
The adequacy of food consumption is not a simple matter of
quantitative totalling of calories. There are nutritional require-
ments which must be met to avoid "specific hungers": protein, mi-
neral and vitamin deficiences. These are chemical elements which
are lost in metabolism and energy output and must be taken in
the form of an imal foods such as meat, fish, eggs and dairy pro-
ducts, since the human body cannot synthesize them directly from
agricultural food. However, herbivorous animals like cattle, have
the capacity to manufacture these chemical elements with their
own tissue from the protein content in the vegetation they feed on.
In terms of food nutrients and energy, one calorie of meat
or milk is not equivalent to one calorie of the grass or grains
cattle feed on. Ordinarily, cattle consume twenty pounds of vege-
tation per day (which is probably less in the case of the Indian
cattle) and convert only one per-cent into itself, the rest is used
for maintenance of metabolism. 33 Thus, the amount of food pro-
duction and energy transfer involved between the grain diet and
that of a protein balanced diet would show that the former is
only about 1/4 of the latter.
Undernourishment and lack of food energy result in lowering
of basal metabolism, weak resistance to diseases, diminished. vita-
lity and curbs the initiative in mental and physical performance,
Obviously, these factors are relevant to the fact that India has
the lowest male life expectancy-27 years. This statistic is of
24 MARY A. GONZALEZ

course, mitigated by the fact that India has also a very high in-
fant mortality, which is also indicative of the same factors, since
it is especially "the pregnant and nursing mothers, the babies and
adolescents who are especially vulnerable to the specific hungers." 34
The lack of animal protein in the Indian diet may also have
an effect in the fertility of the population. Correlation studies
have consistently come up with the statistics which show that
the most undernourished populations also have the highest birth
rates. This correlation maybe related to the interesting hypo-
thesis of Josue de Castro that a rich animal protein diet lessens
female fecundity:
....the role of the liver being to inactivate the excess
estrogens which the ovaries throw into the blood stream.
Fatty degeneration of the liver and the tendency to cirrho-
sis are...among the characteristic results of protein de-
ficiency, and are very common in the Far East and in
certain tropical areas of other continents. When dege-
ration of the liver occurs, it begins to operate less effi-
ciently, and is less effective at its job of inactivating
excess estrogens. The result is a marked increase in the
woman's reproductive capacity. 35

Conclusions

The discussion above has shown that the man-culture-envi-

ronment complex in India has developed into a web of poverty.
When looking for a solution, we are faced with variables which
are inextricably interlocked. Its dynamics seem to show that a
wrong move initiates a whole series of unfortunate reactions. The
most economic and efficient solution seems to be to start with
the cattle population, wherein the millions of useless cattle would
be eliminated, which would immediately reduce the population
pressure on the land, and making available more acreage for cul-
tivation. It would also be the start of better breeding and stock
for "Indian cattle in normal conditions are well adapted to their
trying environment in that they have amazing powers of endurance
and recuperation." 36 Better breeds and stocks will mean better
work animals, more productive milk cattle, a more effective ma-
nure from the cow dung, and even if not consumed, protein—
concentrated beef. The 1951 First Five Year Plan of India ba-
sically comes to the same conclusions, but the Hindu ethic regard-
 HINDUISM IN INDIA 25
ing the cow prevails: "The wholesale slaughter of useless cattle
is not a practical proposition."
Persaps, the ingenuity of Dr. Frank Parker in fitting the dou-
ble-S plastic coil as a contraceptive device on the useless cows
may be the happy solution that will help India solve her cattle
proAem without violating her ethical code of the sacred cow. The
double-S plastic coil is inexpensive, costing only a few cents and
is easily fitted and has proven to be effective. The Food and Ag-
gricultural Ministry of India has started a pilot project in a part
of Uttar Pradesh and villagers have not complained about the
innovation. 37

FOOTNOTES

I MARSTON BATES, Man in Nature, (2nd ed.; Foundations of Modern Biolo-

gy Series; New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1964), 106.
2 EMIL DURKHEIM, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, (New York:
Collier Books, 1961), 31.
3 CATAL HUYUK Excavations in Turkey of James Mellaart which is pur-
ported to be ca. 8,000 ago, reveal mother goddess figurines. Excavations in
Jericho by K. Kenyon and of Jarmo by Braidwood, also unearthed evidences of
fertility cults.
4 HENRI FRANKFORT, The Birth of Civilization in the Near East, (New
York, Doubleday Anchor Books, 1956), 25.
5 ALFRED WHITEHEAD, Adventures of Ideas (New York, 1933), 13.
6 GORDON CHILDE, New Light on the Most Ancient East, (4th ed.; New
York, Praeger, 1953).
7 PAUL THOMAS, Hindu Religion, Customs and Manners, (4th rev. ed.;
Bombay; D. B. Taraporevala Sons, 1960), 35.
8 Six orthodox sects and corresponding principal deity: Vaishnava, God
Vishnu; Shaiva, God Shiva; Saida, Goddess Devi as symbol of Energy; Gana-
patya, God Ganesha, elephant-faced deity; Saurapatha, solar cult; Sinartha, a
choice of any of the whole Hindu Puranic Pantheon.
9 THOMAS, Hindu Religion, Customs and Manners, 3.
10 IRAWATI KARVE, The Hindu Society, a New Interpretation, (Part III
of a series presented for South Asia Colloquim, Fall, 1959-60, Center for
South Asia Studies, Institute of International Studies, University of Califor-
nia).
11 There is also serpent and monkey worship and its corollary of prohibi-
tion to kill. The strongholds of serpent worship are in Bengal and South
India.
12 The cow's mouth is not considered sacred and this exception is con-
nected with some mythological explanation.
13 Buddhism, Janism and Sikhism are considered simply derivatives from
the main stem of Hinduism. Historically, they are movements of rejection
of some aspects of Hinduism, but in social practices conform to it.
14 It is acknowledged that "man does not live on bread alone," equally
valid is the proposition that before man can become anything else, he must
first survive.

26 MARY A. GONZALEZ

15 At present, the Sarda Act prohibits the marriage of girls below

fifteen years and boys below eighteen years of age. However, child marriage
is valid when performed, although the parents and participants may be pro-
secuted by the government (usually in the form of a fine).
16 Interview: DR. JOHN B. WYON, Department of Demography and Human
Ecology, Harvard School of Public Health; January 13, 1965.
17 A large percentage of the cash crops—sugar, cotton and oilseeds—are
produced by a few large plantations.
18 THOMPSON, Population and Progress in the Far East, (University of
Chicago Press, 1959).
19 O. H. K. SPATE, India and Pakistan, (London: Methuen, 1954) , 57.
20 DR. WYON mentioned that the natives refer to the river Ganga as
"Gangaji," the last syllable is a linguistic application for sir or lord.
21 Buffaloes are also used for animal power and milk.
2i2 As has been observed in many societies, traditional customs have the
characteristic of being perpetuated to exaggerated proportions due to rein-
forcement and feedback.
23 Interview: DR. J. STEERE, Harvard School of Public Health, January
13, 1965.
24 SPATE, 230, citing R. A. MUKER.JEE, The Food Supply, (OPIA No. 81,
1942), 21-22, cf. RCAI, 190-192.
25 WARREN THOMPSON, Population and Progress in the Far East, (Uni-
versity of Chicago Press, 1959), 129.
26 SPATE, 228.
27 SPATE, 228, citing L. D. STAMP, Asia, (ed.: 1944), 230.
28 Interview: DR. WYON, January 13, 1965.
29 SPATE, 231.
30 Interview: DR. J. STEERE, January 13, 1965.
31 i.e. Energy needed to maintain body temperature and involuntary body
processes such as heartbeat and respiratory mechanisms and which represents
fifty per-cent of food energy use.
32 Interview: DR. J. STEERS, January 13, 1965.
33 RAYMON W. Sww'r, "Food Energy"; The Yearbook of Agriculture,
(U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1959).
34 MICHAEL CSPEDE, et al., Population and Food, (New York: Sheed and
Ward, Inc., 1964), 252.
35 CÉPEDE, et al., 200-201, citing de Castro.
36 SPATE, 230.
37 TIME, Vol. 84, No. 19, November 6, 1964.

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 HINDUISM IN INDIA 27
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