# Why do Hindus eat butter if they wont eat beef? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 18, 2008, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316 "2008-06-18T08:35:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/41 "2008-06-20T13:33:27Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] I understand that cow dung is also used to make hard and resistant floors. [/QUOTE] It’s generally mixed with mud for this purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/42 "2008-06-20T14:13:46Z")
[QUOTE=BMax] Cowpiss is used in Ayurvedic medicine, as is dung. [/QUOTE] Johanna _thinking back to all the Ayurvedic preparations she has bought at Whole Foods_ Nah, it can’t be… ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/43 "2008-06-20T15:11:42Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] I understand that cow dung is also used to make hard and resistant floors. [/QUOTE] Is _that_ why I always saw those old ladies putting those dung patties on the walls in India? Behind my cousins’ house in Panipat, there is a low-lying wall, about three feet high, that stretches the entire block (with breaks for gates). Anyway whenever I go there is a little old lady painstakingly making dung patties and placing them on the wall in a fairly regular pattern. I have always wondered why! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/44 "2008-06-20T15:47:50Z")
They stick them on the walls just to dry them. When they’re dry, they stack them up and use them for fuel. The patterns are not really critical to the operation. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/45 "2008-06-20T16:09:07Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] They stick them on the walls just to dry them. When they’re dry, they stack them up and use them for fuel. The patterns are not really critical to the operation. [/QUOTE] Oh. _slinks off_ ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/46 "2008-06-20T21:20:46Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] They stick them on the walls just to dry them. When they’re dry, they stack them up and use them for fuel. The patterns are not really critical to the operation. [/QUOTE] When driving from Delhi to Dehra Dun, I was intrigued by dung storage structures resembling small sheds or stupas with decorative patterns sculptured onto their exteriors. [Like this](http://picasaweb.google.com/janitorphoto/LastYearInIndia/photo#5149826857179488194) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/47 "2008-06-20T23:59:37Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] Why didn’t Gandhi consume dairy? [/QUOTE] He didn’t even touch Ghee? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/48 "2008-06-21T00:09:07Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] He didn’t even touch Ghee? :eek: [/QUOTE] I vaguely remember that he considered consuming dairy products to be somehow unpleasant for the cow. He did not explain in the short bit I read whether it was painful, disrespectful, rude or morally wrong in some fashion. I long for enlightenment. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/49 "2008-06-21T00:19:50Z")
[QUOTE=Derleth] > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **Cervaise** > Some people call me a usurper Some people call you the gangster of pork? [/QUOTE] I’m going to start calling him Maurice, cause, y’know, he just won’t shut up about the pompatus of pork. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/50 "2008-06-21T00:27:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by carnivorousplant > Why didn’t Gandhi consume dairy? > > He didn’t even touch Ghee? It may be because he had a lot of sympathy for the cows. In his book (cited above) **Good to Eat/The Sacred Cow and the Abominable Pig** , anthropologist Harris quotes Gandhi on the abuses the poor cows can be put through. Although they are held sacred and are revered, the cows are also milked frequently, and their calfs are sometimes killed off in a sort of not-so-benign neglect so that they won’t drink up the milk, and so the cow keeps producing. As Harris points out, American dairy cattle are much larger and healthier, and produce prodigious amounts of milk – but they’re also extremely expensive top breed, raise, and maintain. The India cows aren’t such pampered beauties, but they are allowed to roam and browse for free, and, if they need to come in off the streets, there are apparently places for them, maintained as a religious duty. unit per unit of milk, I think he calculated that Indian cows are cheaper producers. But the relentless milking and calficide might have been a situation that Gandhi did not want to contribute to, even passively, by supporting the system. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/51 "2008-06-21T00:44:38Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] But the relentless milking and calficide might have been a situation that Gandhi did not want to contribute to, even passively, by supporting the system. [/QUOTE] Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/52 "2008-06-21T03:10:49Z")
[QUOTE=scrambledeggs] Good point – I get that, but if you are worshipping something, seems strange to be using its mammary gland fat as a cooking lubrication. [/QUOTE] Catholics eat the body and blood of Christ. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316.md?page=2)