I’m not sure coordinated psyops were underway 1500 years ago in India.🤷

👇From Chat GPT

Here is the historically accepted progression:

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1. Early Vedic period (c. 1500–1000 BCE): cows were valued, not forbidden

In the earliest Vedic texts:

• Cows were economically central (milk, butter/ghee, dung for fuel, traction).

• Animal sacrifice did occur, and cattle may occasionally have been eaten, especially in ritual or elite contexts.

• Even then, cows were already symbolically important and associated with wealth and status.

Key point: cows were respected, but not absolutely protected.

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2. Later Vedic → Upanishadic period (c. 1000–500 BCE): shift toward non-violence

Major philosophical changes occurred:

• Growing emphasis on ahimsa (non-violence).

• Ritual sacrifice began to be questioned and symbolised rather than literal.

• Cows increasingly framed as providers rather than consumables.

This period marks the moral turning point.

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3. Influence of Jainism and Buddhism (c. 600–200 BCE)

Two major movements strongly reinforced cow protection:

• Jainism: radical non-violence; killing animals strictly prohibited.

• Buddhism: rejection of ritual animal sacrifice and emphasis on compassion.

Hindu thinkers responded by:

• Absorbing ahimsa into mainstream Hindu ethics.

• Distancing Hindu identity from sacrificial killing.

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4. Classical Hinduism (c. 200 BCE–500 CE): cow becomes sacred

By this period:

• Texts like the Dharmashastras explicitly condemn cow slaughter.

• The cow is framed as “Gau Mata” (Mother Cow).

• Killing a cow is equated with severe moral pollution or sin.

At the same time:

• Dairy (milk, curd, ghee) becomes central to ritual and diet.

• Protecting cows is linked to social order (dharma).

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5. Medieval period (c. 1000–1700 CE): identity marker

During Islamic rule in parts of India:

• Beef consumption by Muslim communities contrasted with Hindu taboos.

• Cow protection became a clear religious boundary marker.

• Hindu rulers often enacted bans on cow slaughter in their territories.

The taboo became socially absolute for most Hindu communities.

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6. Colonial & modern period (1700s–present): politicisation

Under British rule and later:

• Cow protection movements became tied to Hindu nationalism.

• Post-independence India enshrined cow protection in many state laws.

• Today, avoidance of beef is both a religious practice and a cultural-political symbol.