This open access book provides both a broad perspective and a focused examination of cow care
as a subject of widespread ethical concern in India and increasingly in other parts of the
world. In the face of what has persisted as a highly charged political issue over cow
protection in India intellectual space must be made to bring the wealth of Indian traditional
ethical discourse to bear on the realities of current human-animal relationships particularly
those of humans with cows. Dharma yoga and bhakti paradigms serve as starting points for
bringing Hindu-particularly Vaishnava Hindu-animal ethics into conversation with contemporary
Western animal ethics. The author argues that a culture of bhakti-the inclusive empathetic
practice of spirituality centered in Krishna as the beloved cowherd of Vraja-can complement
recently developed ethics-of-care thinking to create a solid basis for sustaining all kinds of
cow care communities.
