Cow slaughter & beef eating in India has had political & religious connotations in history. Here's my attempt at a brief compilation.
According to Jha's "The myth of the holy cow", cow slaughter & beef eating was once prevalent in the Hindu religion. The Sanskrit word: Go-gna translated literally means: killing of cows, which is used in many scriptures & chants. However, I understand that Go-gna has an exception in Panini's codification of the language. From Krishna's or Panini's time, the cow has been held sacred in Hinduism. Here's Tom Alter challenging Jha's assumptions with research.
The 1857 Indian rebellion against the British was fueled by cartridges greased by cow fat (offensive to Hindus) & pig fat (offensive to Muslims). Hindus then would believe that eating beef would make them lose their religion.
When the Portuguese fought the Kerala Hindus, they slaughtered cows to make a political statement. When the Hindus resisted, it was in the name of the cow.
When the Cochin Raja welcomed Vaso-da-Gama, it was with a condition: "cow slaughter will not be permitted" (~1500 CE).
In Bengal, in 1971, the Pakistani army slaughtered a cow inside the Dhakeshwari temple to make a political & religious point.
In March 1789, when Tipu Sultan forcibly conquered Kathanad Raja of Kuttipuram, the forcible conversion of the Nair captives was completed by forcibly feeding them beef (accompanied for forced circumcision & forcible marriages of the females). This again happened during the Kerala Moplah riots in 1921.
Beef eating was taboo in Sri Lanka as well: eg: King Bhatia (38-66 ACE) would punish people for eating beef.
Ahmad Sirhindi, a conservative Islamic scholar (1564-1624 ACE), explicitly states that in addition to enforcing Jizya, cow slaughter should be performed to demonstrate the supremacy of Islam & to subjugate the Hindus.
The term, Bakr-Id, is in vogue only in India, where it means killing of cows (Bakara means cow in Arabic, {Bakra in Hindi means goat}). It is called Idul-Aza in other parts of the world. This interestingly went against Muhammad's teachings.
"From Mulaikah bint 'Amr: The Prophet (sallallahu Alayhi wa sallam) said: “The milk of the cattle contains healing, its fat is a medicine, and its meat (causes) sickness.” (Tabarani)
Declared Saheeh by Shaykh Albani (rahimahullah) in Silsilat as-Saheehah (1533) and Saheeh al-Jami' (1233)
From Ibn Mas`ûd : The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Use the milk and fat of the cow and avoid its flesh, for indeed its milk and fat are a medicine and its flesh is a disease.” [Mustadrak al-Hâkim]"
Ahmad Shah Abdali Durrani razed to the ground the Golden temple at Amritsar & filled the sacred Amrit Sarovar water tank with cow's blood.
Feeding beef is a standard ritual when converting Indian Hindus to Christianity or Islam. Force-feeding is used during forced conversions.
During the brutal Goan Portuguese inquisition led by Francis Xavier accompanied by unimaginable torture of the 'heathens', Hindus were force-fed beef during the forcible conversion. It was common practice to drop beef pieces in town as well. Xavier was to later introduce beef to Japan.
Mahatma Gandhiji worshipped cows, stated that Hindus should lay down their lives to protect cows and that anyone who did not wasn't a Hindu. He acknowledged that cow slaughter was used to defy & wound Hindu sentiment and called for a ban on it by all states. Contradicting this viewpoint later in a different context, he also said that he couldn't impose a cow slaughter ban in India, since it would mean imposing Hindu views on non-Hindus. When the Muslims agreed to such a ban in Mysore, he supported the Mysore Maharaja's ban.
Credit: @TrueIndology
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