As India modernizes, caring for sick or abandoned cows has become more of an issue.

VARANASI, INDIA
At an open-air barn outside this holy Hindu city, a gaushala, a “cow residence” or asylum, is doing its part to fulfill the ancient tradition of caring for India’s famously sacred cows.

Today, there are more than 4,000 gaushalas – a haven for sick, abused, or abandoned cattle – throughout the country. Federal law has long recognized the need to support the animals that Hindu scriptures refer to as the “most efficacious cleansers of all.” But now, as rural lands vanish, cities burgeon, and quality of life indicators spike for millions of people across the subcontinent, the fate of India’s cows has become uncertain.

Gone is the age when India could compassionately support all its bovines, activists say, and some have begun suggesting that modern times call for a new approach to cow care. The Indian subcontinent has lost more than 45 percent of its grazing lands to development since independence from British rule in 1947. Gaushalas remain among the few places where cows are guaranteed a permanent home, even if the living conditions aren’t everything animal rights activists hope for.

But devout Hindus maintain that caring for cows is a religious obligation. In the middle of these ideological crossroads stand more than 197 million cattle.

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