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- Denis Giles
- Hits: 1610
By Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
Life is so complex. We think of all beings as animals or plants and this means a lot when you are vegetarian and determined not to hurt.
What characterises a being as one or another.
An animal must feed on other living things because it cannot obtain energy directly from sunlight. Animals have an embryo stage in their life cycle. The cell walls in animals are mostly soft and animals depend on skeletons or shells for strengthening and protecting.
Plant cells get their strength from cellulose. These contain little green packages called chloroplasts. Chloroplasts use the energy of sunlight to produce the substances needed to make plant tissues, in a process called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis consumes carbon dioxide and produces oxygen.
Simply said :
Animals eat other animals or plants to get energy for their survival. They can move.
Plants get energy for their survival from the sun. They cannot move.
But there are beings that defy all the rules. Some are both plant and animal. Some animals look like plants. Others vary between being animals that turn into plants or vice versa !
The Venus flytrap, despite being a plant, feeds on insects—and its parts move faster than its animal prey. Many groups of animals do not move and stay attached to a surface for life, such as sponges, corals, mussels and barnacles.
Corals are not plants. They are animals. The amazingly coloured sea anemone is not a flower. It is a close relative of corals and jellyfish. It spends its life attached to rocks on the sea bottom. or on coral reefs, waiting for fish to pass close enough to get ensnared in its venom-filled tentacles.
There are over 1000 species of anemones. Their bodies are composed of an adhesive pedal disc, or foot, a cylindrical body, and an array of tentacles surrounding a central mouth. The tentacles fire a harpoon-like filament into their victim, injecting it with a paralyzing neurotoxin. The helpless prey is then guided into the mouth by the tentacles.
They look so much like plants that even Aristotle, the ancient Greek who produced one of the world’s first systems for categorizing life, was puzzled by them and categorised them as zoophytes (“both animal and plant”.) However, they are animals because they can move (very slowly) and feed on other unsuspecting organisms that get trapped in their tentacles. Interestingly, components of their nervous system are the same as humans’, although their anatomy is very different.
Likewise, sea sponges are hard shelled beings with countless tiny openings or holes visible on them. 5000 species of sponges grow in all different shapes, sizes, colours, and textures. These tiny pores let water flow freely in and out of the sponge, bringing in all the nutrients it needs, while simultaneously releasing waste. For a long time it was debated whether sea sponges should be classified as plants or animals. Eventually zoologists have classified them as simple multi-cellular, bottom-dwelling animals.
There are also bizarre animals commonly called "sea lilies". These are animals that look like plants and were thought to be fixed to the sea bottom by a stalk. Now it has been discovered that they use their feathery arms to crawl, dragging their stalks behind them.
Algae are usually aquatic organisms that appear as a kind of growth, or slime, on top of bodies of water in a range of colours. Even though they look like plants, they don’t move and can photosynthesize, they are not plants as they have animal characteristics as well. Seaweeds are macro algae. They are divided into green, red or brown families. Kelp, which forms massive underwater forests reaching heights of 80 mts, is a key ingredient in many Asian meals. Kelp is brown algae. A green algae, called Nori seaweed, is used in Japanese cuisine to wrap sushi and rice. Red Dulse is a snack in Ireland and Iceland that some claim tastes like bacon when fried. But in spite of their plant-like appearances and animal-like tastes, nori and dulse are red algae. Neither plant nor animal. Chondrus crispus, commonly known as carrageenan moss, is a red alga used in salad dressings and sauces, diet foods, meat and fish products, dairy items and baked goods, as is agar. Porphyra is a red alga used in soups, sushi or rice balls. In Belize, seaweed is mixed with milk, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon to make a beverage called "dulce". Seaweed is an ingredient in toothpaste, cosmetics and paints.
Mushrooms are often treated like vegetables, but fungi (which includes yeast and mould) are actually closer to animals than plants. Like plants, they do not move, but they also don’t perform photosynthesis. Instead, their source of molecules and energy are other organisms. Instead of “hunting” them like animals, they either grow on top of them (soil, trees, human feet) or on top of decaying dead organisms (dead bark, dead animals, bread). Due to their close evolutionary relationship to animals, eating a portabello mushroom in a bun is much closer to eating a hamburger than a soya substitute. Yeasts are used in bread and beer.
Euglema is another commonly seen being, in pools of water that is neither plant nor animal. It is pear shaped, single celled and has a whip like tail which propels it through water establishing it as an animal. Yet, it has chloroplasts like a plant has. It makes its own food like a plant, but it eats other things like an animal and has an eyespot which is sensitive to light. It was discovered in 1660 A.D. but it still defies any known category.
In 2012 scientists came upon another of nature’s miracles: a strange green creature, neither plant nor animal, called Mesodinium, that lives at the bottom of the sea. It looks like a ball of wool gone wild. Using its hundreds of small hairs, it moves rapidly through water, finding plants to eat – after which it changes into a plant.
The strange, single-cell green creature, found in Danish waters, finds tiny plants that contain chlorophyll. And when Mesodinium chamaeleon eats the plant, it becomes a plant.
By keeping the chlorophyll granules active in its stomach, Mesodinium chamaeleon uses the granules’ ability to convert sunlight into energy for it. This photosynthesis makes Mesodinium chamaeleon a plant. After a while, Mesodinium chamaeleon digests the plant which actually makes it an animal. Then it goes hunting, like an animal, for a new plant to eat.
There is no combination that God/Nature has not thought of first!
Am I going to be eating mushrooms again? Perhaps not.
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- Denis Giles
- Hits: 2060
By Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
All over Europe eggs have been found to be contaminated by a dangerous pesticide called Fipronil. The eggs originated from poultry farms in Holland. Investigations into the illegal use of Fipronil on poultry farms have led to 180 big poultries being shut down. Millions of eggs and egg-based products like salads, sandwiches and mayonnaise have been pulled from supermarket shelves. So far Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden, Britain, Austria, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Denmark, Switzerland and Hongkong have found Fipronil in their eggs.
Fipronil is an insecticide not permitted for use around animals destined for consumption, or in any products destined for the human food chain. The effects of consuming it? Sweating, nausea, vomiting, headache, stomach pain, dizziness, weakness, and seizures. It can cause abnormalities of the thyroid, liver and kidneys, if consumed by humans. Since researchers found thyroid tumours in both male and female rats fed high doses, it has been classified as a "possible human carcinogen" by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Scientists who fed Fipronil to rats found an increase in seizures. In another study, scientists found long-term exposure to fipronil affecting the reproductive ability of rats, less mating, reduced fertility, smaller litter size, and increased loss of pregnancy. Scientists also found decreased survival and delayed development in offspring.
Early investigation has shown that a company called Poultry Vision in Belgium bought fipronil from Romania, mixed it with DEGA -16, an approved cleaning product, and sold it to Chickfriend in Holland, who sold it to poultries as a pest control services. The most disconcerting part has been the ease with which two men – Martin van de Braak, and Mathijs IJzerman, owners of Chickfriend – were able to avoid scrutiny after offering a “miracle cure” for lice infestation in chickens. The Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) of fipronil in eggs is set at 0,005 mg/kg within the European Union, as is outlined in Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 of the European Parliament. The Dutch food and product safety board (NVWA) reported that one batch of eggs, originating from one poultry farm in the Netherlands, exceeded 0.72 mg/kg.
Poultries that are badly run and never inspected by competent health inspectors, who come for more than just collecting bribes, suffer from mites. The red mite, also known as poultry mite, infests chickens, and turkeys. Heavy infestations of mites decrease reproductive potential in males, egg production in females, and weight gain in young birds; they can also cause anaemia and death. Other mites, such as the depluming mite, burrows into the base of feather shafts, causing intense irritation, feather pulling and skin lesions. Different mites attack different areas of the chicken: feather mite, scaly leg mite, tropical fowl mite. Chiggers, harvest mites, red bugs feed on skin cells and lymph. Heavily parasitized birds become droopy, refuse to eat, and may die from starvation and exhaustion. Using good sanitation practices are important to prevent a buildup of mite populations. But most poultries prefer to use strong chemicals.
If eggs have fipronil in them, obviously the meat of the chickens will. If a pest infestation at a farm is treated with Fipronil, the animals' skin would absorb the insecticide. The Dutch food safety agency, the NVWA, officials are carrying out checks on chickens bred for meat.
Is the use of fipronil in poultries new inspite of it being banned? No. Here is a blog from Greg O dated 11th May 2012:
"I'm a professor in the Los Angeles area and want to do a study on Fipronil (Frontline) in eggs. Frontline is a common medication for cats/dogs for the control of fleas. Many people use Frontline to control fleas and mites in their chicken flock, but it turns out, there's no data on whether the active ingredient (Fipronil) actually makes it into the eggs. …Although Frontline is effective in Chickens, there's no data on whether it enters the blood and then the eggs… I'd like to study whether it gets into the eggs.
Were you thinking of using Frontline on your flock this year? If so, please contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. I would ask to get some of your eggs before you give fipronil to your chickens and then for a period of weeks afterward (not every egg, just one every week or so). I'd promise to share my results with you and the entire LAUCE community."
Why this fuss over eggs when Fipronil is being used in India on all our grains and vegetables ?
Fipronil was developed by Rhone-Poulenc and placed on the market in 1993 under the US Patent No. US 5,232,940 B2. Since 2003, BASF holds the patent rights for fipronil-based products. It belongs to the phenylpyrazole chemical family. It is a white powder with a mouldy odour, used in a wide variety of pesticide products used to kill ants, beetles, cockroaches, fleas, ticks, termites, mole crickets, thrips, rootworms, weevils, stem borers, plant hoppers, leaf folders, gall midges, whorl maggots and moths.
Come to India. We use Fipranol on everything we eat. Our insecticides, sold freely to illiterate farmers, contain fipranol to control stem borer insects and leaf folder insects in rice, early shoot borer pests in sugarcane and maize. We use it to control termites. We use it on golf courses, and commercial turf. We use it on chillies, fruit and cabbages.
In the home you use it on dogs and cats to control ticks. You are supposed to cover your mouth and eyes, use plastic gloves and put one drop on the neck of the dog, or spray below the hair. It is not to be rubbed in. No one can stroke the dog. It cannot be used on ill or aged animals. It has to be wrapped very carefully in layers of paper before being discarded so that it doesn’t make the other trash toxic. My hospital has been using it on the dogs that people bring. This is our last resort because so many animals have become ill after its use. Many animals have gone into organ failure. I would not recommend it except in extreme cases. Frontntline TopSpot, Fiproguard, Flevox, and PetArmor, Shwanfiproplus, Fiprospurt, Flip Spray, Fipronil S-Methospene Spot On, Fiprovet Spray, Protektor Spray, are some pet products.
It is also used as Gel for cockroaches, called Care and Guard Cockroach Killer and Ranger.
Agriculturally, under the trade name Regent, it is used on moths, butterflies, grasshoppers, locusts, beetles and thrips. Under the name Goliath and Nexa it is used for cockroach and ant control. Under the name Chipco Choice it is used for commercial lawn care, golf courses and cornfields. Under Adonis it is used for locust control. As Termidor, Ultrathor and Taurus, Combat Ant-Rid, Radiate it is used to control termites and ants. Its Indian names are Race, Fipgen for Weed Control, Fiprosik, CGent, Result, Prins, Fipscort, Officer, Fipro-C5, Getter, Replex, Prinol, Egent, V Guard, Himgent, Sharp, Glider, Recent, Quencher, Agent-5, Molgent, Farari, Agenda, Zoom, Balveer, Rider (which promotes itself as organic and natural), Agrican Fighter, Risent, Revolt, Bheem, Sultan, Rellington, Viper, Fipron, Aashirwaad, Fiprofort, Refree, Fiprofit.
Fipronil is not allowed for use on cattle and especially dairy cows. But, in India some fipronil based products openly advertise it for dairies. According to studies, lactating animals secrete fipronil through milk, leading to a steady poisoning of the human body. According to the WHO, it can damage the liver, thyroid glands and kidneys if ingested in large amounts over time.
Fipronil goes into the soil where it lasts for upto a year. It is highly toxic to fish, crustaceans and freshwater invertebrates, birds, honey bees, rabbits and chickens. Studies show that non-target insects are also affected (naturally since it is a poison) in field trials for specific pests. Bees are the first to be affected. In May 2003, the French Directorate-General of Food at the Ministry of Agriculture determined that a case of mass bee mortality observed in southern France was related to acute fipronil toxicity and decided to suspend the sale of crop protection products containing fipronil in France.
Fipronil is one of the chemicals blamed for the disappearance of bees. A 2013 report by the European Food Safety Authority identified fipronil as "a high acute risk” to honeybees when used as a seed treatment for maize and on July 16, 2013 the EU voted to ban its use on corn and sunflowers within the EU.
If Europe is having problems in supervising its food factories, can you imagine what is happening in India where FSSAI has no inspectors and no apparatus in which the law can be administered.
How did Europe catch the culprits so soon? In the European Union, every egg is stamped with a number. Consumers can retrace the country of origin and which farm the egg is from. The media have published lists of the numbers of contaminated eggs. In India, you have no idea where your eggs, meat or milk come from.
To join the animal welfare movement contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.peopleforanimalsindia.org
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- Denis Giles
- Hits: 1788
By Maneka Gandhi
Even though humans have kept dogs and cats as pets for thousands of years, there are still so many things about them, that we believe, that are simply not true. And because of these beliefs, many of these animals are ill-treated and suffer. Here are some misconceptions.
A cat purrs when it is happy: Purring is generally the first sound kittens make by the time they are 48 hours old. While nursing, both mom and kittens can be heard to purr. But while purring is often heard at times of contentment, cats also purr when in pain and in the throes of death.
Stray cats are loners: Feral cats are not solitary, they usually live as a group near a food source.
Cats are nocturnal creatures: Cats are most active at dusk and dawn, when mice and other small prey come out and hunting is easier. The construction of their eyes allows them to see well in low light. Cats only need 1/6 of the light humans do in order to decipher shapes. However, they cannot see in absolute darkness.
Cats hate water: While most cats hate baths, many find running water fascinating and paw at dripping taps. It is possible to give a cat a bath without being scratched and mauled.
Cats can be fed an all fish diet: An all fish diet is bad for cats because high levels of magnesium and oil can increase Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease and other diseases. If nature wanted cats to just eat fish, it would have made them swim. This mythology was spread by the British because, as a cat crazy island, it was importing meat for them and it was easier to get fish.
Cats have 9 lives: This probably goes back to ancient Egypt, where 9 was a mystical number. The god AtumKa had 9 lives and took the form of a feline whenever he visited the underworld, so the 9 lives became associated with the cats.
Cats always land safely on their feet: Cats are naturally flexible and have the ability to right their bodies while falling. But that doesn't necessarily protect them from harm. Cats break their front legs and jaw when they land on their feet.
Cats need milk in their diet: Although many cats do like milk, it is not necessary in their diet. In fact, many kittens get diarrhoea after drinking milk.
Pregnant women must give up their cats: While toxoplasmosis is a risk for foetuses, a woman is more likely to catch it from handling raw meat, or digging in the garden, than from her cats.
Dogs with warm, dry noses are sick: A dry nose has nothing to do with a dog's health. Normal canine body temperature ranges from 101 to 103 degrees. A dog may still have a cold, wet nose while running a temperature of 105 degrees. Feel the inside of the ears.
Old dogs can't learn new tricks: Old dogs and old people continue to learn throughout their lives. I have found old dogs pick up orders in a new house quicker than puppies. Very old dogs may not learn well because they may be impaired by progressive blindness or deafness.
A dog wagging his tail will not bite: The wag of a dog's tail tells nothing about his aggressiveness. It simply is a sign of excitement. Other aspects of his behaviour can tell more about aggressiveness, such as ear position, whether the dog is staring, growling, or barking.
If a dog scoots (drags his anus) across the floor, he has worms: Although dogs with tapeworms will scoot due to the itchiness of the worm segments, not all scooting dogs have worms. Allergies, diarrhoea, or stuffed anal glands, can cause this behaviour.
If your dog eats his faeces, he has worms: Many dogs eat faeces, theirs or another’s. It is not necessarily a sign of intestinal parasites. Many mother dogs will do this to clean her newborn puppies and some pets will do it as an attention getting behaviour. The problem may also be poor nutrition and a learned habit.
Female dogs should have at least 1 litter of puppies before spaying: There is no benefit to allowing a pet to reproduce. In fact, there is evidence that spaying a female before her first heat may reduce her risk of developing breast cancer.
Some dogs have jaws that lock: All dogs have the same facial muscles and structure -- none has locking jaws. All dogs can be taught to be gentle -- to release on command.
Dogs eat grass because they are sick: Many dogs will eat grass and then vomit, but this does not mean that they are sick. It is normal for dogs to eat grass in very small amounts -- their ancestors ate grass. It's roughage. You need to add more greens to their food.
Dogs can be spiteful if left alone at home: Dogs can become stressed when left alone and may seek comfort by finding a scent of you in your favourite chair or shoes, and may express their stress by chewing or urinating.
Dogs require annual revaccinations: It is now known that certain vaccines, such as distemper and rabies, don't need to be given yearly after initial doses and boosters.
Neutering and spaying makes dogs fat and lazy: It has no effect. Eating too much and not enough exercise makes animals overweight. Same goes for cats.
Dogs and cats are colour-blind: Both dogs and cats can see in blue and green, and they also have more rods — the light-sensing cells in the eye — than humans do, so they can see better in low-light situations. Reds and pinks may appear more green to cats, while purple may look like another shade of blue. Dogs, meanwhile, have fewer cones — the colour-sensing cells in the eye — so scientists estimated that their colour vision is only about 1/7th as vibrant as ours.
Pit bulls are vicious killer dogs: The pit bull is not born vicious, nor is it in its DNA. German shepherds, Rottweilers, Dobermans, and Chows are the genetically aggressive dogs. Pit bulls are only aggressive when they've been trained to be that way.
Dogs can detect cancer: Dogs are capable of detecting smells linked to cancer. In one study the dogs had an accuracy rate of 98 percent for sniffing out colorectal cancer in humans.
To join the animal welfare movement contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.peopleforanimalsindia.org
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- Denis Giles
- Hits: 1887
By Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
I feel so sorry for the magnificent animal that is the bull. I was at a banking mela organised by the local administration in Alwar. A bull wandered in and walked about harmlessly. Almost every stall keeper – selling/displaying nothing but banking information - hit him. Passers-by hit him. Security guards hit him. His only reaction was to try and dodge the slap or lathi which, given its size, was impossible. Finally, he left, bruised and sore.
Bulls go to sabzi mandis to eat the thrown away vegetables/leaves and fruit. So many are attacked with acid that it is difficult to find a bull that doesn’t have acid burns. In Gorakhpur, the city named after Gau Raksha, the municipal administration catches them regularly, puts them into pounds and refuses to feed them. They die within the week, spending most of it lying down as they have no energy left. No gaushalas take bulls, so they roam the streets and are beaten every day. Many are rounded up at night and sold to illegal butchers. Some are taken by fake mendicants, branded with trishul images, painted and paraded for alms. Some are grown for fighting, as in Jallikattu, where they are starved and blinded, made mad with alcohol and then let loose to be jumped on and their horns torn off. Ancient Tamilians considered the bull a sign of masculinity and valour, so naturally the human has to be bigger and stronger. Those that live are shipped to Kerala the next day to be killed.
The word Nandi means joyous. In real life the bull leads a life as a victim of beating, torture, starvation and early death. Our great passion for Nandi the bull, exists – as it does for Hanuman and for Ganesha – in temples only. In fact, the three animals – the rhesus monkey, the elephant and the bull - are extremely violently treated.
No one feeds them as they would cows. No one wants them. And now, as they grow rarer, your children will never see them in all their glory and might.
Nandi is the Mount and gatekeeper of Shiva and Parvati. He is the Chief Guru of 18 spiritual masters, including Patanjali and Thirumular. He is the controller of 18 siddhis or spiritual attainments. Not only is he the being that meets you first in a Shiva temple, there are many temples devoted to Nandi alone. In Sanskrit the name of the bull is Vrishabha, which means righteousness or Dharma . He is the protector of Dharma and the chief of the team of Ganas, or attendants of Shiva. It is important to seek the blessings of Nandi before proceeding to worship Lord Shiva. He symbolizes purity as well as justice, faith, wisdom, virility, and honour. He provides the music to which Lord Shiva performs the Tandava or the cosmic dance. In the Brahaddharma Purana, Nandi is the commander of Lord Shiva's army.
Spiritually, Nandi represents the individual soul focused on the Atman.
In the Saura Purana, Nandi the bull is described in all his splendour, with ornaments that glow with the fire of thousand suns, three eyes, and a trident held in his hand. The most common depiction of Nandi is a sitting bull with folded limbs. He is either black or white and wears a necklace with a bell. Other depictions of Nandi show him as half human, and half bull. His body resembles that of Shiva in proportion and aspect, although with four hands — two hands holding the Parasu (the axe) and Mruga (the antelope) and the other two hands joined together in the Anjali (obeisance).
Brahma Vaivarta Purana says Krishna himself took the form of a bull as no one else in the Universe can bear Shiva. According to the Vayu Purana, Nandi was the son of Kashyapa and Surabhi.
Some Vedic texts give the story of Nandi as follows: The great sage, Shilada performed penances and prayed for an immortal child. The child that emerged from the fire of the yagna was named Nandi by Shilada and, by the age of seven, was well versed in all the sacred scriptures. But Shilada was told the child would die in a year. Grief-stricken, he shared this with Nandi who prayed to Lord Shiva. The god responded by giving him a necklace with the bell, transforming him into half man, half bull and gifting him immortality while making him head of the Ganas and his own Vahana. Shilada and Nandi went to Lord Shiva's abode, Mount Kailash, and dwell there for all eternity.
Another story speaks of how during Sagar Manthan, or the churning of the ocean, the snake king Vasuki was used as a rope. The churning brought out such deadly poison that none of the devas or asuras wanted to go near it. Lord Shiva drank the poison. Some of it spilled out. To save his master and all life, Nandi drank the spilled venom. Lord Siva calmed their fears saying, "Nandi has surrendered into me so completely that he has all my powers and my protection". Nandi survived the poison and even the Devas - the gods - and Asuras - the demons - were struck with awe at his massive power.
He is said to have taught Kartik, the son of Shiva and a great warrior, the art of warfare.
Many people whisper their prayers into the ears of the Nandi bull. This comes from another story. Shiva decided to meditate and, ofcourse, Nandi decided to do so as well and sat in front of his lord. During this meditation, the asura Jalandhara abducted Goddess Parvati. The gods asked Lord Ganesha to inform Shiva, but he could not bring his father out of his meditation. Then Ganesha whispered the details into the ears of Nandi the bull and Shiva heard and awakened. From there comes the belief that anything told to Nandi reaches Shiva.
Once Ravana mocked Nandi. Nandi retaliated with a curse that Ravana’s kingdom would be burnt by a monkey. This came true when Hanuman went in search of Sita.
The largest Nandi in India is in Aimury in Kerala. The largest number of bulls are killed in Kerala. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu has large Nandi temples. See if you can find any bulls either on the road or in Gaushalas. All over India, the little male calves are killed even before they can mature into bulls. Those that are fortunate enough to reach adulthood, rarely make it past 4 years of torture.
In the new temples devoted to Shiva, the scrotum of Nandi is not sculpted any more in case it embarrasses the same women who come to worship Nandi and ask for fertility. And truly, no one wants the uncastrated bull any more. Either he should be a bullock, with his testicles crushed to a pulp with stones and then made to work. Or he should be a cow – milked and then eaten. But a wild natural creature that roams free and defies use – why not just keep beating and starving him till he dies or better still, catch him at night as he poses a danger to humans, break his limbs so that he doesn’t be a nuisance on the truck and sell him to the butchers. Instead of using his virility to impregnate cows, we can do it with semen collected from bound creatures who deliver semen artificially which is induced into the cow by vets.
Shiva is Nandi. He refuses to be domesticated. He refuses to behave as society wants him to. He is sometimes the progenitor of his Goddess’ children but never their father. He will not be fettered. And just as we are scared of the goddesses who will not be married and depict them as ugly, wild and drinking blood – as against the tamed, beautiful consorts, Shiva is shown as wild and angry. This, unfortunately, is our opinion of the bull – a dangerous, wild creature, who should be eliminated.
Feed the bulls in your area. Stop them from being killed. They represent a part of you which is dying. You cannot be a Shiva bhakt and allow the bulls to die.
To join the animal welfare movement contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.peopleforanimalsindia.org
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- Denis Giles
- Hits: 1477
By Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
Superstitions kill animals. This the third article enumerating what illegal animal parts are being sold, by so called Hinduism sites, to gullible buyers in search of magic to change their lives for the better. People who have reached such a level of frustration and fear, that they are prepared to spend money to destroy every other species in the hope that this will bring a change in their fortunes. There are more lies about so-called Sacred Objects than any other items in the world – shaligrams (ammonite stones) rudrakshas (seeds of the Elaeocarpus ganitrus tree) for instance, but I am only taking those that involve animal lives.
I have already written about hathjodi, the penis of the monitor lizard and Siyar Singhi, the imaginary horn on the head of a particular jackal (neither the species, nor the bone exists).
The biggest fraud of all is the Nagamani, the magic stone that supposedly comes from the forehead of a cobra. It supposedly can be amber yellow, honey, dark green, light green, red, white or black (depending on the plastic available!).
It purportedly emanates light all the time and can be used at night as an alternative to an electric bulb. It can be seen from miles away like a helmet worn by a miner. (Except on the snake’s forehead where it doesn’t glow at all.) However, according to the sites, who need to have built in alibis when the items they sell for lakhs of rupees don’t work, the “light emission is proportionate to the age of the snake, who should be older than 30 years, and the stone from a younger snake does not possess that much light as that of an old snake gem. So nagamanis which are genuine from snakes but are not old enough or grown enough do not emit enough light.” Some emit a pale green light only at night and only if they have been kept in the sun during the day. Some emit light only when they are kept on tree leaves, others when kept on flowers, some only do it outside the house and others – when no one is looking. Some light up on amavasya or no moon night. If it doesn’t light up at all, then it is an ‘ichhadhari nagamani’ which is even rarer and costlier in that it will light up at will !!!” Considering that the life of a King Cobra is about 17-20 years in captivity and half of that in the wild and normal cobras are even less, the chances of a finding an electric bulb in its head are non-existent. One site says that an opaque nagamani that doesn’t emit light is also a nagamani except that it is a second level one and its real name is Snakestone.
Some nagamanis are solid like stone. Others are transparent. The sites hasten to add that the nagamani cannot be identified by a gemology laboratory, only by people who are experts in the Vedas (where it is not mentioned at all). There seems to be no settled idea of what a nagamani is – except its price and what it brings to the buyer: protection from snakes, devils and chronic diseases.
Every site accuses the other of selling fakes made of plastic or stone. Some say only the black ones are real and all the other colours are fake. Others say that only the blacks are fake.
Bill ki Jer or Bill ki Naal is the umbilical cord of the cat which is almost impossible to get as the cat eats it immediately on giving birth. The only way it can be gotten is if you tie up a cat while it gives birth, subject it to physical torture and cut the cord yourself. This so called cord – which is probably a human umbilical cord as these are often thrown away in hospitals- is meant for gamblers, stockbrokers, share investors and they must energise it with an expensive puja. It will then give lots of money and many buildings.
No one knows what the Garudmani or Eagle Pearl is. Even the sites do not explain which part of the eagle ‘s body this amazing stone comes from, but it is probably petrified and baked faeces. Its buyer, according to them, will develop keen eyesight, hunting skills, powers of observation, dominance over others, focus. He will soar like a bird and retrieve territory, becoming hugely popular as he swoops down. He will keep Rahu, Mangal and Shukra under his wings. All this in one piece of faeces evicted by the bird.
The same sites are selling lion teeth which have been “washed, brushed and cleaned properly”. Made into amulets they give strength and power and every judge, ruler and army officer has only risen to the top because he keeps energized teeth in his pants. If I find any buyers, after this site owner gives his list to the police, they will also be head prisoners in jail.
The Gajamukta/Hathimani, or Elephant pearl, is touted as found in a very rare species of elephant (there are only two, the African and Asian). They come from “Airavata elephants” (a species only known to Indra the raingod and are a synonym for clouds). The pearl is a dull white piece which is a mixture of ivory, pearl, bone marrow, calcium, Vitamin D and the secretion of the elephant’s brain! And this unlikely mix is supposed to cure cancer, arthritis, impotency, childlessness and make you rich.
How do the sites identify it as authentic? All water touched by it turns to milk. It throbs in your hand. It drinks coconut water. To test it, sit in the Northeast direction with the gajamani in your right hand and close your eyes for 90 minutes. If you are a good person and your chakras are clean then you will feel terrible pain in your heart, spine and head. If you feel nothing then you should buy it since you need to get your chakras cleaned up!
Owl feet are commonly found in the market and on sites. This extremely useful bird is now very threatened because it is captured and its feet cut and dried and sold as amulets that bring protection against illness and the evil eye.
Imagine a table full of lizard and jackal penises, bird faeces and feet, predator teeth, bits of elephant bone, pebbles and plastic, seeds and stones. Do you think this crackpot collection will give you riches and power or cure your diseases? Do you not sound mad?
Two sadhus met. What are you searching for, asked one. “I am looking for where God is” replied the second, “And you?”. “I am looking for where God isn’t.” said the first. God and success lies within you, not in sticks and stones and the blood, bone and faeces of killed animals.
To join the animal welfare movement contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.peopleforanimalsindia.org