ABSTRACT

The present article examines the efforts of the Hindu conservatives at securing support for a law to ban cow-slaughter during the intervening years of India’s Independence. It also critically examines the debate on this question in the Constituent Assembly of India. Through this examination the article notes how the Hindu conservatives prepared the ground for a law against cow-slaughter even prior to the question being debated in the Constituent Assembly. Further, it argues that by an exclusive consideration of the views of the practitioners of conservative Hindu religion, whose ideology is based on a monolithic conception of Hinduism, over cow and conversely disregarding the others’ views, particularly of Islam on the same, the makers of the Constitution of India sought to impose a Hindu religious practice upon the non-believers of Hindu religion. The article also highlights the role of Ambedkar in the making of Article 48. The article is divided into three sections, wherein the first section looks at the Hindu conservatives’ attempts at securing support for a law against cow slaughter, the second and third sections analyze the debate over the question of cow-slaughter in the Constituent Assembly of India.

摘要

本文考察了在印度独立期间，印度教保守派为争取支持禁止杀牛的法律所做的努力。它还批判性地审视了印度制宪会议关于这个问题的辩论。通过这次考察，文章指出了印度教保守派如何在立宪会议辩论该问题之前就为禁止屠宰牛的法律奠定了基础。此外，它认为，通过排他性地考虑保守的印度教信徒的观点，他们的意识形态是基于印度教的单一概念，而不是牛，相反地无视其他人的观点，特别是伊斯兰教的观点，制造者印度宪法的一部分试图将印度教的宗教习俗强加于印度教的非信徒。