Thread by @Aabhas24

India is a strange country. People do not kill
any living creatures, do not keep pigs and fowl,
and do not sell live cattle.

—Faxian, 4th-5th Century AD, Chinese pilgrim to India

They have a very strange order among them – they worship a cow and esteem much of the cow's dung to paint the walls of their houses ... They eat no flesh, but live by roots and rice and milk.

—Ralph Fitch, one of the earliest English travellers to India, 1580 AD

Hindus, like early Christians and Manichaeans, forbade the killing and eating of meat (of cows).

— Al-Biruni, 1017–1030 AD

But it is improper to forget the duty of cow protection and indulging only in worship. The word ‘only’ used here is important. First protect the cow and then worship it if you so desire.
— Veer Savarkar, 1938

It is important to note that though Savarkar despised Cow Worship but he wanted its protection.

Even a rationalist like him saw cow-protection as one of the most imp issues for Hindus.

For me it is impossible to believe that anyone in current context is as pragmatic as he was.

Now, this is very interesting what Veer Savarkar said in 1935.

"…The religious character that Hindus have given to cow protection howsoever naive is not symptomatic of cruelty.

...This is because protecting animals such as cows and buffaloes that are extremely useful to man have an objective of safeguarding human interests. ...

...But the religious fanaticism of those non-Hindus whose religion itself is based on hatred for the cow is not only naive but also cruel. They have no right whatsoever to mock at the Hindus."

He clearly despises people promoting COW-SLAUGHTER. He further says as below:

"There is an overdose of gratitude, compassion, notion of all living beings being one in the cow worship of Hindus. But the cow slaughter indulged in by non-Hindus has an excess of cruelty, ungratefulness and demonic (asuric) taking of life. ...

...It is not religious madness but irreligious wickedness. For this reason, these non-Hindus should discard their ‘religious’ cow hatred and consider cow protection done for economic reasons to be their duty."

So the attitude to mock Hindus throw Cow Slaughter related things is ASURIC as per Savarkar, the Nastik & rationalist.

They would not kill an animal on any account,
not even a fly, or a flea, or a louse,
or anything in fact that has life;
for they say these have all souls,
and it would be sin to do so.

—Marco Polo, III.20, 13th century AD

Well, people talk about "Lynching in name of Cow" as new phenomenon but historical records till from Taimuriya (Moghul) era speak otherwise.

According to writer, Muhammad Mahbubur Rahman, any public cow-slaughter would lead to immediate punishment by people in Moghul era.

Records tell us that even under the rule of Mighty Bigoted Tyrant Aurangzeb, Hindus resisted any public Cow-Slaughter with the biggest possible might.

Francois Bernier wrote that cow slaughter was akin to man slaughter.

1645 AD. Shah Jahan, appointed Aurangzeb as the Governor of Gujarat.

Soon, Aurangzeb killed cow inside the Chintamani Parshvanath Mandir & then lopped off the noses of the Murtis.

The place was converted into Mosque and called it the "Might of Islam".

As the great Marathas came in power, they ensured that even Christian Portuguese could not slaughter cow at ease.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh had brought complete ban on Cow-Slaughter too.

Source of snippet: Religious Nationalism: Hindus and Muslims in India by Peter van der Veer

There are many other books too that show about Cow-Slaughter ban under Ranjit Singh.

When we read the same source in further detail we can find that in the rule of Ranjit Singh Cow-Slaughter led to capital punishments and executions too.

Beef eating among Hindus entered with the arrival of the British & through Bengal.

1830s, Bengalis (The Young Bengal Group) of Hindu College began the "Whiskey & Beef" trend under the leadership of Derozio.

Source: A Concise History of Modern India by Metcalf & Metcalf

The attempt was same as it is today.

To demonize the "Hindoo" tradition and belief. That is how Hindus had began to eat "beef".

The woke phenomenon exists since 1830s.

In fact, according to Dharampal ji, cow-slaughter & penetration of Beef-Eating entered among Hindus through British and not the Muslims.

This is well supported from the records of the past too, which shows that fear of Hindus fought ferociously when the matter of Cow came.

Britishers had neo-oppressive methods & "kutniti", and with the support of influential Hindus they could indulge into heinous crime of Cow Slaughter.

So one can also see a case that with arrival of British, way more Dhimmis came into being.

"though the Muhammadans cow killing is made the pretext for the agitation, it is, in fact, directed against us, who kill far more cows for our army & c, than the Muhammadans.”

- Queen Victoria, 8-12-1893 (in the context of the Indian anti-kine-killing agitation)