Padayatra - oxen or horses?

01-30-2004, 09:41 AM

Kalavatidevi108 (AT) aol (DOT) com wrote:

>These are just a couple of little sidenotes:
>
>I recently talked to a mataji friend of ours in Alachua. She was telling me
>how Padayatra arrived there some time ago and has just stayed there since
>their (Their) arrival. She said that someone had the idea that the cart could

>travel from one devotee home to another and another for several hours - either

>everyday or particular days of the week (I forget which she said). They have
>been doing this for some time now, with the whole Padayatra program of
>chanting,
>etc. all over the area - since there are literally over a couple hundred
>actual devotee residences they could go to - and with devotee children riding
>along on the cart. She said all the devotees just love it. Padayatra will be

>there until Gaura Purnima. I think that a horse is doing the pulling, etc. -
>not an ox or team - but I was considering how this is very visible to the
>devotees themselves in terms of the utility and pleasantness of engaging the
>animals. I was thinking how if just one mild ox could be put to that service
>in
>Alachua shortly after Padayatra leaves, it would be a nice opportunity and
>spring
>board into drawing an immediate, direct focus onto the cows - while everyone
>is blissfully and sadly waving goodbye to the Padayatra.
>
Using oxen for a Padayatra is ideal. Certainly when Lokanath Maharaja
was inspired to start the first Padayatras in India, he based it on
Srila Prabhupada's final wish to circumambulate Govardhana Hill in an ox
cart.

However, much depends on what the people organizing the Padayatra are
comfortable with. If they are more comfortable with horses, and know
more about their care and feeding -- it's probably best for them to
stick with horses. This is still a nice program.

Otherwise, if they are using oxen, and are not sufficiently expert, then
they may commit various offenses, and even do a poor job of maintaining
the animals, which would be inauspicious -- both from the public
relations and the spiritual point of view.

So, even though using oxen is ideal, the choice is best made by the
teamster.

One more consideration is that dairy farmers and beef farmers are
becoming more and more aware of many diseases (such as Johnne's disease,
hoof and mouth disease, etc.) which can be transferred between cattle.
Thus, their decision to use horses could be based on the fact that
there are probably fewer USDA restrictions these days for moving horses
across state lines than there would be for oxen.

Why not ask them about whether this aspect was partly influential in
their decision to use horses? Please report back to us. I'm sure the
rest of us would be interested to know.

your servant,

Hare Krsna dasi

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