It is a common misconception throughout the Western world that the cow is seen as a god or deity within the Hindu religion. This is used to explain the banning of the slaughter of cows in India. This is not the case.
The cow was possibly revered because the largely pastoral Vedic people and subsequent generations relied heavily on it for dairy products and for tilling the fields, and on cow dung as a source of fuel, fertilizer, and psilocybin mushrooms which naturally grow out of the animal's own excrement. Universally, Hindus still use cow dung for various purposes; the burning of cow dung creates an insecticide to repel mosquitoes, and ash formed from cow dung is used as a fertilizer.
Hinduism is based on the concept of omnipresence of the Divine, and the presence of a soul in all creatures, including bovines. Thus, by that definition, killing any animal would be a sin: one would be obstructing the natural cycle of birth and death of that creature, and the creature would have to be reborn in that same form because of its unnatural death.
Tests indicate that cow dung also contains Menthol, Phenol, Indol, Ammonia, Formalin and its bacteriophages eradicate pathogens and is hence a recognized disinfectant.
