Jodhpur, India
1996
Steve McCurry

"Revered enough by Hindus to roam the streets of Jodhpur, a bull is still not as sacred as a cow, which is surrounded by a great mythic aura. An ancient Hindu verse says that he who kills, eats, or permits the slaughter of a cow will 'rot in hell for as many years as there are hairs on the body of the cow so slain.'"

(Photographed while on assignment for, but not published in, “India: Fifty Years of Independence,” May 1997, National Geographic magazine)

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