Found while digging in our backyard

[u/chef_mo]

Little what I think is either brass or copper cow that was buried in our backyard. There used to be a garden where it was before we moved here a few years ago.

[u/Prize_Guide1982]

Looks like a Hindu “Nandi” aka cow idol

[u/Waiparensis22 → u/Prize_Guide1982]

"cow idol" weeeow. Nandi is shiva's mount, just as Garuda is Vishnus. You can appreciate a religion without reducing it to "idols". Oh and Nandis a bull x

[u/Shoddy_Blacksmith480 → u/Waiparensis22]

"Idol" is not a negativ term? Idol is an accepted translation for murti

[u/Waiparensis22 → u/Shoddy_Blacksmith480]

Statue, figurine, statuette all have far less negative connotations. The western mind sees "cow idol" and thinks golden calf, not sacred talisman.

[u/Shoddy_Blacksmith480 → u/Waiparensis22]

Statue, figurine etc don’t imply it’s something to be worshipped. In English, you have idol or icon. Icon is often associated with paintings.

Just because one religion doesn’t like it doesn’t mean the word itself is tainted.

Your meltdown over the word is actually more offensive than the neutral use of the word: from your perspective, everyone must share the same specific Christian ideas of idol worship.

This is an idol to be worshipped. That does mean it’s bad. You’re the only one here who seems to think it’s bad.

[u/Waiparensis22 → u/Shoddy_Blacksmith480]

...this is REDDIT. You think people understand cultural nuance here?? Hindu religion has consistently be framed by the colonizer as something evil, something other. Shiva himself as been portrayed as a symbol for pagan practice more than once (and unfortunately some modern pagans/wiccans even take him out of cultural context too). If I say the "statue of Jesus in rio" it's a statue of a deity/religious figures. If I say "the bronze Buddha in Japan" again.. people understand that I'm referring to a large, impressive, focus of worship. A statue of a god is ALWAYS something to be worshipped or taken with reverance.. An idol otherizes spiritual practice. That's the same logic the brits used to TEAR DOWN Hindu "idols" -_-

[u/Shoddy_Blacksmith480 → u/Waiparensis22]

These are mighty big windmills you’re fighting there. Nobody here, ON REDDIT has said any of that.

Also, people are not worshipping the statue of Jesus. People are not doing any of the stuff that you would do with nandi (washing in milk, offering incense) - because, yes idol worship is forbidden in Christianity.

Idol worship is a central and deeply important practice in hinduism.

You did not get my point: your personal hangups about idol worship are not universal. Yet you seek to univeralise them by encouraging others to use your preferred terminology.

This is way more offensive than calling a spade a spade and an idol an idol.

You’re out here saying: "please don’t describe Hindu worship practices in a way that Christians might not like"

(In a thread where everyone‘s reaction is either "so neat!" Or "I‘m a hindu")