Peacock is national bird because it is celibate: Mahesh Chandra Sharma

Hours after he ordered the central government to consider making the cow the national animal, Rajasthan High Court judge Mahesh Chandra Sharma put forth his theory as to why the peacock is the national bird. "It is a fact," he said, "that the peacock is celibate."

"The peacock is a bramhachari, and it does not have sex with a female peacock. The peahen gets impregnated after drinking the tears of the peacock. Even Lord Krishna wore peacock's feather on his head," the judge said when he was asked to explain his position after delivering a verdict on a petition pertaining to cow sheds.

Observing that his judgment was "only a call of the soul" and had nothing to do with secularism, Justice Sharma's more than 140-page judgment liberally cited all the Vedas (four of them), including the Ramayana and the Mahabharata to punctuate his point.

"Lord Krishna used peacock's feather for celibacy of the bird," said Sharma to prove that piousness and the religious importance of the peacock.

"I have cited all these holy books to show how important the cow is in ancient literature. I have even quoted the Gita. This verdict is a call of the soul and even though it is not binding on all the other states except Rajasthan, I hope other states follow this verdict."

Justice Sharma, who started practicing in the district courts of Jaipur from 1979, was elevated to the state High Court (Jaipur bench) 10 years ago. An expert on constitutional matter, Justice Sharma added, "The cow is the basis of the spirituality of all the Hindus. Keeping this belief in mind, such direction were issued. Even Nepal had declared the cow as the national animal. The Uttarakhand HC recently said the Ganga and Yamuna rivers should be declared as a legal entity. Similarly, cows should be given that status."