" Holy Cow! " is an exclamation of surprise used mostly in the United States, Canada, Australia and England. It is a minced oath or euphemism for "Holy Christ!" The use of the term "Holy Cow!" dates to at least 1905. The earliest known appearance of the phrase was in a tongue-in-cheek letter to the editor: " A lover of the cow writes to this column to protest against a certain variety of Hindu oath having to do with the vain use of the name of the milk producer. " The Western concept of "Holy Cow" Few people, however, revere the cow like the world’s 900 million adherents of Hinduism . Since the faith first evolved near Asia’s Indus River more than 4,000 years ago, respect for animal life has been a central theme in Hindu life. Although Hindus follow no single set of rules, reverence for cows can be found throughout the religion’s major texts. A Hindu woman worshiping a cow in North India Rig Veda are the oldest Hindu script...