1.4 billion. And counting. Rising every single day.

Hindus only really have high regard for cows, because they are sacred (and bulls, because one of the avatars of their most important goddesses rode a bull into battle to slay a terrible daemon, or some such). Other animals – not so much. They treat dogs abominably in India, and cats don’t fare too much better.

The Hindu cycle of reincarnation, which I’ve dunked on extensively before due to its lack of logic, posits – depending on which guru/sage/Veda/whatever you follow – that, if you live an unworthy life in the past, you will be reborn as a lower life form in your next incarnation. So if you are reborn as an animal of some kind, you are suffering punishment for something you did wrong.

Beyond that, the lines get awfully blurry and very weird in a very big hurry. Some sects, such as the Jains, say that inflicting harm or pain of any kind is morally wrong – they are basically the Fruitarians of India, except even crazier, with even more highly restrictive diets, so they only eat an extremely limited set of foods and will not even so much as swat a mosquito if it tries to feed on them.

Other sects regard it as perfectly moral to kill certain animals, because, again, divine/karmic punishment, or whatever.

I’m not saying any of it makes sense, mind you, I’m just saying, this is what they believe.

there are a billion people in India. you’ll find a bit of everything there, such as Aghoris.
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but in general, yes, Hindus normally try to avoid killing animals and they have great regard for some species ( such as cattle ) due one of the gods having an avatar in that form or other religious significance.

Pardon my ignorance, I thought that kindness to animals was common in India due to the reincarnation part of the Hindu faith. Is kindness to animals uncommon broadly in India?