Is Buddhism the reason behind hindus not eating cows?

Buddha and Buddhism do not forbid eating meat barring few Buddhist sects & individuals. Most Buddhists all over the world including in Buddhist countries eat meat. Tourists in Japan are surprised when they figure how rampant it is there, compared to India where one can find several "Vaishno Dhabas" (Hindu vegetarian joints) in every town.

Buddha would eat anything (veg. or non-veg.) people gave him as bhiksha to eat. However, Jainism is the religion which believes in not harming any forms of life for any reason even food (they don't uproot the whole plant) and totally forbids eating meat. Jainism also preceded Buddhism in timeline. So, even if we are to consider that vegetarianism in Hinduism was an external influence then it most probably came from Jainism not Buddhism.

The cow is regarded as a blessed and this goes back to ancient mythology. It is thought that vegetarianism and ahimsa was introduced into Hinduism by way of Buddhism--but originated back during the time the Bauddha philosophy (what became "Buddhism") was the dominant philosophy in India ( between the 5th century BCE to about the 6th century CE)

No. Hinduism is a compilation of different beliefs so it has all of the differences. If you ask Hindus, what is Hinduism and how it works, they wouldn't give you the same answers - but if they did, you would miss other information. Belief in cow is a very ancient tradition - that came long before Buddhism.

[Mahatma] Gandhi himself says, "I know there are scholars who tell us that cow-sacrifice is mentioned in the Vedas.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/4229/in12.ht...

http://www.academia.edu/1365001/Beef_eating_in_the...

http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/...

http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/things/cow.h...

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=hindu+cow+god&r...

That's what I mean by Hinduism being the compilation of different beliefs. But cow worship is not from Buddhism.

Truly yes

The vedic Hinduism before Buddha had all rituals of sacrificing animals & eating these on religious occasions.

It was Buddha who himself at that time first asked people to refrain from killing animals for religious rituals. And especially for cow Buddha asked people not to kill , I have read words of Buddha for not killing cow.

Actually Buddha was against all violence , that is the reason because all people reincarnate so any animals can also be our blood relative in past lives.

Regarding animal sacrifice , you can read words of Buddha here :

http://tipitaka.wikia.com/wiki/Kutadanta_Sutta

Hindu's don't eat cows in general because they decided in the nineteenth century to stage a protest against Muslim butchers and farmers. Muslim butchers and farmers depended on cow consumption for their livelihoods, the Hindu's not liking the Muslims, decided to create the "cow protection movement".