Cow as universal mother

Dr Satish 

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k kapoorThe cow stands for fertility, prosperity and life, and is called, mother-ancestor, for being the first mammal to be domesticated by man. Ancient Greeks regarded the great cow Europa, meaning full moon, as  female parent of  stars. In the Norwegian tradition, Audumla, the primordial milch cow fed the six-headed son of Aurgelmir, progenitor of gigantes.

In Egyptian mythology, the sky is represented as the divine cow, Ahet, who is mother of sun, the central body of the solar system. A parallel may be drawn with the Rigvedic verse (X. 85.1) which says that, by Surya are the heavens sustained just as the earth is sustained by Truth. Another Egyptian goddess, Hathor, who personifies joy and creation, is likened to the cow, and her image used in amulets to bring good luck. In north-east Africa, along the Nile river, the cow used to be adorned or  led in celebratory processions as they still do in  Tamil Nadu during  Pongal,  and  in Nepal  during  Gai Jatra. 

Just as Hindus believe that the cow ferries the souls of the dead across the frightful Vaitarani river mentioned in the Purana-s, and goad a  dying person to mentally grasp the tail of  the cow to attain salvation,  ancient Egyptians used  the cow in funerary and other rites.  

The Aryans were compassionate towards animals, and chanted prayers so that their tribe may increase. The Rigveda (VIII. 102.15) likens the cow to be the mother of cosmic forces, daughter of cosmic matter, sister of cosmic energy, and so on. The cow is Aditi, ‘boundless’, the embodiment of a goddess who supports the universe; her milk and its products are wholesome and nourishing (Rigveda. VI. 28.5). The hymns of the Atharvaveda (IV. 21.1; 3-7) seek bounties of the cow besides praying for their welfare. The Yajurveda ( XIII,42,48,49) describes the cow as illustrious and inviolable. 

The Hindus worship the cow due to a number of reasons — religious, socio-economic, medical and scientific. The word aghanya -‘not fit to be killed’ — is used 21 times for the cow in the Rigveda, the earliest scripture known to mankind. The idea has a near parallel in the Biblical Book of Isaiah(66.3) which says : “He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man.”  The Manu Smrti (XI. 80) admonishes that if one sacrificed one’s life in defense of the learned men  and cows, one became free from the gravest sin.

Al Ghazali (1058-1111 CE), a noted Muslim theologian and philosopher observed that ‘the meat of a cow is disease, its milk health, and its ghee, medicine. A foreign scholar points out that during famine, ‘the cow is far more useful as a creature that can produce limitless amount of milk, than as a dead beast that would provide meat for a limited period only.’  There might have been isolated instances  in history, when cows and bulls were used in religious sacrifices but such practices were  generally abhorred. Such is the reverence for the cow that her dung is turned into a deity during  Govardhan Puja.  Pancha-gavya, a mixture of cow’s five products, is traditionally consumed by Hindus during religious rites. Some tribes of Central Africa rinse the milking vessel for purification. 

Mughal emperors, notably Akbar, are known to have banned cow slaughter. When beef-eating societies were formed in mid-19th century India, Syed Nazir Ahmad of Sitapur (UP), pioneered  the cow protection movement  by establishing Islami Gorakshan Sabha. During the British rule, Kuka Sikhs sacrificed their lives in the cause. The  Uprising of 1857 was sparked off  by the rumour  that greased cartridges to be used by sepoys , were made up of animal fat of pig or cow.

To Mahatma Gandhi the cow was ‘a poem of pity’, ‘the purest form of sub-human life’, ‘the mother to millions of Indian mankind’. ‘Protection of the cow means protection of the whole dumb creation of God’, he wrote.  “I worship it and I shall defend its worship against the whole world.’ (Young India, 6th October 1921; 1st January 1925).

The cow is a symbol of millennia old Indian culture, emblematic of truth, beauty and goodness. She reminds one of Lord Krishna, also called Govinda and Gopala as he  grazed, protected and nourished cows, of  Nachiketa in the Kathopanishad , of  Alvar saints in Tamil Nadu, of  philosophers and mystics like Nimbarakacharya, Madhavacharya, Vallabhacharya and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, of saint-poets like Mira Bai and Surdas and, in recent times, of Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Madan Mohan Malaviya, Vinoba Bhave  and others, who held the cow in great reverence, and  professed non-killing, as in the Epistle to Romans( 14.20) :  ‘For meat, destroy not the work of  God.’

(Dr Satish K Kapoor, former British Council Scholar and former Registrar, DAV University, is a noted author, educationist, historian and spiritualist based in Jalandhar.)