Cow as daughter of cosmic matter
The cow stands for fertility, prosperity, and life, and is often called a mother-ancestor. While Hindus venerate the cow as mother, go mata, ancient Egyptians identified goddess Hathor with the cow; her image was used in amulets to ward off evil and bring good luck. In Greece, goddess Europa’s brother Cadmus followed a sacred cow with moon-shaped marks to find out the right location for building the legendary city of Thebes.
Atharv Ved X.10, says: ‘The cow is heaven, earth, and Vishnu…’ Divinity pervades her anatomy – her face epitomises innocence; her eyes reflect peace, her horns, royalty and her ears, intelligence. Her udders are the fountain of ambrosia, her tail, a stairway to heaven. She ferries souls of the dead across the frightful Vaitarni river mentioned in the Puranas.
Rig Ved, VIII. 102.15; VI.28.5, describes the cow as the daughter of cosmic matter, sister of cosmic energy, and so on. She is Aditi ‘boundless’; her milk and its byproducts are wholesome and nourishing. Aghanya, meaning ‘not fit to be killed’, is used 21 times for the cow in Rig Ved. 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.’ Al Ghazali, an 11-12th century Muslim theologian and philosopher, wrote likewise: ‘The meat of a cow is disease, its milk health, and its ghee, medicine.’
Go-medha in ancient texts does not imply slaughtering (medha) the cow (go) but honouring and preserving its flock. ‘Go’ denoting ‘cow’ or ‘bull’ also stands for the earth, sacred speech, human tongue, or a ray of light. ‘Mansa’ means not only meat but also ‘soft, pulpy part of fruit or vegetable’. Yajurveda, xiii, 42.49, describes the cow as illustrious and inviolable, and prohibits its killing. This reminds one of The Epistle to Romans (14.20): ‘For meat, destroy not the work of God.’
Emperor Akbar banned cow slaughter. During India’s freedom struggle, Namdhari Sikhs (Kukas) sacrificed their lives for cow protection.
Hindus worship the cow due to a number of reasons: religious, socio-economic, and medical. The cow is associated with Krishn, also known as Govind and Gopal, as he grazed, protected, and nourished cows. It reminds one of the Alwars – 12 ancient poet-sants of South India, of the medieval philosophers and mystics such as Nimbarkacharya, Madhavacharya, Vallabhacharya, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Mira Bai and Surdas and, in recent times, of Swami Dayananda, Madan Mohan Malaviya, Vinoba Bhave and MK Gandhi, all of whom held the cow in great reverence.
To Gandhiji, the cow was ‘a poem of pity.’ “I worship it and i shall defend its worship against the whole world,” he had said.
