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IN PRAISE OF A COW

Although the unique place accorded to the cow is one of the best-known features of the Hindu Tradition, it is difficult to define the nature of the relationship of the cow to the religious structure. This is probably partly to be explained by the fact that no very close analogy exists elsewhere, and therefore one cannot draw upon other cultural examples to illumine the situation, but it is also to be explained in terms of changing values within the tradition itself. To say that the cow is regarded as sacred is probably correct, but in a tradition notable for the proliferation of deities and for the willingness of people to create plastic representations, it is remarkable that there is no "cow goddess" nor is the cow - as distinct from the bull - found in the form of an idol in temples. Furthermore, the prohibition on cow-killing and the eating of beef, which characterizes Hinduism from the early centuries of the Christian era, was apparently unknown in Vedic times.

From very early times, however, the cow was revered as the possessor of great power. It is frequently suggested this is the natural reaction of an agricultural people to an animal valuable for plowing, transportation, fertilizer, and food, but this naturalistic interpretation would scarcely seem to account for the quite extraordinary sanctity that is associated with the cow. Probably one must look for the explanation in some very primitive acceptance of the cow as a totem, and then, at a later stage, in the tendency for Indian thinkers to see special significance in finding identities between the cosmic order and the familiar objects of the everyday world. The cow and her manifold useful properties provided a peculiarly satisfying object for identification. The following verses in praise of the cow are taken from a long hymn where, through a process of mystical identifications, the cow becomes the whole visible universe.

Worship to thee, springing to life, and worship to thee when born!
Worship, O Cow, to thy tail-hair, and to thy hooves, and to thy form!
Hitherward we invite with prayer the Cow who pours a thousand streams,
By whom the heaven, by whom the earth, by whom these waters are preserved...
Forth from thy mouth the songs came, from thy neck's nape sprang strength, O Cow.
Sacrifice from thy flanks was born, and rays of sunlight from thy teats.
From thy fore-quarters and thy thighs motion was generated, Cow!
Food from thine entrails was produced, and from thy belly came the plants....
They call the Cow immortal life, pay homage to the Cow as Death.
She hath become this universe, Fathers, and Rishis, hath become the Gods, and men, and Spirits.
The man who hath this knowledge may receive the Cow with welcoming.
So for the giver willingly doth perfect sacrifice pour milk....
The Cow is Heaven, the Cow is Earth, the Cow is Vishnu, Lord of Life.
The heavenly beings have drunk the out-pourings of the Cow.
When these heavenly beings have drunk the out-pourings of the Cow,
They in the Bright One's dwelling-place pay adoration to her milk.
For Soma some have milked her: some worship the fatness she hath poured.
They who have given a cow to him who hath this knowledge have gone up to the third region of the sky.
He who hath given a Cow unto the Brahmans winneth all the worlds.
For Right is firmly set in her, devotion, and religious zeal.
Both Gods and mortal men depend for life and being on the Cow.
She hath become this universe: all that the Sun surveys is she.
(from Atharva Veda X:10)