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The Sanctity of the Cow in Hinduism

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The Sanctity of the Cow in Hinduism THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY ANNUAL NUMBER FEBRUARY 1964 The Sanctity of the Cow in Hinduism W Norman Brown At the close of the Vedic period the cow was still an article of food and was appreciated for that reason, as well as for its other economic values. The doctrine of the cow's sanctity does not appear at all in Vedic literature. The general Buddhist and Jain, and later Hindu, doctrine of Ahimsa appears at the end of the Vedic period and at that time enters the stream of Brahmanical religious teaching, but the doctrine of the special sanctity of the cow is not at first associated with it. The sanctity of the cow is first recorded in the works composed close to the beginning of the Christian era, though the texts of that time treat it equivocally. The doctrine gets a strong position by the time of the completion of the Mahabharata, say at the beginning of the Gupta dynasty, about the 4th Century A D. Its position J was made firm doctrinally in Brahmanical circles in the period of composition of the Puranas, and it becomes widely diffused among the Hindu community, gaining ever increasing prestige from then on. I Neither does it seem possible to so much appreciated for its econo­ attach importance for the develop­ mic value. The cow or ox was an THE purpose of this paper is to ment of the doctrine to such pheno­ asset in producing food directly identify those notions which have mena as the buffalo or bull used as through its milk and flesh and in been critical in the formation of the 3 a scapegoat, or the use of cowdung serving as assistance for agriculture Hindu doctrine that the cow has a as a purificatory substance for wash­ and for transportation. All these special sanctity and inviolability ing the walls and floors of houses, phases of the cow's or ox's usefulness giving it a position above all other or the abhorrence of the cow and its are abundantly stressed in Vedic animals and precluding the eating 4 milk by the Shins in Gilgit, or the literature, especially in the Rig Veda. of its flesh. Most of these notions common designation of the bull as appear in the period of Vedas, though Shiva's vehicle or the dedication of Besides its economic role, the cow the doctrine of the cow's sanctity bulls to him. These various notions and bull and ox had an important does not come into existence until are not accompanied by a doctrine ritualistic function in the Vedic sac­ after that period. The doctrine is es that the cow, bull, ox—cattle in gene­ rifice, which was the centre of the sentially one concerning the cow; ral-are inviolable and their meat Vedic religion, a function not remote­ the accompanying sanctity of the forbidden. ly approached by any other animal. bull seems to be more obscure in Cattle were the chief sacrificial vic­ origin and likely to stem in large part In Vedic Literature tims and the products of the cow from non-Aryan sources. It will not Before advancing suggestions were the oblation (havis). So, too, be treated in this paper-1 of the origin of the sanctity of no other animal figures so frequent­ the cow in Indo-Aryan society it ly in simile or metaphor applied to The doctrine of the cow's sanctity seems in order to review briefly the a wide range of subjects- the pheno­ seems to be influenced only tangen- attitude toward cattle, especially the mena of nature, such as dawn or tially by notions originating in non- cow, in Vedic and early post-Vedic rainfall or streams; deities both Aryan cultures. For example, it can­ literature. In the total mass of Vedic male and female, human beings, the not be shown to derive from the civi­ literature the cow, the bull, t and the paraphernalia of the sacrifice such as lizations of the Indus Valley in the ox, collectively cattle, are mentioned the stones for pressing out the third and second millennia B.C. It more frequently than any other spe­ soma, whose sound as they rub to­ is true that representations of the cies of animal. It is doubtful if any gether may be spoken of as bellow­ bull and the ox appear on seals and other large body of literature, belong- ing of bulls, or the soma drops of­ among the terra-cotta figurines of Ing to any other people in any period, fered in the sacrifice, which may be the Harappa culture, and that some gives that animal so much import­ called bulls because of their power. of these have been considered to have ance- The Veda has a couple of doz­ Yet in all this richness of reference a religious significance, but they ap­ en or more separate specialized words to cattle there is never, I believe, a pear relatively seldom, less frequent­ for cattle, as for heifer, barren cow, hint that the animal as a species or ly, it happens, than representations cow that has ceased to bear after the cow for its own sake was held of the well-known Indus Valley "uni­ having one calf, four-year old ox, sacred and inviolable. And further corn," and the cow is ignored, at three-year old ox, large castrated there is no knowledge whatever in least in the terra-cottas.2 The in­ ox, and other kinds of differentiation. Vedic literature, except at its very terpretation of these representations Cattle or herds of cattle or the pro­ end, of the wide doctrine of Ahimsa. is at best problematic, and it is un­ ducts of the cow are the standard non-injury of living creatures, which warranted to conclude that the scenes items mentioned in descriptions of in modern Hinduism covers not only of bulls goring human beings indicate wealth. Cattle constituted the great mankind but the entire animal king­ anything about the animal's sanctity. booty in war. No other animal was dom, with special emphasis on the 245 ANNUAL NUMBER FEBRUARY 1964 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY cow. On the contrary, the animal sac­ believe to be overstressed, if not because he has no cow (presumably rifice is a well established feature actually misinterpreted. It concerns to supply the milk and its products of the Vedic religion;"5 it included the stem aghanya/aghnya, which means needed as offerings) and no axe both ox and cow;6 and the priests ate basically "not to be slain" and is (presumably to cut the wood for the the flesh after it had been offered." used four times in the Rig Veda sacrificial fire). In seven other pas­ Further, the cow was regularly used and the Atharva Veda as a mascu­ sages the text implies, though it as foods in circumstances call­ line noun equivalent to "bull" or does not definitely assert, that the ing for elaborate entertainment "ox" and 42 times with a feminine cow or cows mentioned can bear: in For a .special guest, such as "a king ending to mean "cow." The question one of these (RV 10.102.7) the word or a Brahman," one "would cook a is why the cow or the bull or the aghnya, is used of cows which are large ox or a large he-goat."8 A ox should be characterised as "not said to have a lord or husband (pati); great king of the Rig Veda named to be slain." Is the answer that these in one, rainfall is besought of the Divodasa is frequently mentioned animals were acquiring sanctity and storm god Parjanya to nourish the by an epithet Atithigva, meaning inviolability? This is the interpreta­ cows (RV 5.838); in three others, "he who (always) has a cow for a tion given by Macdonell and Keith.15 the word is applied to the sacrifice guest"-' There was a special term Or is the answer something else? metaphorically called a cow (AV 10. for the ceremony of such entertain­ t believe that it is the latter. The 9.3,11,24); in one, it is applied to the ment (go-arghya 'COW offering") and problem is really confined to the fre­ cow (vasa) which is the all-produc­ the celebrant "prepared or did the quently occurring feminine stem; ing and all-containing universe (AV cow" (gam kurute).10 The eating the infrequent masculine stem 16 10.10.1); and in one, it is probably, of meat seems to have been a com­ seems to be merely a reflex of the but not certainly, meant to indicate mon enough occurrence in Vedle feminine, as if a speaker of English the anustarani cow (AV 18.3.4), society for those who could afford were to use an expression "male which is slaughtered in the funeral it. Consequently at the ceremony of cow" (cf. Sanskrit pumgava). The ceremony and is therefore, in spite consecration when various purifi­ feminine aghnya I suggest, could of its epithet, not inviolable in any catory and self-denying personal mean or imply that the cow which absolute sense.'" In the remaining observances, such as shaving and it designates is not to be slain be­ six occurrences of aghnya (RV 1.164. bathing, are prescribed, one of them cause it is productive and of econo­ 40; 8.75.8; AV 7.73.11 (=RV 1.164. is? abstention from eating beef, mic value; that is, it has or could 40); 8.7.25; 18,4.49; 19.162) the whether of the milch cow (dhenu) have a calf, or it gives or could give context is either inconclusive or ob­ or of the ox (anaduha).
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