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). A myth is milk, and is not barren, economically scure. But in no passage is the con­ related to support the rule. But the without value. Possibly the masculine text such as to exclude the interpre­ celebrated Vedic sage Yajnavalkya, form should be understood to mean tation that the cow is called "un- whose name figures as a great autho­ a bull or ox capable of propagating slayable" because it is still economi­ rity in the fields of both ritual and or serving as a draught animal. cally productive. The word aghnya, metaphysical speculation, would have Doctrine of Ahimsa is not used in association with words which mean a barren cow (start none of the prohibition. Said he, "I, If we survey rapidly the 42 occur­ dhenustart) or a cow barren after for one, eat it (beef), provided that rences of the feminine stem in the 11 calving ( sutavasa.) or one * which it is tender (amsala). " In another Rig Veda and the Atharva Veda miscarries (vehat), nor is it used passage the yearly performance of we can see that this interpretation with the word vasa when the latter the animal sacrifice, which the text is not implausible. In three passages is applied to a barren cow.18 says means "cattle," is recommended aghnya is used as an appositive to for perpetuating the sacrificer's own dhenu "milch cow" (RV 4.1.6; Lesser items from Vedic literature herds, for, says the text, "flesh is 8.69.2; 9.1.9.). In 12 passages the the best kind of food."*- have been cited in support of the text refers to the animal's ability to idea that either the wide doctrine In the give milk (RV 1.164.27; 7.68.8.9; of Ahimsa or the narrow doctrine Sutra literature meat-eat­ 10.60.11; 10.87.16; AV 6.91.2 (—RV of the inviolability of the cow ap­ ing is taken for granted. The laws 10 60.11 ); 7.73.8 (—RV 1.164.27); 8. pears or is presaged in Vedic litera­ of Apastamba, for example, merely 3.15 (= RV 10.87.16); 12.5-58,60,63,65 ture. Keith alludes in this connec­ restrict the manner of killing the (and cf. 23) ). One passage refers tion to the prohibition against beef- animal; the text says, "He (the Brah­ to the animal's swollen udder (RV eating at the consecration ceremony man householder) shall not eat meat 9.93.3), Eight mention its calf (AV mentioned above.19 The text (Sata- which has been cut with a sword (or 330.1); 6.70.1,2,3; 9.4.2, 4.17.19). patha Brahmana 3.1.2.21) says thai knife) used for killing."13 Again, the Four use the word as an epithet of one who eats beef is likely to be re­ laws of Gautama forbid a Brahman the cosmic waters, which are regu­ born as a man of evil fame. But it to eat the flesh of a number of kinds larly stated to have the sun as their is clear from the context that this of animals including milch cows and embryo or calf (RV 9.80.2 ( ? ); result follows only if he eats the draught oxen, except those slain for 10.46.3) (possibly the reference is beef in the consecration hall. Keith sacrifice, 14 to the Cloud as the mother of Agni also refers in the same place to the There is an item in Vedic litera­ -the lightning); (AV 7.83.2; 19.44. evil consequences for one who eats ture which has seemed to some 9). In one passage (RV 8.102.19) a the Brahman's cow (AV 12.4), but scholars to imply or foreshadow the sacrificer complains that he is handi­ here again the inference is unwar­ later wide Hindu doctrine of the in­ capped in performing the sacrifice ranted. It is quite clear from the violability of the cow. This item I 246 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY ANNUAL NUMBER FEBRUARY 1964

context that the punishment follows number of other virtues suitable to eaten by that same animal in yond­ not because the animal eaten is a be a priest's gifts: the others are aus­ er world (5.55). In another stanza cow but because it belongs to the terity, alms-giving, rectitude, truth­ it forbids injury to cows, along with Brahman as his right.20 fulness (atha yat tapo danam arjavam injury to one's teacher, a reciter of Still another passage is cited by ahimsa; satyavacanam iti ta asya the Vedas, one's father, mother, spi­ 23 Keith in this connection. In it dakdinaah). ritual preceptor, Brahmans, and all (Kausitaki Brahmana 11.3, inadvert­ In Indic Civilisation ascetics (4162). In still another (11. ently cited as 12.3), he says, ''are When we leave the Vedic period 60) it includes cow-slaughter (go- warnings of retribution in the next and pass to that of the rise and for­ vidha) in a long list of crimes. These world which are offered to eaters of mation of characteristic Indie civi­ passages support Ahimsa and the meat in this"21. The context again lization we find the idea of Ahimsa sanctity of the cow, but there are makes clear that this interpretation and the doctrine of the sanctity of others which essentially deny the is incomplete and misleading. The the cow slowly gaining status in doctrines. One of the latter classifies text deals with the usage of various Brahmanical circles. The period is animals into those which may and metres in the morning sacrificial roughly from about the 5th century those which may not be eaten (5.11. litany, and the section in question B.C. to the 4th century A.D. During ff.). Another specifically says, "One explains why two of these metres, it a number of important texts have should eat flesh which has been con­ the Bihati and the Usnth, should be allusions of greater or less explicit- secrated, and at the desire of Brah­ used- By using them the priest en­ ness to these notions. mans, and when duly required, and in danger of life. Prajapati made all circles the cattle and confers them One of these is the Bhagavad Gita. this food for life; both movable and upon the patron of the sacrifice. If In it the sanctity of the cow is not immovable, all is food for life. The the priest does not use these metres mentioned at all and the wider doc­ immovable (things are) food of those and thus encircle the cattle with trine of Ahimsa is little developed. that move about; the toothless, of them, then, just as in this world The Bhagavad Gita uses the word those with teeth (or fangs); those men eat cattle, so in the next world Ahimsa four times 10.5; 13.7; 16.2; without hands, of those with; the the cattle of the patron of the sac­ 17-14), and each time with no spe­ cowardly (such as deer), of the bold rifice will eat him. But if the priest cial significance but rather in a cata­ *(such as the tiger). An eater who does use these two metres, then in logue of human characteristics, good even day by day eats eatable living the next world the cattle will not eat and bad (10.5) or of the content of beings is not polluted, for the eat­ the patron of the sacrifice in requi­ knowledge (13.7) or of virtues (16.2) able living beings were created by tal. Rather the patron, just as he or of the elements of bodily auste­ the creator as well as the eaters" eats and enjoys the cattle in this rity (17,14). It never elaborates on (5.27-30).25 The general position of world, will eat and enjoy them in Ahimsa as a doctrine; rather its at­ Manu's law book is that one should the next world. The warning issued titude is the opposite. Krishna's eat consecrated flesh, but not un- in the text is not against eating teachings are meant to dispel Ar- consecrated flesh; that is, he should cattle but against omitting a certain juna's qualms at shedding the blood 22 not eat flesh which has not been portion of the sacrificial ritual' of his opponents and his correspond­ offered in sacrifice (5.36-38). By The various passages cited from ing willingness to submit unresist­ eating consecrated flesh he does good Vedic literature show no knowledge ingly to their weapons (1,28-47). In both to himself and to the slain ani­ of the doctrine of the sanctity and this purpose Krishna is successful mal (5.39-42). But if he does not inviolability of the cow or of cattle. and Arjuna leads his side to battle eat it, he will be reborn as a beast Rather Vedic literature points to a and victory (18.73). As F. Edgerton for twenty-one existences (5.35). general practice of offering cattle remarks: "....some lip-homage is as sacrificial victims and a wide­ paid to it (Ahimsa). But it is never Another celebrated text of the spread custom of eating their meat. definitely and sharply applied in same general period which is ambi­ Vedic literature is also silent on such a form as 'Thou shalt not valent on these questions is the 24 the wide doctrine of Ahimsa until its kill.'' Arthasastra. In this work the sale very end and then alludes to it in Next I would like to refer to the of meat is recognised as legal, and only the barest manner. The doc­ laws of Manu. This work is equivo­ butchers are required to see that the trine of Ahimsa makes its real ap­ cal on the subjects of Ahimsa and meat they sell is fresh; however, pearance with Jainism and Buddh­ the inviolability of the cow. On one cattle—calf, bull, milch cow—were ism in the 6th and 5th century B.C., side it prescribes that a student of not to be slaughtered (226). If cat­ a time which corresponds to the the Veda, who is of course a Brah­ tle are wrongfully grazed in land closing centuries of the Vedic period. man, should avoid flesh, along with not belonging to their owner they Mahavira and the Buddha gave honey, perfume, garlands, women, may be driven out but are not to be Ahimsa the principal place in their gaming, and other harmful things injured (3.10). The institution of set­ ethical systems. In the Vedic lite­ (2177; 11.159), and includes Ahimsa ting free a bull consecrated to a rature of approximately this same with truthfulness, non-stealing, purity, deity to wander is recognised (3.10). period Ahimsa makes a brief appear­ and restraint of the senses in a These passages favour the cow. But ance. There is a single occurrence of summary of the duties of the four another passage refers to "cattle the word in the early Upanishads, classes of society (10.63). Again it which are fit only for the supply of those attached to Brahmanas. where says that he who eats the meat of flesh" (2.19), thus indicating that it is listed inconspicuously with a any animal in this world will be not all cattle were inviolable. Pos-

247 ANNUAL NUMBER FEBRUARY 1964 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY

248 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY ANNUAL NUMBER FEBRUARY 1934 sibly the text implies that these ani­ of whom one was the Jain convert circles in the period of composition mals were otherwise economically King Kumarapala, who reigned in of ter Puranas, and it becomes wide­ worthless and expresses an idea Gujarat 1142-1172. He is stated to ly diffused among the Hindu com­ similar to that which I suggested have imposed the death penalty upon munity, gaining ever increasing above lies at the bottom of the use an unfortunate merchant who was prestige from that time on. of the Vedic word aghnya. found in possession of meat near a sanctuary in the capital city of Anhil- II The Mahabharata, taken as a wadapatan, according to the Prabha- It seems possible to recognize a whole, shows Brahmanic rule and vakacarita 22.823-830.30 Hindu mo- constellation of at least five elements popular practice to be at variance. narchs gave the doctrine of Ahimsa which have produced the doctrine of In one passage the text states that greater or less support , especially the sanctity of the cow. These are: he who kills a cow lives as many when they felt strong enough to the importance of the cow and us years in hell as there are hairs on enforce it. For example, the historian products for the performance of the the cow's body (1374.4; cf. Ordin­ Kalhna records instances in the Vedic sacrificial ritual; the figurative ances of Manu 5.38), and various Rajatarangini (3.5-6; 5.119). uses of words for the cow in Vedic other passages command Ahimsa. Firmly Fixed in Dogma literature and the later understand­ Yet elsewhere meat-eating is men­ ing of these figurative expressions tioned in a casual manner and the The bulk of mediaeval Brahmanic literature and even the later strata of as indicating literal truth; the pro­ existence of a butcher shop is nothing hibitions against violation of the the Mahabharat treat Ahimsa and out of the ordinary (3.207).26 Brahman's cow; the inclusion of the the sanctity of the cow as establish­ The Buddhist records during this cow under the general doctrine of ed doctrine and ignore such evidences an Ahimsa d the association of the same period also show that the doc­ of dissidence as we have been notic­ cow with the mother-goddess cult. trine of Ahimsa was not well esta- ing above For example, a long sec­ blished in popular practice, though tion of the Mahabharat (Anusasana The importance of the cow in the the Buddhists and Jains were pro­ parvan 76-83) is devoted to incul­ Vedic ritual and the increase of moting it zealously. Asoka, on being esteem for the cow in consequence 1 cating worship "of the cow. The doc- converted to Buddhism (perhaps trine of the cow's sanctity and in- of that importance have already around 262 B.C.), became an un­ violability is also well elaborated in been recognized in other discussions 33 swerving adherent to the doctrine of the Puranas 31 The epic, the pura- of the cow's sanctity in India. The Ahimsa. He instituted a strict set nas, and a great mass of ancillary use of the cow as a sacrificial animal of rules to enforce it, which are re­ literature express the idea of the and of its products as offerings in corded in his Pillar Edict V, and cow's sanctity in the form which ritual fire has been mentioned above appointed officers to enforce these modern Hinduism accepts as ortho­ in this paper, is widely known and has and other moral legislation (Rock dox, and on their authority the doc­ been well covered in various descrip Edicts V, XII; Pillar Edict VII). trine is so firmly fixed in dogma, tions and analyses of the Vedic sacri­ Yet the Pali texts make it clear that whatever the case may be with prac­ fice. It need not be elaborated here. hunters, trappers, and butchers were tice, that it is possible for a modern But that element in itself is not suffi­ recognised traders, and there were authority on Hinduism to say that cient to account for the cow's sanctity. shops to handle their wares.27 About caste, rebirth, and the sanctity of the Other ideas have been added to it. sixty years after Asoka's death a cow are the principal tenets of The importance of the figurative Hindu dynasty arose in his capital, Hinduism on the popular level.•'*- uses of words for cow, bull, ox in, whose founder Pusyamitra is said to Let me now summarize this dis­ Vedic literature require more speci­ have revived the horse-sacriflce, as cussion of the history of the doc­ fic statement in our present discus­ was recorded without shock about trine of the cow's sanctity. It does sion. No symbol of fecundity or five centuries later by Kalidasa in not appear at all in Vedic literature. maternity or source of nourishment the Malavikagnimitra. Both Pusya­ The general Buddhist and Tain, and compares in the Veda to the cow. No mitra's dynasty (the yungas) and later Hindu, doctrine of Ahimsa ap­ symbol of virility compares to the the following dynasty (the Andhras) pears at the end of the Vedic period bull. Any female at all, whether a are said to have reinstituted the old 28 and at that time enters the stream deity like Usas, or a cosmic element Vedic animal sacrifices. of Brahmanical religious teaching, like the Waters (apas), or a human When we get to mediaeval India but the doctrine of the special sanc­ queen, or just a beautiful young wo­ we find that the doctrines of Ahimsa tity of the cow is not at first asso­ man (RV 10.95.6) seems flattered and the sanctity of the cow are still ciated with it. The sanctity of the if she is called a cow or compared to fighting their way against popular cow is first recorded in works com­ a cow or is characterized as a mother resistance or apathy. The Buddhist posed close to the beginning of the of cows (RV 4.52.2). And, of course, emperor Harsha (606-647 A.D.) end­ Christian era, though the texts of a heroic god like Indra or Agni, or a eavoured to enforce the doctrine of that time treat it equivocally. The human being is gratified to be lauded Ahirnsa and imposed penalties for doctrine gets a strong position by as a bull. The very gods are to be its violation up to and including the time of the completion of the born of a cow (gojata). I think capital punishment, according to the Mahabharata, say at the beginning I can say without needing to Chinese pilgrim Hsuan-tsang, who of the Gupta dynasty, about the 4th make a count that the words for visited India 630-644.20 Various other century A.D. Its position is made cow and bull are used as epithet or rulers endeavoured to enforce Ahimas firm doctrinally in Brahmanical in simile and metaphor with reference

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250 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY ANNUAL NUMBER FEBRUARY 1964 to entitles of the highest religions spirit or attitude or quality of con­ more feature of Aditi's mythology, significance much oftener than in servatism inertia or restraint which namely her identification with the their primary sense with reference would have prevented creation. In the earth. This may possibly appear in to actual animals. creation myth the forces leading to the Rig Veda and the Atharva Veda Figurative Uses or inducing change and creation are (RV 1.72.9; AV 13.1.38). where There are a few of these uses which personified as her sons ( adlteh putrah ) Aditi is described as prithivi (cf. RV I wish to mention with some poin- and called Adityas, that is, promo­ 4.55.1; 7.62.4, where Sky and tedness- One is the characterization ters of expansion, in contrast to the Earth are possibly equated with Aditi, of the cosmic waters as cows. In the Danava Vrtra who stood for bind­ and note RV 1.89.10, which is quot­ Vedic creation myth, where the god ing or non-expansion and is called ed above). The word prithivi "the Indra is cast as the hero, the change son of Danu ("restraint"). By get­ wide one" (fern.) is the commonest of the cosmos from its uncreated or ting Indra to fight their battle of all the words for earth in the Rig pre-created chaotic state to one ope­ against Vrtra and Kill him and so to Veda, as it probably is in post-Vedic rating bylaw (rta) requires first of release the waters when the "cover­ Sanskrit as well. Whether the appli­ all that these Waters should be re­ ing'' (vrtra) has been split or remov­ cation of prthivi to Aditi in the Rig leased from confinement. Vrtra has ed, they give the impetus to the pro­ Veda and Atharva Veda merely been holding them in a cave. When cess of creation. In the late Rig Veda means that she is wide extending or Indra slays Vrtra, the Waters, now Aditi receives a certain amount of instead means that she and the earth released, come forth like lowing cows personality as a personification of are identical, there is no doubt (RV 1.32.2). Not only do they ap­ the cosmic generality. Say a stanza that the latter identification does pear as cows, but they are, it hap­ (RV 1.89.10): "Aditi is the sky; occur in Vedic ritual literature.36 pens, pregnant, and they give birth Aditi is the atmosphere; Aditi is tho And the earth, it hapens, is another to the Sun, who is called their Calf mother (earth?); the father (sky?); feminine entity which, under the name (vatsa). Thus moisture, warmth, the son (Indra? or Agni?); Aditi is of Prlthivi or Mahi, is called a cow hi and light are made available in the all the gods and the five folk; Aditi the Rig Veda (4.41.5; 10.133.7; universe. Cosmic law or truth (rta ) is what is born; Aditi is what is to be perhaps also 10.67.5; 10101.9). A is established, the earth is spread out born". Since her name means ''free­ little later in time, in the great hymn and the sky is extended above it, the ing" she acquires a moral function, of the Atharva Veda (12.1) to the sun is put on its course, gods and and is conceived as freeing from sin. goddes Earth (Prthlvi,) she mates men are assigned their respective She is also connected with light, with the bull Indra (stanzas 6, 37), functions (vrata). This is how our which spreads far and wide. She is milks benefits for her worshippers universe of earth, atmosphere, and called a milch cow (dhenu) who (stanzas 7, 9, 10) as a steady cow sky came into existence.34 Through­ issues full streams [of blessings] for that does not kick when being milk­ out the Veda the cosmic Waters are pious folk who make the oblation" ed (stanza 45), has sweet mti:< described in simile or metaphor or (RV 1.153.3). In the soma ceremony in her udder (stanza 59), is Aditi by epithet as cows, motherly cows, her name (aditi) is used as an epithet yielding milk as desired (stanza 61). cows of plenty. So, too, in another of that cow whose daughters are the mood the rain clouds may be called milk sought by the masculine ele­ Aditi, Earth and Cow cows and they have a calf which is the ment soma, here compared to a taw­ The equation in Vedic literature lightning. And Agni, the god of the ny bellowing bull inflamed with lust and thought of Aditi, Earth, and Vedic sacrifice and the counterpart ( harir akran nrmna sisano Cow is recognized in the Naighan- on earth to the lightning in the at­ mahiso na sobhate). Again, in en- tuka (1.1.4-5; 2.3.16), where cow mosphere and the sun in the sky, is other passage dealing with the same (go) is synonymous with many things called "Son of the Waters" (apam ceremony (RV 9.96.15) Aditi is said including earth, heaven, speech (Vac), napat) or "the bull, who has grown to pour out milk payo na dugdham Aditi. The use of the word or words great in the lap of the Waters" (RV aditer isiram). In a different sort for "cow" had by then grown from a 10.8.1). All life depends upon Wat­ of context (RV 10.11.1) Aditi has descriptive figure of speech applied ers. They purify their worshipper in compliment to feminine entities an active undeceivable bull as her and give healing, both physical and until it had become a symbol of the son—just who is meant is uncertain, moral. They are, in short, both sanc­ holiest of those entities and had perhaps Agni or Indra—who milks tified and sanctifying, and when they finally won identity with them. The from her the streams of heaven's are called cows they invest the cow, metaphor or symbol had run away milk for another bull, perhaps the at least for the time being, with a part from those who employed it. They Sun (vrsl visne duduhe dohasfi, divah of their sanctity. had ceased to distinguish it from paytinis" yahvo aditer adabhyah) . the object it had been meant to In the performance of the Vedic ri­ Another important feminine figure adorn or to represent, and thus the of the Veda who is frequently called tual she is symbolized by a cow, as is cow had acquired their holiness as a a cow is Aditi. Aditi is a personifi­ also the personified sacrificial food, quality of its own. cation of a pure abstraction. Her consisting of the cow's products milk name means "boundlessness, freedom, and butter and called Ha or Ida35 The third item of Vedic practice expansion." Aditi is the spirit or atti­ There is no need to be exhaustive and thought which I want to relate tude or force of change which at the about the comparison or symbolism to the doctrine of the cow's sanctity beginning of things led to creation, or identification of Aditi with the cow. is that of the cow as the Brahman and as such stands in contrast to the I would only call attention to one priest's sacrificial fee The cow was 251 ANNUAL NUMBER FEBRUARY 1964 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY

252 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY ANNUAL NUMBER FEBRUARY 1964 the characteristic fee and the name ing her the cow has been created as thy share of water, of the fee, daksina, means "the richly by the gods. Oppression of Brah- milking one." The interest of the mans it is called, if he keeps her 14. The water with which they bathe the dead, with which they Vedic Brahman in his fee has been for himself, moisten his beard, that very one, vividly described by M. Bloomfleld.37 [from 5.181 O oppressor of Brahmans, the gods There are many references in Vedic 1. The gods, O king, did not did assign to thee as thy share of literature to the Brahman's cow, his give to thee this (cow) to eat. Po water. right to it, and the dire consequences not, O prince, seek to devour the that will befall one who withholds it 15. The rain of Mitra and Varu- Cow of the Brahmana, which is or injures or misappropriates it and unfit to be eaten! na does not moisten the oppressor the corresponding benefits accruing of Brahmans; the assembly is not to him who bestows it. The Brah­ 2. The prince, beguiled by complacement for him; he does not man's cow is equated with Aditi and dice, the wretched one who has guide his friend according to his the Earth and all else that is full lost as a stake his own person, he will. of good for the pious. The Rig Veda may, perchance, eat the cow of develops the theme in several places, the Brahmana, (thinking,) "let me It is clear from these hymns that the Brahman's cow is a sacred and for- one of which I quote (RV 8.101.15-16). live today (if) not tomorrow!" It consists of two threatening stanzas bidden cow, by cosmic decree, for all couched in riddlesome language: 7. He swallows her (the cow), but the Brahman; or at any rate it "Mother of the Rudras, daughter of bristling with a .hundred hooks, is clear that the Brahman authors the Vasus, sister of the Adityas, (but) is unable to digest her, he, of these hymns wanted the rest of navel of the nectar (immortality) — the fool who, devouring the food the world to think so. After hearing to one who can understand let me of the Brahmans, thinks, "I am such inprecations and curses as proclaim this, 'Injure not the guilt­ eating a luscious (morsel)." these hymns express, that king must have been a chill and hardened atheist less cow Aditi!' [Then Aditi speaks:] 10. They who ruled over a thous­ who withheld the cow that was due 'Me, who know the spell, raising up and, and were,themselves ten hund­ the Brahman or took it or any other the sacrificial voice (vacam) inherent red, the Vaitahavya, when they property away from the Brahman in all pious devotions, a goddess ar­ devoured the cow of the Brahmana, who owned it. rived from the gods, me, the cow, the perished, mortal of slight intelligence has ap­ [from 5.19] It should be noted that though the propriated as his own.' "38 The Brahman's cow is sacred, it is not 3. They who spat upon the Brah­ Atharva Veda has four hymns devot­ sacred because it is a cow. It is sac­ mana, who desired tribute from ed exclusively to guaranteeing the red because it is a Brahman's. All him, they sit in the middle of a Brahman secure possession of his his property is equally inviolable. pool of blood, chewing hair, cow, or in a wider sense of all his pro­ The wicked king's sin lay in robbing perty (5.18; 5.19; 12.4; 12,5). To 4. The cow of the Brahmana the priesthood, not in taking animal injure the Brahman's cow is to in­ when roasted, so far as she reaches or specifically bovine life. jure the Brahman himself and thus does she destroy the lustre of the to violate the very ordinances of the We can now summarize the attitude kingdom; no lusty hero is born cosmos. Let me quote a few stanzas towards the cow at the close of the (there). from these hymns in Bloomfield's Vedic period. It was still an article lively translation:39 5. A cruel (sacrilegious) deed of food, and was appreciated for that [from 12.4] is her slaughter; her meat, when reason economically as wc31 as for eaten, is sapless; when her milk is its other economic values. It had also 2. With his offspring does he drunk, that surely is accounted a a great deal of religious context, trade, of his cattle is he deprived, crime against the Fathers. which had put around it an aura that refuses to give the cow of the which it perhaps did not. posse,i3 gods to the begging descendants 10. King Varuna pronounced this when the Aryans entered India with of the Rsis. (to be) poison, prepared by the their herds. This aura started with gods: no one who has devoured 3. Through (the gift of) a cow the importance of the cow and its the cow of a Brahmana retains the with broken horns his (cattle) products as ritual offerings. All the charge of a kingdom. breaks down, through a lame one economic and ritual merits of the cow had led to an extensive figura­ he tumbles into a pit, through a 12. The kudi plant ( Christ's tive use of the animal in the Vedic mutilated one his house is burned, thorn) that wipes away the track hymns and the rest of Vedic litera­ through a one-eyed one his property (of death), which they fasten to ture, with reference to the cosmic is given away. the dead, that very one, O oppres­ Waters, the cosmic generality Aditi, sor of Brahmans, the gods did de­ 6. He that pierces her ears and the all-productive and all-nourish­ clare (to be) thy couch. [to insert his own tag of owner­ ing Earth. These had been called ship] is estranged from the gods. 13. The tears which have rolled cows so often that they had come to He thinks: "I am making a mark from (the eyes of) the oppressed be considered cows. At the same time (upon her)," (but) he diminishes (Brahmana)' as he laments, these the Brahmans were promoting with his own property. very ones, O oppressor of Brah­ all the force they could command the 11. For those that come request­ mans, the gods did assign to thee idea that the Brahman's cow was in-

253 ANNUAL NUMBER FEBRUARY 1964 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY

violable. The Brahman's cow was in tim in their edifying exempla. And the motherland India. The idea of cow itself a symbol of all those honoured when Ahimsa is first mentioned in as Mother is one of the most fruitful feminine figures to which the name Hindu, or Brahmanical texts (Chan- elements in stimulating the sentimen­ cow had been applied in figurative dogya Upanishad, Bhagavad Gita), tal treatment of the cow in Rajput language. But the figurative quality there is no intimation of the content painting as well as in mediaeval of such application was fading from of the idea there, no suggestion that Hindu literature. In modern India sight. By the close of the Vedic it applies to the cow more than to the same attitude has been abundant­ period the older texts, especially the any other animal, or even that it ap­ ly evident in Mahatma Gandhi's hymns of the four Samitis, were plies to animals at all rather than writings on the cow, which was to becoming obscure and difficult to merely to human beings. him a "peom of pity."12 understand.40 As the past dimmed, The stages by which the doctrine of metaphor and epithet were taken as Moral Sanction the cow's sanctity spread through­ literal and the sacred figures were The mere acceptance of the doctrine considered actually to be cows In out the Hindu community are not of Ahimsa does not in itself explain clearly discernible. It comes conspi­ reversal, the cow was considered to the origin of the sanctity of the cow be those figures. Coupled with this cuously into view during the period in Hinduism. But the acceptance of' of Muslim invasion and conquest, when misunderstanding was an enhanced that doctrine at a time when the importance given to the idea of the Hindus were shocked by the constant­ Vedic attitude toward the cow had ly recurring examples of cow-slaught­ inviolability of the Brahman's cow acquired the special characteristics and the fearful penalties for killing it. er. To the Maratha chieftain, Shiva- which we have described seems to ji (1627-1680), cow protection was a The sanctions which applied to the have played a decisive part in the Brahman's cow were ready at hand cardinal issue along with protection belief that the cow was holy and to be applied to cows in general. of Brahmans and the observance of should be held inviolable. Further, caste rules and distinctions.43 Sanc­ At this juncture the doctrine of the doctrine of Ahimsa gave to the tity of the cow has long been a dog­ Ahimsa came to the Aryan commu­ idea of the inviolability of the cow a ma which a primitive tribe must nity. The roots of this doctrine are kind of moral sanction hitherto accept on coming into Hinduism, obscure; they are certainly not to be lacking. Compass on toward living though again we cannot say how long found in the Veda, but where they creatures touched the heart of Hindus, this has been the case.44 Today in are to be found is a problem still un­ as well as of Jains and Buddhists, India the sanctity of the cow, is a solved. It is, however, a justifiable in­ and became an ethical principle of subject of discussion, interpretation, ference, and an inference common great power. It expressed the need agitation, political pressure, public among students of Indian thought, that not merely for kindliness towards hygiene, national economic develop­ Jainism and Buddhism popularized the one's fellow man but towards ment. But this aspect of the doc­ doctrine They gave it a sanction in all animal creation, with which In- trine's history is not a subject for associating it with another doctrine dians feel themselves to be fellows. consideration in the present paper, also becoming prominent at that When it was expressed towards the time, that of Karma and Rebirth. however much change may come to already exalted cow, it had the result that doctrine.** Violation of Ahimsa would have an of giving the cow a place at the top effect upon the violator in a future of all animal life, as is so frequently existence. At the end of the Vedic expressed in Hindu literature.41 This paper was originally published period the doctrine of Ahimsa makes in the Journal of the Madras Univer­ sity, volume 28, number 2, January its first appearance in Hindu litera­ At some period, not ascertainable 1957, pp 29-49. It is presented here ture, as was pointed out above. But the doctrine of the cow's sanctity, with only a few changes from the the doctrine of Ahimsil as the Jains when grew up in the Aryan Brah- original. and Buddhists preached it did not manic environment, became associat­ Professor Ludwig Alsdorf has pub­ discriminate in its application in fav­ ed with the ancient pre-Aryan con­ lished an excellent article "Beitrage our of the cow or cattle. It applied ception of the Great Mother or Earth zur Geschichte von Vegetarismus and to the entire animal world. All ani­ Rinderverehrung in Indien" as Num­ Goddess. This has been known in ber 6 for 1961 of the Abhandlungen mals were viewed alike; none was India since the time of the Indus tier geistes — and sozialwissenschaft- translated above the others and valley civilizations of the 3rd and lirhfri Klasse of the Akademie der venerated. An examination of the 2nd millennia B, C. It is certainly Wissenschaften and der Literatur in sermons incorporated in the canons Mainz. This long article (pp 557- one of the oldest cuits of civilized 625) treats the 'history of vegetaria­ of these two faiths will show this to India. Its ramifications in non nism, the sanctity of the cow, and the be true on the level of authority. An Aryan communities and in Aryan doctrine of Ahimsa which is sum­ examination of the copious supply or are widespread today. There is an marised in the first part of the pre­ parables, legends, tales, novelle. tradi­ sent paper. Alsdorf does not search obvious affinity between it and the for the basis of these doctrines. He tions, which appear in non-canonical Vedic conception of the cosmic Wat­ merely says: "sie (ahimsa) hat literature, will also confirm it on the ers, Aditi. and the Earth as "mother" ursprunglich mit Ethik in unsersm level of popular acceptance- The slay­ of "motherly". Though the pre-Aryan Sinne nichts zu tun, sondern Ost­ ing of any kind of creature—goat, bird, ein magisch-ritualistisches Tabu auf (or non-Aryan) and the Vedic notions das Lcben, das in keiner seiner Formen whatever it may be—will be followed never blended into a single well-inte­ zerstort warden darf (571, 589; cf by just as severe retribution as the grated doctrine, they dovetailed well p 610). He considers ahlfpsu, to be slaying of any other, such as a cow. enough to produce the idea of the cow "vorarisch" or "urarisch" (p 609) In fact, a cow is very seldom the vic­ along with the doctrine of the trans­ as our mother, and in recent times as migration of the soul and the "rituelle 254 ANNUAL NUMBER FEBRUARY 1964 Ausformung des Kastenwesens (im 18 Cf Macdonell and Keith, Vedic /a- gullible wayfarer whom he is planning Unterschied von der arischen Drei- dex, vol 11, p 273; M Bloomfield, oder Vier-Stande-Ordnung", p 609), to devour that he has turned ascetic Hymns of the Atharva-Veda, trans­ to atone for his great sins, which he but includes no discussion of this lated in Sacred Books of the East, opinion. mentions in an obviously descending vol 42, pp 656, 658. order of magnitude as the slaying of. many cows, Brahmans, and human Notes 19 A B Keith, Religion and Philosophy beings. Note, in particular, the long of the Veda, p 192. section in the Anusasana parvan of Cf J H Hutton, Caste in India the Mahabharata (13.69-83) dealing 1946, pp 10, 131, 196. There is a 20 M Bloomfield, loc cit. See below in with the profit one gains from making wealth of allusions to sanctity of the this paper, gifts of kine to worthy recipients, that bull in the many ethnological studies is, to Brahmans, and containing a dealing with India. 21 Keith, loc cit. great deal of information of many 22 For a translation of the passage see sorts concerning cows The section 2 R E M Wheeler, The Indus Civili­ A B Keith, Rigveda Brahmanas, 1 he includes the story of King Nrga, zation (supplementary volume to the Aitareya and Kausitaki Branmanas of who unknowingly got possession of a Cambridge History of India), 1953, the Rigveda, Harvard Oriental strayed cow belonging to a Brah­ p 63. Series, vol 25, 1920, p 409. man, and in a moment of un­ 3 H A Rose, A Glossary of the Tribes 23 Chandogya Upanishad 3.17.4. fortunate generosity gave it to anotner and Castes of the Punjab and North- Brahman in Consequence of which West Frontier Province (Lahore, 24 The Bhagavad Gita, vol 2, p 83. he was reborn as a lizard living in 1919), vol 1, p 140. a 'well. There is a cow heaven, which 25 Following generally the translation in is a bucolic paradise beyond com­ 4 F Drew, Jammoo and Kashmir Terri­ A C burneii and E W Hopkins, The pare, where only the very righteous tories, London, 1875, p 428. Ordinances of Manu, 1884, p 114. go. Kine are proclaimed the mothers of all creatures . ., No one should 5 A B Keith, Religion and Philosophy 26 E W Hopkins, in Cambridge History of India, vol I, p 271. kick at kine or proceed through the of the Veda, pp 324-326. midst of kine. Kine are goddesses 5 RV, 8.43.11. 27 Mrs C A F Rhys Davids in Cam­ and homes of auspiciousness. For tins bridge History of India, vol 1, pp reason they always deserve worship 7 H Oldenberg, Religion des Veda, 207, 215. . , . Kine, by yielding milk, rescue P 355. all the world from calamity . .. One B Satapatha Brahmana, 3. 4. 1. 2. 28 L Renou, Religions of Ancient should not, even in one's mind, do India, p 100. an injury to a cow ... When giving 9 M Bloomfield, Journal of the Ame­ 29 S Beal, Buddhist Records of the away kine, the donor should enter rican Oriental Society, vol 16, 1894, Western World, vol 1, p 214. the cowpen and say, "The cow is p exxiv. my mother; the bull is my sire. 30 G Buhler, Ueber das Leben des Jaina [Give me] Heaven and earthly pros­ M Bloomfield, loc cit; E W Hopkins Monches Hemachandra, p 39. perity. The cow is my refuge!1' . .. in Cambridge History of India, vol One should never go to bed without I, p 232. 31 H Jacobi in Encyclopedia of Religion reciting the names of kine. Nor and Ethics, vol IV, p 225 f. Satapatha Brahmana 3.1,2.21. The should one rise in the morning with­ 32 J N Farquhar, A Primfr of Hindu­ out a similar recitation of the names word amsala may mean "coming from of kine, Morning and evening one the shoulder" or "firm" (presumably ism, section 115. because not decomposed; see J Eggel- should bend one's head in reverence 33 H. Jacobi, loc cit, to kine. One should never feel any ing, Sacred Books of the East, vol repugnance for the urine and the 26, p 11; A A Macdonell and A B 34 See W Norman Brown, Journal of Keith, Vedic Indpx, vol II, p 145; dung of the cow. One should never and note the prohibition in the the American Oriental Society, vol eat the flesh of kine. As the conse­ 62, 1942, pp 85-98. quence of this, one is sure to attain Arthasastra 2.26 against selling great prosperity . ., The cows yield rotten meat). 35 A B Keith, Religion and Philosophy the essential milk and ghi which of the Veda, pp 200, 270. constitute the offering (havis) of the Satapatha Brahmana 11.7.1.1-3; for 36 A A Macdonell, Vedic Mythology, sacrifice and hence the sacrifices rest translation see J Eggeling, Sacred p 121. on them. (Following the translation Books of the East, vol 44, pp 118-1! 9. by P G Ray) 37 Religion of the Veda, pp 69 ft; Apastamba 1.5.16; translated by G Hymns of the Atharva Veda (Sacred The references to the cow's sanctity Buhler, Sacred Books of the East, Books of the East, vol 42, pp 430 are literally inexhaustible. One other vol 2, p 59. 656). work in particular could be singled out, namely, the Bhagavata Purana, Gautama 17.30 and 17.37; translated 38 The first stanza is used in the guest by Buhler, op cit, pp 266, 267. ceremony, Paraskara Grhya Sutra 42 For Gandhi's attitude toward the 1.3.26. A A Macdonell, Vedic Mythology, p cow see the collection of scattered 151; A A Macdonell and A B Keith, 39 Bloomfield, Hymns of the Atharva remarks and short essays by him Vedic Index, vol II, p 146. Veda, pp 169-172; 174-179. published as a booklet with the title How to Serve the Cow? (Ahmedabad: RV 1.30.9; 1.37.5; 3.33.13; AV 40 Hence there arose those studies of Navajivan Publishing House, 1954). 14.2.16 ( =R V, 3.33.13). lexicography, phonology, morphology, syntax, metre, which led the Hindus 43 See V A Smith, The Oxford History The anustarani cow is normally one to develop linguistic science, dis­ of India, 2nd edition, 1923, p 431. that has not calved (Satapatha Brah­ covered more than two .millennia mana 4.5.2.1 ff). In the Atharva later by the West, to become the 44 For an illustration, see Stephen Fuchs, Veda stanza the aghnya cow is to fountainhead of our modern linguistic The Children of Hari, 1951, p 358. accompany the dead man to heaven studies. See M B Emeneau in Jour­ (svarga); he is her herdsman or lord nal of the American Oriental Society, 45 Some interesting remarks on the (gopati) and she is to enjoy him vol 75, 1955, pp 145-153. sanctity of the cow, which at points (tam jusasva); she is possibly the approach some of the ideas in this same female who is mentioned in the 41 For example, in Hitopadesa story 1.2, paper, appear in Bankim Chandra preceding stanza of the hymn as a where the aged, incapacitated, and Chatterjee, Letters on Hinduism, maiden (yuvati). hypocritical tiger explains to the M M Bose. 1940, pp 39-42. 255 ANNUAL NUMBER FEBRUARY 1964 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY