ANCIENT MYTHOLOGY OF THE COW

Wish-fulfilling Cow

Cows represent the All-good.  The image of fruits of nature emerging from a cow's horn -- a horn of plenty -- is tied to the Cow of Plenty of Indian mythology, whose name is Surabhi.  She belonged to the Vedic sage, Vasishtha.

Kamadhenu is the sacred cow as she relates to Hindu ritual.  Her 5 gifts are sacred offerings.  They are:  milk, curds (yoghurt,)  butter, urine (considered a pure substance that can serve as medicine,) and manure (which is used for plastering walls and floors, and which, dried, is used as fuel.)   She also gives us a further gift, her offspring -- a calf, the source of further cattle.

In the Himalayan tradition, butter is sculpted to make offerings such as tormas, and it also provides the oil that fuels butterlamps.

Ghee, clarified butter, is the very essence of cow.  As such, it is the substance that, in India, is used to bath sacred images.

Classification of Chinese Buddhist scripture  (p'an-chiao) owes a debt to Chih-i (538-597), who thought Dharma could be understood in terms of successive stages of refinement, similar to the way ghee is produced from milk:

"Just as milk derives from a cow, cream derives from milk, butter derives from cream, melted butter derives from butter, and ghee derives from melted butter, so the twelve divisions of the canon derive from the Buddha, the sutras derive from the twelve divisions of the canon, the extended sutras derive from the sutras, the Perfection of Wisdom derives from the extended sutras, and nirvana, which is like ghee, derives from the Perfection of Wisdom".   (Quoted by Peter Gregory).

Hindu deity, Lord Vishnu, in his avatar or active form as Krishna, is called Govinda and Gopala: "the cow-finder" and "cow-protector."  These epithets are references to his existence in Vrindavan as a herdsman.  This is metaphorical in the same way that King David (The Bible: Old Testament. Psalm 23) sang, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."  From the viewpoint of a devotee of Krishna the Cowherd, the cosmic cow is seen as incorporating all deities.

Cow = Wealth  


The Maasai of East Africa, who live off the milk and blood of their prized cattle are frequently heard to make the claim that all the world's cattle actually belong to them.  If that is so, then they once were rich beyond belief, for there is evidence to show that cows were the world's first "portable" wealth.

Once, the world was divided into those who kept wealth in the form of cattle, and those who did not.   Herders of sheep and goats were considered by the cattle-rich, as somewhat inferior.  On the other hand, the Greeks and the Romans looked down on all those who used butter instead of olive or other vegetable oil.

The English word chattel meaning possessions derives from capital ( < caput = head.)  It further evolved into cattle, the collective word for cow.  In other words, especially in lands where the Romans left their imprint, cattle means wealth.  And in many other cultures, besides.

There is a motif in the mythology of the world known as "cattle-raiding."  In classical mythology, Hermes the Trickster steals the cattle of the sun.  One of the most famous Irish tales (c. 1100 CE) is The Cattle Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúalnge).

Heavenly Cow

 In Indian folktales, Dhol is the name of a white cow that holds the earth between her horns.  And we know  the Indian cow has been protected for millennia for the economic reasons this symbolism expresses.  A less direct symbolism is expressed by the fact that the white cow is "the vehicle" of Goddess Parvati.

In ancient Egypt, there were a number of cow deities.  Nut, the sky goddess emanates as Mehueret, the Flood.  Another is Hesat and milk was referred to as "beer of Hesat.'"The Egyptian goddess of fertility, Bata, was depicted as a cow, or as a human with the ears and horns of a cow.  She was a deity of Upper Egypt (Sudan)  Even today, that part of the world has a special relationship with cows.  The Maasai of East Africa consider that all the cattle in the world belong to them.

Cow-horned Hathor, daughter of Ra, is another Egyptian goddess associated with the heavens.   The Celestial Cow, who carries the sun's disc between her horns, she is later portrayed as a slender woman wearing the horns.  As "Eye of Ra" she transforms into avenging Sekhmet -- lion-headed death deity, goddess of war and pestilence -- to punish humans for their  transgressions.  She nearly wipes out all mankind before Ra manages to arrest her activity by getting her drunk with beer that had been colored to look like blood so that she once again becomes benevolent.

Europe

Europa was a once a Phoenician maiden whom Zeus desired.  Jealous Hera turned her into a white cow and chased her towards the west, the region that today bears her name.

Indo-europeans carried the notion of a cosmic cow with them to northern Europe, for in the mythology of the Eddas, Audhumla ("Without Impurity") was the creator of humankind.  From a stone, she licked Man into being over a period of three days.  She was created from ice-melt at the beginning of time, and preserves herself while sustaining the status quo by licking the salt and hoar frost which would otherwise build up on Niflheim, abode of the gods.  The titans or Ymir feed on her milk.

In southern Gaul, Damona was the name of this cow who exists in relation to the waters of the earth. The ultimate food was the milk of such a cow.  Ethne is an Irish goddess, who subsists on milk from a sacred cow.

The Basques had a special relation with the cow. They used to worship Mari at her sacred caves or "houses of Mari."  It is believed that her guardian, a fiery-eyed, red-haired cow (or bull?) Beigorri, may occasionally be seen there still.  It is this animal that is painted on the walls of the sacred caves, many of which contain evidence of occupation from over 20,000 years ago.

Is it a cow or not?

There seems to be a definite idea as to what constitutes Cow that is rather different from the vague categorization of  deer / antelope /gazelle.  Cows are definitely not water buffalo nor are they yaks.  The Hindu Goddess Durga slew a primordial demon Mahisha, who had at first taken the form of a huge water buffalo but the bull, Nandi is the vehicle of, and hence all bulls are sacred to, her consort, Maheshvara or Shiva.   Though people cannot deny there is a relation here, the distinction between buffalo and bull is considered very important.  Many people who would never eat roast beef will eat "buff burger.


Available in http://www.khandro.net/animal_cow_bull.htm  Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.