The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c8.s2.2

c8.s2.2

The Iḍā cow, then, covers the whole of the sacrificial process. We may add that the *maitrāvaruṇī* cow sacrificed at the end of the Soma ritual, after the final bath, seems also to be connected with the Iḍā cow. This maitrāvaruṇī cow is a *vaśā*, that is, a cow that has become barren after having had a calf. This reminds us of the (exhausted) womb that remained after Prajāpati's creation, or rather release, of the different kinds of beings out of himself. As the *Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā* says, "The womb that was left over became the cow; she is 'womb' (*yoni*) by name".²⁵ Further on in the same text, the Iḍā cow is said to have been fashioned by Mitra and Varuṇa out of an *indigesta moles* produced by the gods. The different kinds of beings exploit her and finally, when she is completely exhausted, reject her. Prajāpati, however, takes pity on her and grants her the ghee-dripping foot—in other words, he restores her and makes her inexhaustible.²⁶ This tale of maltreatment, exhaustion, and restoration together with the apparent connection with the cow of Mitra and Varuṇa seems to suggest that Iḍā is not only the Soma cow, the *dakṣiṇā* cow and possibly also the *maitrāvaruṇī vaśā*, but also the sacrificial victim in general, whose meat is shared and eaten at the sacrificial meal. Strangely, however, no explicit connection is made. The nearest we get to this point is when the Iḍā and dakṣiṇā cows are equated, but no direct link is given as regards the vaśā cow immolated for Mitra and Varuṇa.