History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c40.61.1

v3.c40.61.1

(goddess). It appears that the cow was being raised to the status of divinity and there was a great revulsion of feeling about the cow. The great usefulness of the cow and the ox for agricultural purposes, in the family economy and as means of exchange must have powerfully contributed to making the cow a divinity. In the gṛhya sūtras (like Āśv. I. 24. 25), Ṛg. VIII. 101. 15 is prescribed as the mantra when in the Madhuparka ceremony the cow is let loose by the guest. The Artharvaveda (XII. 4) fully recognises the cult of the holiness of the cow. That the cow continued to be offered in sacrifices follows from several Brāhmaṇa passages e. g. Tai. Br. III. 9. 8. In the Śat. Br. III. 1. 2. 21 it is stated that the great sage Yājñavalkya was wont to eat the meat of cows and oxen provided it was ‘aṁsala’¹⁸⁵⁰ (tender?). The Ait. Br. (6. 8)¹⁸⁵¹ states that the horse, the ox, the goat and ram are sacrificial animals while the kimpuruṣa, gauramṛga, gavaya, the camel and śarabha (a mythical animal with eight feet) were not sacrificial and their flesh should not be eaten. The Śat. Br. I. 2. 3. 9 contains a similar prohibition. The Śat. Br. XI. 7. 1. 3 declares that ‘meat is the best kind of food.’ The work of Mr. L. L. Sundara Ram (Madras, 1927) on ‘Cow Protection in India’ contains an exhaustive treatment of the subject from Vedic times and cites the attitude of other nations and religions towards cow-killing.