History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.387.4

v5.c71.s1.387.4

prakaraṇa²⁴⁸ (p 33) says that Kātyāyana, Gautama, Saṁvarta, Parāśara and other sages prescribe differing panances for *govadha*, which are to be explained away by reference to the killing being intentional or unintentional or to the fact of the cow being owned by a brāhmaṇa engaged in a *soma* sacrifice or by a brāhmaṇa who has studied the Veda with the six auxiliary śāstras, or by the fact that the cow was useful for the *homa* of a brāhmaṇa possessed of good qualities or was a pregnant cow or of the *kapilā* (brown or tawny) variety. It adds the important statement that in its days such cows being not found in ordinary life it is not necessary to expressly assign to each of those texts its appropriate subject matter.