Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s12.304

v1.c3.s12.304

1. Go (*a*), ‘ox’ or ‘cow.’¹ These were among the chief sources of wealth to the Vedic Indian, and are repeatedly referred to from the Rigveda onwards.² The milk (Kṣīra) was either drunk fresh or made into butter (Ghṛta) or curds (Dadhi), or was mixed with Soma or used for cooking with grain (Kṣīraudana). The cows were milked thrice a day, early (prātar-doha), in the forenoon (Saṃgava), and in the evening (sāyaṃ-doha).³ Thrice a day they were driven out to graze, according to the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa⁴ (prātaḥ, saṃgave, sāyaṃ). The first milking was productive, the last two scanty.³ According to the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa,⁵ among the Bharatas the herds in the evening are in the Goṣṭha, at midday in the Saṃgavinī. This passage Sāyaṇa expands by saying that the herds go home to the Śālā, or house for animals, at night so far as they consist of animals giving milk, while the others stayed out in the Goṣṭha, or open pasturage; but both were together in the cattle-shed during the heat of the day. The time before the Saṃgava, when the cows were grazing freely on the pastureland, was called Svasara.⁶ When the cows were out feeding they were separated from the calves, which were, however, allowed to join them at the Saṃgava,⁷ and sometimes in the evening.⁸