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Vedic Mythology c7.s3: § 61. A. The Bull

Vedic Mythology c7.s3

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§ 61. A. The Bull

c7.s3.1

— Indra is in the RV. constantly designated a bull, a term applied much less frequently to Agni, and occasionally to other gods, such as Dyaus (p. 22). In the AV. (9, 4⁹) a bull is addressed as Indra, and in the ŚB. (2, 5, 3¹⁸) the bull is stated to be Indra's form¹. In the Avesta the bull appears as one of the incarnations of Verethraghna, the Avestan Indra². In one of the sacrifices of the Vedic ritual, a bull also represents the god Rudra³. A bull plays a part in the obscure and much discussed myth of Mudgala and Mudgalānī (RV. 10, 102)⁴.

c7.s3.2

B. The Cow. — Owing to its great utility on earth, the cow naturally enters largely into the conceptions of Vedic mythology. The beams of Dawn are personified as cows⁵, which draw her car (p. 47). The rain-cloud is personified as a cow, the mother of a (lightning) calf (pp. 10. 12). This cloud-cow is individualized as Pṛśni⁶, the mother of the Maruts (VS. 2, 16), her milk (6, 48²²) and udder being several times referred to (cp. p. 125). The bountiful clouds are doubtless the prototypes of the many-coloured cows which yield all desires (*kāmadughā*) in the heaven of the Blest (AV. 4, 34⁸) and which are the forerunners of the Cow of Plenty (*kāmaduh*) so often mentioned in post-Vedic poetry⁷. Iḍā, the personification of the offering of milk and butter, has a tendency to be regarded as a cow (p. 124). Aditi also is sometimes spoken of as a cow (p. 122). The gods are sometimes called cow-born, *gojātāḥ*. The most frequent application of the cow is, however, in the myth of the kine released from the rock by Indra (pp. 59. 61).

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⁵ Cp. Gruppe, op. cit. 1, 77. —

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⁶ Cp. Roth, Nir. Erl. 145; PW. s. v. —

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⁷ KHF. 188. —

c7.s3.6

The terrestrial cow herself has already acquired a certain sanctity in the RV., being addressed as Aditi and a goddess, while the poet impresses on his hearers that she should not be killed (8, 90¹⁵. ¹⁶ cp. VS. 4, 19. 20). The inviolability of the cow is further indicated by her designation *aghnyā*, ‘not to be slain’, which occurs sixteen times in the RV. (the corresponding masculine form *aghnya* being found only three times). In the AV. the worship of the cow as a sacred animal is fully recognised (AV. 12, 4. 5)⁸. In the ŚB. (3, 1, 2²¹) he who eats beef is said to be born again (on earth) as a man of evil fame; though beef is allowed to be cooked for guests (ŚB. 3, 4, 1²)⁹.

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¹ Cp. MS. 1, 10¹⁶; TB. 1, 6, 7⁴; Āp. ŚS. 8, 11¹⁹. —

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² ORV. 76, note 2. —

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³ ORV. 82. —

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⁴ Last treated of by V. Henry (with reference to his predecessors) in JA. 1895 (6), 516—48. —

c7.s3.11

⁸ HRI. 156; cp. Bloomfield, SBE. 42, 656. —

c7.s3.12

⁹ WVB. 1894, p. 36; HRI. 189; cp. Winternitz, Hochzeitsrituell 33. ¹ ORV. 72; SBE. 46, 62; Bloomfield, SBE. 42, 625. 664, who thinks Aja ekapād is undoubtedly the Sun, with reference to TB. 3, 1, 2⁸ ('Aja ekapād has risen in the east', &c.), a passage which, however, is not cogent for the Rigvedic conception. — ² ORV. 78. — ³ WVB. 1894, p. 26, n. 2. — ⁴ Cp. Hopkins, The Dog in the RV., AJP. 1894, 154—5; Bloomfield, SBE. 42, 500. — ⁵ Cp. Whitney, Sanskrit Grammar², 1216. — ⁶ Op. cit. 1166 b; Wackernagel, Altind. Gr. § 52 a.; KRV. n. 149; ZDMG. 13, 493—9; 14, 583. — ⁷ Cp. KHF. 177—8; Entwicklungsstufen 136; IS. 1, 272, note; Hopkins, JAOS. 17, 67. — ⁸ Macdonell, JRAS. 27, 178—89. — ⁹ Cp. IS. 13, 250. — ¹⁰ Cp. SPH. 81. — ¹¹ Cp. IS. 1, 187. — ¹² Macdonell, JRAS. 27, 166—7. — ¹³ ORV. 70; Bloomfield, JAOS. 17, 173—9. — ¹⁴ ASL. 494—5; cp. OST. 5, 436. — ¹⁵ BRV. 1, 292 &c.; cp. HRI. 100—1.

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