15. Vedic Symbolism -- Cow - III

Another mantra worth observing in this regard is seen by seer Vacya Prajāpati. In this mantra Soma is said to be adorned by cows by means of their milk. This milk, again in the same hemistich, is replaced by matibhih, meaning mantras. This shows the equivalence of cow and milk both with the mantra. In the second hemistich, again the Soma juice is described as vipra, kavi and delightful as the heaven, svarcanah, on account of its wisdom (Rigveda, IX.84.). Thus while cows and their milk get rendered into mantra, the Soma juice turns eventually into kavi and kāvya, which obviously bespeaks of the symbolical usage of these objects in the text.

In a mantra seen by seer Gaya Plāta the symbolic use of cow with reference to mantra is clearer. In this mantra the seer prays to Maruts, Indra, Varuņa and Mitra to fill with substance the mantra, which they gave to him like the cow being filled with milk (Rigveda, X.64.12). Here the milk is equivalent to the substance of the mantra while the cow is equivalent to the mantra itself.

That cow in the Veda is pre-eminently symbolical of speech is evident from a mantra seen by seer Nema Bhārgava. He starts his vision of Vāk with the query as to where has gone the highest form of it while out of the Vāk used by inconscient beings one has settled down as the power of gods and four ones are milking energy in the form of milk (Rigveda, VIII.100.10). In the immediately following mantra, it is stated that the goddess Vāk has been generated by gods and is being used as such by all kinds of living beings and that she as cow with all the profundity of her voice should yield for us the required energy and come to us whenever earnestly prayed to (Rigveda, VIII.100.11).

It is evident from these mantras that it had become quite usual for the Vedic seer to talk of speech through the symbolism of cow. In this symbolic usage, several qualities of the cow were instrumental. At least two of them are quite evident from these mantras themselves. One of them is the melodious and profundity of the cow’s voice. It is quite close to the dilated pronunciation of the sacred Om. Due to this closeness, perhaps, just as the word Om came to be regarded as the source of all words whatever, even so the cow’s voice was taken to include within itself all possible varieties of voices capable of being produced by living beings.

By virtue of this quality of her voice, she came to be used frequently as a significant symbol of Vāk. Secondly, cow’s voice is closely associated with her milk yielded particularly for her calf. In fact, the cow produces her voice most frequently in the evening when after day’s grazing in the pasture she becomes eager to feed her calf with the milk. Due to this association of her voice with the milk intended to be delivered to the calf, cow became symbolical particularly of that Vāk, which is supposed to be most fruitful.

No doubt Vāk is Vedic in origin. This point is brought out beautifully in one of the mantras of the hymn to jñāna. In this mantra it has been stated that one who serves the cow of the Vedic Vāk well understanding it precisely and profoundly in the same sense as was intended to be communicated by the seer, he is comparable to the wrestler who does not get defeated anywhere, as against one who does not understand the meaning, is comparable to him who although keeping a cow for all practical purposes is really shorn of her since on account of not yielding any milk she is a cow just in name and appearance. (Rigveda, X.71.5)

14. Vedic Symbolism -- Cow - II

In one of the mantras of Viśvāmitra there is an account of one being who, immobile himself, carries on his back six loads while cows come close to him when he assumes the role of the most productive principle of creation and sustenance. His dynamics results in the birth of the three higher worlds. Out of these three also, two are hidden in mystery, the remaining one alone is tangible to us (Rigveda, III.56.2). The immobile being is obviously the Supreme Being who, in this instance, as well as in many other instances, is conceived as a mighty bull. It is out of Him that the creation has proceeded as His progeny. In view of the colossal massivity and variety of the created beings the procreator is conceived as most abundantly fertilising, varsistham.

Being conceived as a bull, it was but necessary for Him to have cows as the medium of His act of procreation. In view of the diversity of the created beings, the medium of creation has been taken as many in the form of plurality of the cows. Sometimes, this need is fulfilled by conceiving the cow as variegated instead of being made plural. The six loads the bull is carrying without himself moving at all may understandably be taken as the well known six planes of being such as bhūh, bhuvah, svah, mahah, janah and tapah, the seventh one satyam being constituted by the Being himself. These six planes can conveniently be put under two groups, the higher and the lower. While the lower are the same as those indicated by the three vyāhŗtis pre-posed to the sacred gāyatrī mantra i.e., bhūh, bhuvah and svah, the higher ones are those corresponding to mahah, janah and tapah. Since these three higher planes of being begin with mahah, they are called mahih by the seer in the mantra. That tapah comes at the top of them is vindicated by the account of creation given in the famous Aghamarşaņa hymn, according to which the creative process started with tapas of the Supreme Being (Rigveda, X.190.I.). His tapas itself, therefore, comes to form the penultimate plane of existence while the ultimate one, that is satyam, is formed by the self-existence of the Being Himself. While satyam is His being, ŗtam is what forms the retas or seed of the bull with which his female counterparts, the cows, are impregnated resulting in the birth of the world of multiplicity. The inscrutability of the highest two planes in the triad is vindicated by the Aghamarşaņa hymn’s characterisation of the plane corresponding to janah as ratri, night (Rigveda, X.190.1.). Now if janah is inscrutable, the plane higher than that i.e., tapah, should be all the more so. The visibility or tangibility of mahah, the third one in the triad, is obviously due to its expansiveness.

In the light of this explanation it becomes clear how significantly the symbol of cow was used in the Veda for giving an idea of the event of cosmic creation. This proposition gets further confirmed by another mantra, seen by seer Vāmadeva who while explaining the role of Ŗta as the principle of universal sustenance as well as dichotomization and diversification, observes how the cows have entered into Ŗta by means of Ŗta itself (Rigveda, IV.23.9). Entering of the cows into Ŗta by means of Ŗta itself is suggestive of the cows’ ultimate oneness with Ŗta and via that with the ultimate creative being himself, i.e., the bull as conceived symbolically.

If cow owing to her magnificent procreative power as well as the dignity of her calf has been used as the symbol of the Creatrix on various planes in singular and plural both, she on account of her melodious voice produced in course of the expression of her fondness for her calf has come to be utilised as the most abundantly used symbol of the Vedic composition in the form of mantras.

Seer Vasistha observes about Indra that his true and beautiful cow being filled with abundant milk milches kine and horses for the sake of the sacrificer who devotes himself to the pressing of Soma (Rigveda, VIII.14.3.). Incidentally, one wonders why Griffith has translated this mantra so as to make Indra himself a cow as is evident from his translation.

“To worshippers who press the juice thy goodness, Indra is a cow yielding in plenty kine and steeds.”

In comparison to him, Sāyaņa is correct in his understanding of dhenu in this context as symbolical of the word of prayer characterised by truth, beauty and devotion to Indra! (Sāyaņa’s Commentary on Rigveda, VIII.14.3). This prayer is nothing but the Vedic mantra emerging from Indra himself and therefore described as Indra’s cow.

Cow indeed has closely been associated with the seeing and chanting of mantras addressed to the Divine. In one such mantra, Indra is regarded as a calf while the mantras addressed to him as cows. Just as cows rush to their respective calves at the end of the day, even so mantras rush to Indra being recited by the seer. (Rigveda, VIII.88.1)

In another mantra the seer Sunahśepa observes how his well-contemplated prayers are proceeding to Indra ardently like cows to their pastures (Rigveda, I.25.16). Similarly in another mantra seer Agastya says that his mantras are reaching Indra like cows licking their young ones (Rigveda, I.186.7). In a mantra seen by Viśvāmitra it has been stated that Indra is like a bull glorified and adorned by the wisdom of the seer and his cows are productive of energy (Rigveda, III.36.5). In another mantra, Indra is regarded as the bearer of mantras and as such is equated to a cow, which the seer wants to milk (Rigveda, VI.45.7). In all these cases the Vedic mantras have been equated with the cow.

In furtherance of this idea of similitude between the mantra and the cow, there are certain references in the Samhitās where perfect equation is observed between the cow and the mantra. For example, seer Harimanta in one of his mantras observes how wise and active seers squeeze out the immortal Soma juice, which is wisdom incarnate and that the regenerating prayers, as cows, go to it in the permanent original seat of Ŗta (Rigveda, IX, 72.6). In this mantra obviously neither the Soma juice has remained any physical juice nor the cow has remained the actual animal. Being characterised as kavi, while the Soma juice has become the perennial wisdom, the cow has assumed the form of the mantra arising out of that wisdom and culminating eventually in its merger into the ultimate source of all including the Ŗta.

The adjective punarbhuvah, prone to be born again and again, used for mantras as well as cows in this context is highly significant. If yathāpūrvamakalpayata occurring in the Aghamarşaņa Hymn could serve as the source of the idea of cyclic creation and dissolution of the cosmos in the Vedic tradition, references like punarbhuvah in this mantra must have formed the catalyst of the appearance and disappearance of the Veda in co-ordination with the state of creation and dissolution of the cosmos.

13. Vedic Symbolism -- Cow - I

Cow is one of the most commonplace spectacles of the Vedic age. She has been mentioned in thousands in the Samhitās as well as the Upanişads. Anywhere in the Ŗgveda if we read any set of ten mantras, we are sure to find reference to cow, as go, dhenu or aghnya or her product in the form of her calf, bull, ghŗta, etc. This shows unusual preoccupation of Vedic seers with the spectacle of cow.

Now the question is whether these references to cow are just description of the actual preoccupation of the seer with their kine, grazing them, confining them to their dwelling places, milking them, rearing their calves, preparing other products out of the milk, etc., or it has been utilised to suggest to something higher than the bare physical spectacle.

Writers on Veda in the modern times beginning with the advent of the Western scholars in the field have taken for granted the first alternative emphasising it to almost total relegation of the second alternative to the background.

This conclusion gets shaken if we take the trouble to go through the texts in the original, particularly with a view to piecing numerous images of the cow into an integrated picture so as to determine to ourselves the nature of accounts of this significant animal there. There is no denying about it that this animal in the Samhitā appears in her bare physical form also. While looking into the mode of her use in a particular piece of literature, one has not only to remain contented with her bare appearance but has to find out the nuances of her use in the imagery as well as the message sought to be brought home through references as well as detailed accounts.

In the Veda we find that besides some cases where cow seems to appear in her bare physical form, she occurs veritably as an object of comparison, substitute of abstract ideas and symbol of certain universal states of things or principles. The contexts where cow is used as an object of comparison relate to coming home, coming to the sacrifice, drinking Soma, producing mantras, dispelling darkness, etc. In one of Bharadvāja’s mantras, Indra is prayed to come to the sacrifice willingly in the same way as cows return home from the grazing ground in the evening (Rigveda.VI.41.1). Similarly, in another mantra seen by seer Śamyu, Indra is characterised as the lover of mantras and therefore it has been stated that the prayers are rushing to him like cows to their respective calves (Rigveda, VI.45.28 ). Here the prayer proceeding to Indra gets represented figuratively by the cow rushing to her calf towards the end of the day in particular. The Soma juice reaching the belly of Indra, as the ocean, likewise, is compared to suckling cows returning home, which, again, has been characterised as the source of Ŗta, the eternal order (Rigveda, IX.66.12). Here cows returning to the source of the eternal order do not remain the physical cow, in the same proportion as the Soma juice reaching the belly of Indra as ocean does not remain the ordinary Soma juice.

Proceeding on these lines, we find cow rising immensely from her physicality and embracing a definite state of universality. In one of the mantras it is the cow which has been pointed out as the mother of Maruts along with Rudra as their father (Rigveda, V.52.16). In another mantra, she is characterised as the mother of Rudras, daughter of Vasus, sister of Adityas and the navel of immortality. In this capacity, she is described as Aditi and it has been pleaded that she should not be killed (Rigveda VIII.101.15.). Obviously, when cow turns to be Aditi, the mother of Adityas and even beyond that as the mother of all gods, she crosses all limits of physicality and soars infinitely higher to the position of the Creatrix of the universe, the supernal status constituting the eternal source not only of all things but also of the delight sustaining the creation.

If her milk be taken as symbolic of ambrosia, she naturally will come to represent the source of that ambrosia. In the Veda the ultimate principle of delight has been represented in the liquid form of certain choicest edibles such as honey, Soma and ghrta. But, at the same time, the underlying idea behind all these gross representations is that of imperishability and continuity as well as delightfulness. If the fleetingness of the worldly beings and objects is the source of misery, as the great Buddha understood it most profoundly, the sense of continuity behind the flux must obviously be the source of all possible virtues such as truth, blessedness, etc. The amrta of the Vedas is the basis of this sense of continuity. Isa indeed is suggested to be conceived as the indweller of the universe of flux by the Isa Upanişad (Isa Upanişad, 1). The creativity of that all-creating and all-comprehending Isa is Aditi, the indivisible. All gods, including Adityas, Rudras and Vasus as well as everything else in the universe are produced out of her. To describe cow as Aditi, therefore, amounts to symbolising that most fundamental principle of existence by the cow. Cow, thus, is to be treated as the symbol of that principle. It is this principle which has been characterised as the source of Ŗta, the eternal dynamics (Rigveda, IX.66.12). Since the eternal dynamics is based on the eternal stasis, Ŗta is said to have its source in a certain principle of absolute stasis. Cow in this mantra is used as a symbol of that principle of stasis. It is in this capacity alone that she can be called the common mother of Adityas, Rudras, and Vasus.

That this role of cow is not just exaggeration but is the result of a pre-meditated cognisance of a certain principle of existence and symbolisation of it, is evident from the recurrences of this idea time and again in the Vedas. In one of the mantras seen by Dirghatamas, for instance, it has been stated that cow as Aditi has filled her udder with milk for the sake of people treading the path of Ŗta and making sacrifice (RV. I.153.3).

It is in keeping with this viewpoint that the highest footstep and, of course, the permanent abode of Vişņu has been characterised by the presence of cows having long horns and moving around (Rigveda I. 154.6). The presence of cows there is symbolic of that state of things in its infinite potentiality for creation while the characterisation of the same place by the fountain of mead is symbolic of its potentiality for providing the joy as well as sustenance of life in the universe below (Rigveda, I.154.5). The proposition gets confirmed from a mantra seen by Seer Nābhānedişţha in which the seer comes to realise the very navel of his being, which he feels as his original unitary abode and the place of the proximity of all gods together besides experiencing that he is all in all. Further he considers himself as the first-born of Ŗta, which the primeval cow has produced in the form of her milk as soon as getting inclined to manifestation (Rigveda X.61.19). Realising the navel or centre of one’s being is equivalent to reaching the most primeval state of existence. The cow milking Ŗta is obviously symbolic of the surge of creation along with the eternal laws of sustenance, out of that supreme state of things. Just as cow as an organic being produces milk out of herself spontaneously, even so the creation is surging out of that state of being organically and spontaneously.