Part 3b.12 - The Gosanti ceremony

[Full title: Religious observances (12) The Gosanti]

The value of cows has always been great in an agricultural country like India. In the ancient times especially, cows constituted the principal wealth and the most precious possessions of the Vedic Aryans. It is interesting to note in this connection that the Latin word pecunia (money) is derived from the word pacu (= cattle) which is the Latin counterpart of the Sk. word pasu. That great sanctity was attached to cows and that they were considered to be stainless and pure, compassionate and motherly can be clearly seen from the references to them in the Rgveda 233. The reason for this lay in the fact that cows were closely associated with the sacrificial ritual. For instance, in the Agnihotra, which was incumbent on every householder, cow's milk was to be offered into the sacred fire every morning and evening. These causes may be presumed to have crystallised into the concept of the divinity of the cow in the later Vedic and post-Vedic periods. It was but natural, in the pastoral and agricultural stages of the Vedic civilization, that preservation of wealth in the form of cows should have been scrupulously attended to. The people were very anxious about the safety and well-being of their cows. Hence we find in Kausika Sutra 51 that a few charms are given for the protection of cow-pens. Atharvaveda-Parisistas 66 describes 233. Vedic Index 128; VIII.101.16. Cf. Atharvaveda, Saunakiya recension IV.21.

514 the following pacificatory ceremony for curing the cows from diseases: The Purohita should fast for a whole day and night, take bath, wear new garments and prepare a clean square spot near the cow-pen or near the herds of cows. He should prepare from cow-dung an image of the god Siva and establish it in the square. He should worship it with milk, clarified butter, incense, fragrant flowers etc. He should make offerings to the Pranas of milk, curds and clarified butter. He should then perform the ajya-tantra up to abhyatana 234 and offer on the fire mustard, sesame, fried grain and fire-sticks besmeared with curds, honey and clarified butter reciting the given formulas kalaya svaha etc. He should sprinkle the cows with water reciting the verse namo inaya...(66.2.6). This ceremony is said to have been taught by Brahma who was implored by the sages. It is stated at the end of the Parisista that the cows of the Brahmana, who daily recites the text of the Gosanti in the cow-pen, multiply in mumber and that he enjoys great prosperity. 234. Cf. Kaug. 137.42.