Kamadhenu, the Sacred Cow

The evening meal was still steaming. The smell of warm soup filled the room.

"Dad, why don't people of the Hindu faith eat beef?"

The child's question burst out in the middle of dinner. Her father set down his chopsticks.

"There is a story about a cow that grants every wish. Let me tell it."

It is the story of Kamadhenu. Her name joins "kama," which means wish, and "dhenu," which means cow. Kamadhenu is the cow who grants every wish. People also call her Surabhi, the fragrant one.

She came out of the ocean of milk, during a churning of the whole cosmos. She was one of the fourteen rarest treasures that rose from it. Then she was given to the sage Vasishtha, who lived in a thatched hermitage in the forest.

The tradition gives her a form unlike any ordinary cow. Her body is pure white. Her head is a human face wearing a crown. Eagle wings spread out on both sides, and her tail is the splendid tail of a peacock.

Her four legs are the four sacred scriptures called the Vedas. Her four udders are the four great aims of human life. Her whole body holds the entire universe.

The girl's eyes went wide. Her father nodded slowly. "That's right. The whole universe in one cow."

And she can create anything that is asked of her with an honest heart.

Her greatest story begins with a feast.

King Kaushika led a great army past the hermitage of Vasishtha. He was a mighty warrior who ruled a vast kingdom. Sabala is the name Kamadhenu bears when she is with Vasishtha, and it means the mottled cow. Vasishtha called Sabala to him.

"Sabala, prepare a welcome for the king's great army."

And Sabala made a feast for the whole army. Nobody had to wait. Nothing was missing.

"Oh my," the girl exclaimed. Her father smiled. "I thought so too."

Kaushika was amazed. Then greed rose in him.

"I will trade a hundred thousand of the finest cows," the king said. "Give Sabala to me."

Vasishtha shook his head. "She is the source of my spiritual life. I cannot give her up."

The king raised his price. Fourteen thousand elephants in golden saddles, enough to shade a whole city. Vasishtha shook his head.

One hundred and eight chariots of solid gold, bright as suns on wheels. Still he shook his head. Then eleven thousand purebred horses, enough to make the earth shake.

Vasishtha looked the king straight in the eye. His voice was calm, without a ripple. "She is not something that can be bought or sold."

Anger rose in the king. He ordered his soldiers to seize Sabala by force.

Sabala was dragged away, but she looked back at Vasishtha. She cried out in anguish.

The girl held her breath.

The sage nodded slightly. "Use your power."

From the body of Sabala, Pahlava warriors poured out like water bursting a dam. The king's mighty army broke apart, beaten by a strength that did not come from swords and spears. It came from the spiritual power of a cow.

Kaushika lost the battle. The shame was worse than any defeat he had ever tasted.

That night he gave up his kingdom. The man who had once commanded a whole army now sat alone on a peak of the Himalaya, in wind and snow. Only Kaushika remained, and a question with no answer yet: what is greater than strength?

In the end the god Brahma gave him the title of Brahmarishi, the highest kind of sage. He became Vishwamitra, friend of the universe, one of the greatest sages in the Hindu tradition.

This story is recorded in the Valmiki Ramayana, which dates from more than two thousand years ago. The Ramayana is an ancient Indian epic, composed in Sanskrit. But Kamadhenu is not only a character in one tale.

In the Hindu faith, every cow in the world is considered an earthly form of hers. Cows give milk, feed people, and ask for nothing. People call the cow Gau Mata, Mother Cow, one of the seven sacred mothers of the Hindu tradition.

In the Rig Veda, the cow is called Aghnya, which means "not to be killed." The word is written twenty times in the Rig Veda, because the people of old wanted to remind one another that some things cannot be given a price.

"So it is because they love Kamadhenu?" the girl asked.

Her father nodded. "And because they believe every cow carries her breath. That is their belief, not a rule for everyone."

In old Vietnam, too, people treasured the ox that plowed their fields. The ox fed the whole family, and no one killed it lightly.

No field holds Kamadhenu herself. But her story is still here, warm as the evening meal.