Gavāyurveda in the Agni Purāṇa

Gavāyurveda · gava-āyurveda, “the Āyurveda of cows”

Gavāyurveda is the Āyurveda of cows: the knowledge of their glory, their care and the healing of their diseases. In the Agni Purāṇa it is taught in Chapter 292, where Bhagavān Dhanvantari, the teacher of Āyurveda, speaks under the heading “Now the Gavāyurveda”. The chapter closes the Āyurveda section of the Purāṇa, after the Āyurvedas of horses and elephants, and at its end Agni-deva names the teachers of those two sciences.

Dhanvantari begins with the duty of the king to protect cows and brāhmaṇas, and then gives the go-māhātmya, the glory of the cow: cows are pure and give auspiciousness, all the worlds are established in them, their breath purifies the earth and their touch destroys pāpa (sin). He teaches the vratas kept with the products of the cow, which lead to svarga, Brahmaloka and Goloka; a salutation to the cows as the daughters of Surabhi and the steps to svarga; the remedies for the diseases of cows, from the horn to the hoof; and the go-śānti, the rites that bring peace and well-being to cows, on the pañcamī, on Āśvayuja śukla pūrṇimā and on Makara-saṅkrānti. Elsewhere the Agni Purāṇa returns to the cow again and again: in the dharma of the vaiśya, in the rules of purity, in the gifts of many vratas, in the king’s law and in the rite for lasting wealth of cows.

The glory of the cow (go-māhātmya)

Dhanvantari says that the king must protect (pālana) cows and brāhmaṇas, and announces the go-śānti. First he tells the glory of the cow:

• Cows are pavitra (purifying) and maṅgala-prada (givers of auspiciousness). All the worlds are established in cows.
• Gomaya (cow-dung) and gomūtra (cow’s urine) destroy Alakshmī (misfortune). Scratching a cow’s body, rubbing its horns and giving it water to drink also drive Alakshmī away.
• Gomūtra, gomaya, kshīra (milk), dadhi (curd), ghṛta (ghee) and gorocanā (the yellow concretion of the cow) are the six best things to take. They remove bad dreams and the like.
• Gorocanā destroys poison and rākshasas.
• One who gives grāsa (a mouthful of fodder) to a cow attains svarga, and so does one who gives grāsa to another person’s cow.
• One in whose house cows live in suffering goes to naraka.
• One who desires the welfare of cows (go-hita) attains Brahmaloka.
• One who gives a cow in dāna (go-dāna), recites the glory of the cow (go-māhātmya-kīrtana) and protects cows (go-rakshaṇa) uplifts his whole kula (family line).
• The earth becomes pure when touched by the breath of cows, and by their touch pāpas are destroyed.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 292

Vratas from the products of the cow

Dhanvantari then teaches the vratas kept with the products of the cow:

• The one-day purification. One who for one day takes gomūtra, gomaya, kshīra, dadhi, ghṛta and kuśodaka (water in which kuśa grass has been steeped) and fasts becomes pure, even a caṇḍāla. In former times the devatās also kept it to remove all that was inauspicious.
• Mahāsāntapana vrata: the same substances eaten separately, three days each. It fulfils every desire and removes pāpas.
• Atikṛcchra vrata: living on milk alone for twenty-one days. The best of men who keep it become free of pāpa, gain every desire and go to svarga.
• Tapta-kṛcchra vrata: three days of hot gomūtra, three days of hot ghṛta, three days of hot kshīra, then three days of air alone. It removes every pāpa and gives Brahmaloka.
• Śīta-kṛcchra vrata: the same substances taken cold. This vrata, taught by Brahmā, gives Brahmaloka.
• Go-vrata: for one month one bathes with gomūtra, lives on go-rasa (the products of the cow), follows the cows and eats only after they have eaten. One who keeps it becomes free of pāpa and reaches Goloka.

Goloka is also gained by the japa of the Gomatī-vidyā. In that loka a man rejoices in a vimāna (celestial car) with the apsarās, served with dance and song.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 292

Praise of the cows

• Cows are forms of Surabhi. They have the fragrance of guggulu. They are the support of all living beings and are supremely auspicious.
• Cows serve the devatās as the best food and the best havis (offering).
• They give milk, urine and the rest, which purify all beings.
• With havis made pure by mantra they satisfy the devatās who dwell in svarga. The ṛshis use the products of the cow in homa in their agnihotras.
• Cows are the best refuge (śaraṇa) of all beings.

Dhanvantari then offers his salutation to the cows: namaskāra to the cows, who are most pure and auspicious, the steps (sopāna) to svarga, blessed, eternal (sanātana), the daughters of Surabhi, the givers of Lakshmī; namaskāra to the daughters of Brahmā.

One kula was made into two: brāhmaṇas and cows. In the one the mantras rest; in the other the havis rests. This whole world stands upon the devas, the brāhmaṇas, the cows, the sādhus and the pativratās (wives devoted to their husbands), and so all of them are most worthy of pūjā. The place where cows drink water is a tīrtha, and the Gaṅgā and the other rivers are forms of the cow (go-svarūpa).

“I have told the go-māhātmya,” Dhanvantari says. “Now hear their treatment.”

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 292

Treatment of cows (cikitsā)

Dhanvantari gives the remedies for the diseases of cows:

For calves, māsha (black gram), tila (sesame), wheat, milk and ghṛta, mixed with salt and made into a ball (piṇḍa), give nourishment. Vishāṇī gives strength.

For the troubles caused by the grahas, a dhūpa (fumigation) of devadāru, vacā, māṃsī, guggulu, hiṅgu and sarshapa (mustard) is beneficial, and a bell fumigated with this dhūpa should be tied on the neck of the cows. Feeding fresh butter (navanīta) with aśvagandhā and tila makes the cow give milk. For a bull of the house that is in rut, telaka-piṇḍī is the best rasāyana (restorative).

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 292

The go-śānti rites

Aparā-śānti. For śānti, on the pañcamī (the fifth tithi), Lakshmī and Vāsudeva are worshipped on cow-dung with gandha (sandal paste) and the other upacāras (offerings). This is called Aparā-śānti.

On Āśvayuja śukla pūrṇimā. On the full-moon day of the bright half of Āśvayuja, Śrī Hari is worshipped. Hari, Rudra, Brahmā, Sūrya, Agni and Lakshmī are worshipped with ghṛta. Having worshipped the cows with dadhi, one goes around the fire (agni-pradakshiṇa). Outside the house a bull-fight is arranged, with the sound of song and instruments. Salt is given to the cows and dakshiṇā to the brāhmaṇas.

On Makara-saṅkrānti and the other parvas. On a sthaṇḍila (prepared altar ground) a lotus is drawn, and Śrī Mahāvishṇu together with Lakshmī is worshipped in its middle. On the filaments of the lotus, in the directions, the devatās are worshipped. Outside the lotus, with pulaga (rice cooked with dal), the auspicious Brahmā, Sūrya, Bahurūpa, Bali, Ākāśa, Viśvarūpa, Ṛddhi, Siddhi, Śānti, Rohiṇī and the other dig-dhenus (cows of the directions), Candra and Śiva are worshipped. The dikpālas are worshipped on kalaśas with lotus leaves. In the fire, mustard, akshata (unbroken rice), rice and samidhs of the milky trees (kshīra-vṛkshas) are offered in homa. Gold and vessels of bronze are given in dāna to the brāhmaṇas. Then the cows, adorned and given milk and the rest, are worshipped and set free for the sake of śānti.

At the close of the chapter Agni-deva says that Śālihotra taught the Āyurveda of horses (Aśva-Āyurveda) to Suśruta, and Pālakāpya taught the Āyurveda of elephants (Gaja-Āyurveda) to the king of Aṅga.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 292

The cow in the dharma of the varṇas and in purity

Pushkara teaches Paraśurāma that the special dharmas of the vaiśya are agriculture (kṛshi), the protection of cows (go-saṃrakshaṇa) and trade (vāṇijya). By giving up their life for the sake of cows and brāhmaṇas, and to protect women and children, the Caṇḍālas and the others gain spiritual elevation (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 151). In a time of distress a dvija may also live by agriculture, trade, keeping cows (go-rakshaṇa) and lending, but he must not trade in cow’s milk and such things (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 152).

In the purification of things, vessels of coconut, bottle gourd and the like become pure when rubbed with the hair of a cow’s tail. All the limbs of a cow are pure except the mouth, and the mouth of the calf at the time of milking is pure (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 156).

If a cow’s horn or bone is broken, or its tail cut off, one drinks gruel until it is fully healed, reciting the Gomatī-vidyā and remembering the Go-stuti (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 169).

Cows given in vratas and dānas

• Daśamī vrata: on daśamī one eats once in the day; at the completion one gives ten dhenus (milch cows) and ten gold coins as dakshiṇā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 186).
• Govatsa Dvādaśī: in Bhādrapada one worships the cow with her calf (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 188).
• Dhenu vrata: one who gives an ubhayamukhī cow (a cow in the act of calving) with a heap of gold, and keeps the payo-vrata (living on milk) for one day, gains the supreme abode (paramapada) (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 197).
• In Vaiśākha: one who gives up flowers and salt and gives a cow gains a kingdom. Bhīma vrata: one who fasts for a month and gives a cow gains sāyujya (union) with Vishṇu. Guḍa vrata: the gift of a guḍa-dhenu (a cow of jaggery) on Māgha or Caitra tṛtīyā makes one of the form of Śiva (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 198).
• Agni vrata: at the end of the vrata one gives a ghṛta-dhenu (a cow of ghee). One who bathes with pañcāmṛta for a year and gives a cow becomes a king. Devī vrata: one who eats pāyasa for a year and gives two cows becomes endowed with Śrī (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 199).

In the graha-yajña the yajamāna gives gold, cows, land and other gifts with mantras. For the cow he says: “O Kapilā dhenu! O Rohiṇī! You are worthy of worship by all the devatās. You are the form of all the tīrthas and devatās. Therefore give me śānti.” And for the cows: “In the limbs of cows dwell the fourteen bhuvanas (worlds). Therefore may there be good for me in this world and the next.” (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 167)

The king’s law and the cow

• A cowherd who takes food-expenses and wages from the owner and does not return the owner’s cow, or does not tend it, is fined a hundred suvarṇas.
• One who harms a cow, an elephant, a horse or a camel has half his hands and half his feet cut off.
• A brāhmaṇa who takes something for the service of cows (go-sevā) or for deva-pūjā is not punishable.
• The king must slay those who drive away cows.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 227

Cows in dreams

Drinking milk from the udder of a cow, buffalo, lioness, she-elephant or mare is a good dream. Being bathed with water flowing from a cow’s horn gives a kingdom. If at the end of a dream one sees a king, an elephant, a horse, gold, a bull or a cow, the family grows (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 229).

The rite for lasting wealth of cows

In the Ṛgvidhāna, Pushkara teaches Paraśurāma: one who desires undying wealth of cows (akshaya go-dhana) should recite the ṛk “Ā gāvaḥ” in the cowshed, bow to the cow as lokamātā, the mother of the world, and follow her to the pasture ground (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 259).

The names of the cow

In the lexicon of the Agni Purāṇa, Māheyī, Saurabheyī and Gau are names of the cow. A dhenu is a cow that has newly calved; a bashkayiṇī is a cow that calved long ago; a sandhinī is a cow that has been with the bull; and a vehat is a cow whose garbha has been lost (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 366).

The phalaśruti

Dhanvantari‘s own words carry the promise of this teaching: one who gives a cow, recites the glory of the cow and protects cows uplifts his whole kula; one who desires the welfare of cows attains Brahmaloka; and by the Go-vrata and the japa of the Gomatī-vidyā one reaches Goloka (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 292).

Sources

• Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 151–152, 156, 167, 169, 186, 188, 197–199, 227, 229, 259, 292, 366