Gomaya

Gomaya · go-maya, “cow dung”

Grammar: neuter noun; go (cow) and -maya (made of).

Meaning: cow dung, used to purify the ground, the body and the vratī.

In the Brahma Parva

Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Sāmba the Mahā Saptamī of Māgha. In its first four months the vratī takes gomaya by mouth for purity and bathes with it as well (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 51). For Sūrya namaskāra, Brahmā tells Rudra, a sthaṇḍila is laid on ground smeared with fresh cow dung, a maṇḍala made on it, and Sūrya Deva invoked there (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 52). In the second order of the Siddhārtha Saptamī, the white mustard seeds are taken seven times with seven things, and the sixth time they are taken with gomaya (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 68). In the first pāraṇa of the Jayā Saptamī the vratī bathes and eats gomaya, saying “Bhānur me prīyatām atra” (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 96).

In the Uttara Parva

In the Lalitā Tṛtīyā that Bhagavān Śiva told Umā, gomaya is the prāśana of the fifth month (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 21). In the Rambhā Tṛtīyā, on the Māgha śukla tṛtīyā, Pārvatī is worshipped as Sudevī and gomaya is taken at night (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 24). In the Saubhāgyaśayana it is the prāśana of the second month from Caitra (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 25). In the Ananta-tṛtīyā gomaya is mixed with gorocana, gomūtra, curd and sandal for the tilaka, and it is second in the list of monthly offerings that begins in Bhādrapada (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 26). In the monthly Kṛshṇāshṭamī, in Āshāḍha, Bhagavān Śiva is worshipped as Ugra and gomaya is taken; the vratī dwells in Rudraloka for more than ten lakh years (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 57).

Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Yudhishṭhira that Lakshmī herself dwells in gomaya, and that by the urine and dung of cows even the abodes of the devatās are made pure:

यासां मूत्रपुरीषेण देवतायतनान्यपि ।
शुचीनि समजायन्त किं भूतमधिकं ततः ॥

yāsāṃ mūtrapurīsheṇa devatāyatanānyapi |
śucīni samajāyanta kiṃ bhūtamadhikaṃ tataḥ ||

By their urine and dung even the abodes of the devatās become pure; what could be greater than that?

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 159

Bhagavān Varāha tells Dharaṇī Devī that the milk, curd, ghee, gomūtra and gomaya of the cow are not to be made impure (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 161). For the mountain gifts, the ground of the maṇḍapa is smeared with cow dung and spread with kuśa (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 195).

Related terms: Gomūtra · Pañcagavya · Prāśana

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 51, 52, 68, 96; Uttara Parva, Chapters 21, 24–26, 57, 159, 161, 195