Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 23, 1912.djvu/326

304 its Brahmanical form the legend was localised at Gokarn, a sacred place on the western coast, where Siva, at the prayer of the Earth goddess, rose through the ear of a cow whose form she had assumed.

Thirdly, the cow was associated with the new cultus. The bull became the attendant of Siva, lord of fertility, the favourite object of Brahman worship, whose sacred marriage with the Earth goddess is periodically celebrated. On the same principle the Brahmans recognised and adopted the worship of Krishna, who in one of his many forms was a god of cattle, and devotion and tendance of the cow is a prominent part of his cultus. The cow was introduced into the family ritual conducted under Brahman superintendence. Thus the sacred marriage of the bull and cow is performed as a mimetic fertility charm at marriage, and at the death rites to strengthen the puny soul for its journey to the world of spirits.

Lastly, the Muhammadan raids and the slaughter of the cow at the Idu-'l-azha festival must have tended to increase the devotion towards the animal. The Muhammadan chronicles tell many stories of deliberate cow slaughter in the lust of conquest, with a view to enforce the submission of the Hindus, or in revenge for their resistance. Even as late as 18 13, it is alleged by the Hindus of Benares that the Muhammadans, in the course of a fanatical riot, slew a cow and her calf and poured their blood upon the sacred stone pillar, the Lāt Bhairon, which up to that date had withstood all attempts to destroy it. Now in horror at the outrage it trembled and fell to pieces.

To sum up the suggestions which I have ventured to advance in this paper:—We find the cow domesticated and