Cow Sacrifice

Gurdip Singh

{The story has nothing to do with the present political gimmick of Holy Cow. It has no relation to Hindu mythology.)

It has not rained for the past several months. Our fields have become ruined. The land which was once rich and fertile has become barren, The headman of the village said. He had called a meeting of all villages to discuss the problem that had bothered then.

There was no rain last year and even this year, the rainy season remained dry. We did not have enough showers this time too. Those who assembled around him nodded their heads in affirmative. The issue was troubling every body.

It was true, the rain was deficient. These days, we get a weather forecast based on the data that we receive from the satellites which move around the earth to monitor the position of clouds, direction of wind, amount of humidity and the local temperature continuously. Interestingly we have a large database, on the basis of which weather can be predicted accurately.

But in those days, there was no such arrangement and people used to rely on the mercy of gods. They had to depend on rain god for rain. They believed that there up in the heaven, rain is controlled by some rain god. If there was good rainfall, they thought their god was pleased with them, but if there was no rainfall, it was for them a sure sign of rain god's displeasure. “Indira is not happy with us.” The headman announced. “Yes, it appears that he is annoyed with us.” His statement was widely approved by those who had collected there in respond to his call.

He sends clouds in the sky and they just pass our village without a single rain drop for our land. The whole village had witnessed it. Clouds appearing in the sky but passing over the village. Then, they began to explain the reason and they told one another that the neighbouring villages had no such problem. The villages on the other side of the mountain had plenty of rain. They had performed sacrifice and other rituals.

We must do something to please Indra, the headman said, “Let us go to the village priest and seek his advice.”

“You must perform a sacrifice ritual with at least 10 cows to offer as sacrifice to please Lord Indra, and he may send some rain if this pleases him, or else we may perform a big Rituals where a couple of hundred milked cows can be offered as sacrifice.”

“Ten cows? No, I will not offer a single cow neither I shall let the village do this ritual.”

This was a poor shepherd boy who used to take his herd of cows for grazing. He was placed at the head of herd and he had been given the charge of about ten scores of cows whom he used to take out every morning for grazing around the foothills.  He had been going here and there and sometimes he, along with other shepherd boys would go the distant land in search of green grass.  

“Cows yield milk and milk is as good as rain.” He said, “ So it is not a wise idea to offer a living cow to please a cloud lord.”

“Every single cow is valuable and we should protect them from any sacrifice.”

“What can we do?”

“They will come and take away our cows by force.”

“Yes they will take away their cows. These cows belong to the villagers, the land lords and the village head man.”

“Yes, though they do belong to them and they are the real owners of these poor animal but we feed them and protect them.” He asked, “Are we not protector of their lives?”

Yes, but we should not forget it that we are their servants. They entrust their cattle for grazing only.

I know, but what do we do when some wild boar or predator attacks them. Who protects them from the attacks?

It's we, nevertheless.

So this time too, we shall protect our cows and we will not allow them to kill a single cow for sacrifice.

What shall we do?

We shall take away all the cattle and go over to the other side of the mountain. We shall not return until the village give up this ritual.

But what whall we do with the cows?

We will keep them in the large cave during this period.

The boy was young but his argument was convincing. All the other shepherds expressed their consent to this idea. None of them wanted his herd be reduced by fewer cows. For cow was his bread and butter.

We dont have land. We dont have gold and jewels. We dont have titles as the rich peasants had. We have only cows and our cows are every thing to us. They are our wealth, wisdom, power, strength. They are our gods even.

Yes, for us they are every thing and we shall protect them from any body who wants to kill them.

So on the appointed day when the priest was buys performing the ritual, all villagers gathered around her and watching him, they were looking towards the sky in disbelief.

Bring the cows.

The head priest asked the headman, who indeed turned to the village.

Bring the cows. Puja is almost over.

The villagers sent for the cows, but there was none in the village. All the cow sheds were vacant. The men returned empty handed. They reported that there was not a single cow in any of the cowshed.

“Goshul has taken them away, this morning.”

“What? Who has asked him to take away the cows?” the headman was getting angry. The ritual of sarifice was delayed. He was afraid that if the sacrifice was not performed, the rain gods will become angry.”

“Goshul, you know, has a charming flute and when he plays the magical tune, all the animals would follow him.”

“Oh, yes, so this naughty boy has played a mischief.” The whole village wondered.

“All the cows have gone to him this morning, leaving the cowshed. We watched them heading towards the that big hill.”

The village headman sent for Goshul and cows, but no one could find him or the herds of the cows. They were amazed at the mystical powers of the boy, which enabled the disappearance of village cattle.

Five days passed. There was no cow in the village and there was no sign of rain. On fifth day, Goshul was seen outside the village. He was immediately arrested and taken to the Headman.

“Where are are cows?”

“There.” He pointed his flute. “There they are all happy and alive.”

“We missed the sacrifice because of you.”

“What was the sacrifice for?”

“It was to please Lord Indra.”

“There he is pleased with all his cows.” Goshul asked them to look at the clouds.”

“We want rain and not the clouds.”

“They are the rain clouds. Lord Indra has sent them for you.”

With these words of his, the sky began to thunder and the lightning began to send its flashes and soon it began to rain. The village experienced first rainfall. Everybody began to dance.

Nobody knew of Goshul ever since. He was not there. They looked for him everywhere. They were sorry for him. They decided to stop cow sacrifice in future.