The Story of Kamadhenu
'Sacred Cow'
by Debjani Chatterjee
Gods and demons fought over you,
Kamadhenu, cow of plenty.
Treasure from the ocean's churning,
you are the gentle Earth's best form:
patience, mercy, serenity.
You chose us. Our screaming hungers
drew you. You gave yourself freely -
India, Egypt, Mother Earth -
always undemanding Nature,
cud-chewing roadside deity,
familiar, taken for granted.
Great Brahma honours you and loves
the Earth whose pure eyes shine in you.
You were a measure of the wealth
and power of kings; you measure
now the humanity of man.
You who gift us milk, tears, silence,
know our warring gods and demons,
siphon our greed and violence.
Casually worshipped, guardian
of stray street corners, your strong tail
is our lifeline to other shores.
Listen...
I am Kurma, the tortoise, and I would like to tell you a story. I am an avatar of Lord Vishnu. I once held the Earth up during the churning of the ocean. Why did the ocean need churning you ask? Well, I am here to tell the story.
The great god Indra once disrespected the great sage Durvasa.
Durvasa, the great ascetic, was walking along one day holding a beautiful garland of flowers. Durvasa caught sight of Indra coming from the opposite direction. Durvasa offered Indra the garland as a gift.
Indra took the garland and threw it to Airavata, his elephant vehicle, who stomped it upon the ground. Durvasa felt deeply disrespected and placed a curse on Indra. The curse asked Lakshmi to leave Indra, which she did.
Lakshmi, being the goddess of bravery, power and radiance, was deeply missed by Indra. This weakness in Indra was noticed by the mighty asuras and they benefited from his vulnerability. They entered the heavens and defeated Indra leaving him without his kingdom. After many years of hiding, Indra decided something must be done and went to Lord Vishnu with the other gods.
When Indra asked Lord Vishnu what to do to make all right again he told Indra that the ocean of milk must be churned in order to release the amitra, the elixir of immortal life, to restore power and immortality to the gods. In order to churn the vast ocean, the aid of the asuras was needed. Lord Vishnu advised Indra to seek the help of the asuras.
The asuras agreed to help Indra. Vasuki, the snake god, was asked to help and also mount Mandhara. As it turned out, Vasuki became the rope and Mandhara the stick which would churn the great ocean. Vasuki was wrapped around the great Mandhara and at one end stood the gods and the other the asuras. It was my duty, as the tortoise incarnation of Vishnu, to hold up Mandhara so it would not sink.
Now the gods and the asuras began the tugging which turned Mandhara and churned the ocean.
During the churning, many marvelous objects began to rise out of the ocean. But first, a terrible poison rose from the churning! Fortunately, Shiva took the poison into his mouth and swallowed the poison. The poison was stopped in his throat and there it remained, coloring his throat blue. All of the celestial treasures that had been lost during the rule of the asuras made their way out of the churning ocean. Among these treasures came Kamadhenu, the cow of plenty , also known as the mother of all cows.