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The domestication of the cow was a significant development in the history of civilization. The central place of the cow as the sustainer and provider of people is widely acclaimed in world mythology and folk belief.

Marital customs show how central the cow is both as an emblem of fertility and as a unit of wealth – our word ‘pecuniary’ derives from the Latin pecu meaning ‘cattle’. In rural cultures, the cow has traditionally been part of a girl’s dowry, making her a good marital prospect. In Greek culture, girl’s names included Polyboia (‘worth many cows’) and Phereoia (‘bringing many cattle’). At Roman weddings, the bride’s vows at the altar included the words, ‘Where you are the bull, then I am the cow.’ In Hindu culture, cattle accompany bride and groom to the bride’s village when she returns after the wedding to visit her father’s house. On the return journey, back to her new house, the bride’s dowry cows are encouraged to dance over an egg which they eventually break in order to mark the bride’s change of state from virgin daughter to married woman, and to help her overcome the separation from her family and home village.

In ancient times, the connection between the Milky Way and the cow is reflected throughout world legend. The Gaelic words for the Milky Way, Na Bó Finne, translate as ‘the cow’s run’, while the medieval pilgrimage routes to the shrines of St James of Compostella in north-west Spain and to Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk, England, are both called ‘the Milky Way’ (see Celestial Animals).

The god Krishna who is Lord of the Cowherds encountered the gopis (female cow-herders) while they were splashing naked in the river Jumna. He hid their saris and laughed at their embarrassment when they emerged naked from the river. They fled back to the modest safety of the waters when they heard him. He refused to give them back their clothes until they joined hands and danced about him in a supplicatory dance. They fell in love with the exquisite god and he multiplied his arms to show them how to dance the Rasalila dance. So beautiful was this dance that peacocks standing nearby incorporated these movements into their own courtship dance. In another version of the story, all the gopis fled except Radha, who asked for her sari back and eventually married the god of the cowherds.

Among the Dinka of the Sudan in Africa, young women who are eligible to be courted carry cow’s horns, while the young men lead the ‘song bulls’ to them, especially pampered oxen, in a rite that combines human courtship with bovine fertility and virility. In India, the cow is sacred and must never be harmed because the primordial mother of life, Aditi, is the provider of all. Even among those who eat meat, no Hindu will eat beef. The sacred syllable ‘Aum’ is chanted by the pious – and understood to consist of three colours: the red cow of dawn, the white cow of the day and the black cow of dusk – in a chant which encompasses life from beginning to end.

Buddha used the metaphor of the products of the cow to signify the four different kinds of people in the world, these being: he who has neither struggled for his own welfare nor that of others, he who has striven for others but not for himself, he who has striven for his own welfare but not for that of others, and he who has striven for both himself and others.

‘For just as milk comes from the cow, and from the milk cream, and from the cream butter, and from the butter ghee, so that is reckoned the best of all, and he who has striven both for himself and for others is the highest and most supreme.’

During the Sung dynasty, a Zen Buddhist teacher called Seikyo drew a series of pictures relating cow-herding to the spiritual path: a lost cow represents the loss of way; finding traces of the cow represent the finding of the teachings which the seeker does not yet fully understand; catching sight of the cow represents the seeker remembering what is most important; catching the cow is the possession of spiritual practice which still needs discipline; herding the cow is a daily process of keeping watch on the self-deceptive and confused mind; and coming home on the cow’s back represents a one-ness with the spiritual teaching. This tradition is related to the taming of the unruly passions and is found in the image of the Chinese sage Lao Tse riding a cow buffalo.

There are more than 100 words relating to the cow in Gaelic which is an indication of the importance of these animals in the Celtic world. Among the Celtic people, the cow was the standard unit of currency, and many famous stories – such as the Tain bo Cuailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley) are concerned with the theft of famous cattle, which invariably gave rise to a war, with one side or the other fighting for possession of the animals. In the Tain, there is a description of the two semi-mythical bulls; the Brown Bull of Cuailnge was described as follows:

dark brown dire haughty with young health horrific overwhelming ferocious full of craft furiousfieryflanksnarrow

bravebrutalthickbreasted curly browed head cocked highgrowling and

eyes glaring

(trans. Thomas Kinsella)

Both cows and bulls represented plenty to the Celts and it is not surprising to find accounts of the sacred origin of such beasts. In Ireland, three wondrous cows arose from the sea – a white (bo-finn), a red (bo-ruadh) and a black (bo-dhubh), very similar to the three cow-syllables of the Hindu chant of Aum. The Crodh Sidhe are the cows belonging to the fairies. The cow was also inextricably linked with the goddess Bride or Brighid (later St Bridget) who was the matron of dairy-work and the protector of all dairy animals: she is often depicted milking. Cow’s milk – especially that of white cows – was said to possess healing properties. In an ancient story about a battle between the Britons and the Irish, in which the latter were losing many men to the effect of poisoned arrows, a famous Pictish Druid named Trosdane told the Irish leaders to fill a pool with the milk from 150 white cows. The wounded men then bathed in the milk and were cured.

In Estonian legend, the cows of the giant Näkki were stalled at the foot of a great whirlpool and grazed along its ripples. Like all otherworldly cattle, they gave the most wonderful milk, but only the bravest heroes were ever able to catch one and introduce it into his own herd where it improved the stock to the envy of his neighbours.

In Egyptian mythology, the horns of the cow became part of the crowns of both Isis and Hathor, and also Nuit but the primordial Mehet-Weret is the cow goddess of the sky. She is believed to be the mother of Ra. Her name means ‘great flood’ and she represents the waters of the heavens along which the sun boat passes. She is shown as a cow, crowned with the triple moon crown, lying down upon a reed-mat with a flail across her shoulders as her badge of office. The scribe, Nebseni, makes this prayer to her: ‘Strengthen me just as you have strengthened yourself and show yourself upon earth, you who return and withdraw yourself and may your will be done.’ (See also Bull, Audumla, Cattle of Geryon.)