Always Trust the Mother
Story told by Nadaga Bomma, a Lingayat elder from Bargur Hills, Tamil Nadu
“Go to the earth and serve the humans,” the goddess Parvathi told the cow. But there was no one to take care of the angry cow on earth, and she roamed alone for ages. One day, on a day that seemed like any other, she met a human, one that promised to care for her and adorn her with accessories. So the story went- the Gollas tamed the cow and became the first herders in the world. Staying true to their promise, they decorated the cow’s horns, put a ring through her nose and tied bells around her neck, showering her with praises of her beauty.
One cow became several hundred, and the Gollas travelled across seven hills to graze the cows. On one occasion, the last cow that was grazing had a calf waiting for her in the pen. As she started her journey back home, a tiger caught hold of her and tried to eat her. Before the tiger could manage a bite, she calmly told him, “Eat me tomorrow, I’ll give milk to my calf and return at daybreak.” The tiger asked, “How can I trust you?” The cow swore on the skies, water and land that she would return and the tiger let her go.
The cow came back to the pen, gave milk to the calf and told it to follow the aunts and sisters and remain cautious. She told the other cows to not kick her calf from the back, not send it out alone and take care of it as if the calf were their own. The next morning, the cow bathed herself so that she was clean for the tiger. She then set off to find him.
Upon seeing that the cow had returned, the tiger was shocked. “How can I eat a cow with so much Bhakti, so much devotion?” he asked himself. He let her return home. When she returned to her pen, the calf refused to drink her milk. The calf thought that she had lied and did not go to the tiger, suspecting that she did not keep her word. Insulted by the calf’s lack of trust, the cow cursed all calves that they should be separated from their mothers after birth. To this day, this is why calves are sold off at such a young age.
About Bargur Lingayats:
The Bargur Lingayats are a Kannada-speaking community that live in the Bargur hills of Tamil Nadu and herd Bargur buffalo and Bargur cows, both registered breeds. Spread out across 33 hamlets in the hills, the Lingayat community practice a transhumant form of pastoralism. Herders spend eight months in the lower elevation Nal Road region which lies at the foothills at 300m above sea level and return to their homes in the Bargur hills for the summer months. This story is a part of their folklore and expresses their traditional ties with the cattle they keep.
