Gau Mata In Vedic
Culture
It is said that the one who bears the dust thrown from the hoof of Gaumata on his head, as if taking a bath in the water of the teerth sthalam and getting rid of all sins.
Ved and all other Hindu scriptures venerate the cow. The Vedic dictionary, Nighantu, gives amongst other synonyms of 'Gau' [ or cow] the words 'Aghnya', 'Ahi', and 'Aditi'.
Yaska the vedic decoder and commentator on Nighantu, defines these as-
Aghnya —— the one that ought not to be killed
Ahi —— the one that must not be slaughtered.
Aditi —— the one that ought not to be cut into pieces.
These three names of cow signify that this is an animal which should not to be put to tortures. These words appear frequently throughout the Veda in context of the cow.
But in due course the falsehood of killing cows spread far and wide and they became even more deep rooted when western scholars with their half baked knowledge of Sanskrit transliterated these interpretations of commentaries of Sayanacharya ,