From the foundation of the cow’s foot, she is known by the name Viklindu. It is said that those who seek to sniff her with their mouths are destroyed and lose their very names, erased from memory. If someone pierces her ears, he is cut off from the gods themselves. Though he may wish to make a mark, it is the younger one who claims his own rightful place. Whenever someone, for mere enjoyment, cuts the young ones of the cow, calamity follows: the calves perish, and wolves destroy the offspring. If the owl consumes the hair of her guardian, the boys die and nameless disease spreads. When her dung is tasted by a slave woman, something misshapen is born, a warning to avoid sinful actions. The cow is born together with the gods and the Brahmins. Thus, she is to be given to the Brahmins, for she is regarded as the guardian of one’s own. Whoever brings her from the forest, the gods themselves make the cow for him; she is to be won by Brahma, and is cherished by those who hold her dear. If one does not give the cow of the gods to the seers who ask, he is cut off from both the gods and the favor of the Brahmins. Whoever possesses her and desires another, injures the one who has not been given, refusing to give to those who request. Just as a treasure is placed for the Brahmins, so is the cow; they seek her wherever she is found. When the Brahmins approach the cow, they seek what is theirs, as if someone else might conquer them—that is the cow’s restraint. Let her wander, unrecognized, for three years, bearing an unknown disease. O Narada, let the Brahmins know the cow, and then she will come to them. Whoever declares the cow to be the treasure placed for the gods, Bhava and Sharva circle around him, aiming their attention at him. If someone does not know her udder or her teats, yet wishes to milk her, if he is able, he milks the cow with both. But he lies far from her and does not give to those who ask; his desires remain unfulfilled, even if he wishes to give after receiving. The gods requested the cow, making the Brahmin her mouth. To all of them, the Brahmin gave the cry ‘heḍa,’ but the human did not. The cry ‘heḍa’ was given to the cattle, but the cow herself was given to the Brahmins. If a mortal appropriates the portion placed for the gods, he is not beloved. If other Brahmins ask for a hundred cows from the master of cattle, the gods declare, “Thus, the cow belongs to the wise.” Whoever, not giving to the wise, gives the cow to others, upon him the earth and its deities establish difficulties. The gods requested the cow from the one in whom she was first born. Let Narada know her, for he raised her together with the gods. The cow makes a man without offspring and with few cattle; and when asked by Brahmins, she becomes not dear to him. For desire, to Agni and Soma, to Mitra and Varuna, the Brahmins ask; among them, the one who gives prospers. As long as the master of cattle does not listen to the sacred verse himself, let him wander among the cows; after hearing it, he should not dwell in the house. Who, having heard the verse, wanders among the cows, the gods, when invoked, take away his life and prosperity. The cow, wandering in many ways, is the treasure placed for the gods; she reveals her forms when the master intends to kill. She makes herself manifest when the master intends to kill; then she turns her mind to asking from the Brahmins. With his mind, he forms the intention, and thus attains that very goddess; then indeed, the Brahmins come to her, empowered to beg. By the rite of oblation to the ancestors, by sacrifice to the gods, and by giving gifts, the Kshatriya approaches her power, but he does not incur his mother’s reproach. The cow is the mother of the Kshatriya, thus she is born first; what is given to the Brahmins from her is not to be withheld. Just as clarified butter is offered into the ladles for Agni, so the fires draw forth the cow for the Brahmins, having given her. Like a cake offered in sacrifice, the cow stands in this world as a good milker, granting and yielding all desires. All desires in the realm of Yama the cow grants and yields; but for one who withholds when asked, a hellish world is secured. Driven away, the cow moves about angrily for her master, thinking, “Let him be bound in the nooses of death who drives me away.” Whoever, thinking he is driving her away, slaughters the cow or cooks her, Brihaspati himself may come to beg from him his sons and grandsons. Great indeed is her heat, wandering among the cows; she is truly a cow. For the master of the cows, poison is milked from her. What is given to the Brahmins becomes dear to the cattle; and for the cow, that is dear which, as an offering, is for the gods. The cows which the gods prepared, arising from the sacrifice, Narada made their ointment, terrible, from among them. The gods considered her, “Is she to be enjoyed or not to be enjoyed?” Narada told them, “She is the most enjoyable among cows.” “How many cows, O Narada, born among men do you know?” they ask. “Of which one should a non-Brahmin not eat?” Of the ointment-cow, O Brihaspati, and the charioteer’s cow, a non-Brahmin should not eat, if he desires prosperity. Thus, the sacred cow, in all her forms and mysteries, is to be honored, given to the Brahmins, and cherished as a treasure of the gods—her blessings and her wrath shaping the fortunes of those who possess or neglect her.