Nandi Bull and Kamdhenu Cow
Nandi or Nandin is the divine bull, and his name means the giver of joy and happiness. He is predominantly associated with the Shaiva traditions, and his statues are seen in many Shaivite temples distinctly in South India where there are shrines dedicated to him. He is Shiva's vahana (mount) and thought to be Shiva in animal form. Once Shiva bestowed upon him a boon: whosoever whispers their prayers in Nandi's ears will be able to connect with him directly, since their prayers will reach Shiva's ears immediately. Shiva temples typically have a sculpture of Nandi at the entrance. A devotee must initially offer prayers to Nandi and his consort Suyasha, followed by Kartikeya and Ganesha with their respective spouses, and lastly to Shiva-Parvati, according to the Shiva Purana.
As per the Vayu Purana, Nandi is the son of Surabhi and Sage Kashyap. Surabhi is more popularly known as Kamdhenu who is regarded as the mother of all cows. She is the symbol of abundance and prosperity. She emerged out of the Samudra-Manthan (churning of the cosmic ocean). Although it is rare to come across a Kamdhenu temple, the statues of this cow of plenty are very popular and widely accessible in the marketplaces. Kamdhenu's daughter, Nandini is also like her mother the cow of plenty. As per Indian mythology, Kamdhenu and Nandini are the cows of Sage Vashishta of the Rigvedic period.
If we look at the political structure of the period, we find that the Aryans during the Rigvedic period were engulfed in dealing with two types of conflicts. First, they fought with the pre-Aryans i.e. the indigenous people such as the dasas, dasyus, etc. and second, they fought amongst themselves. However, the dasas appear to be a branch of the early Aryans as they are also mentioned in the ancient Iranian texts. Probably the dasyus were the native inhabitants. The Aryan tribal chief was known to be more hostile to them than to the dasas. The Rigveda has numerous references to the term dasyuhatya (killing of the dasyus). It is likely that the dasyus were phallus worshippers and were not cattle herders unlike the Aryans.
The Aryans were into cattle-rearing, herding, breeding and raiding. Their cattle were the main source of their wealth. Battles were fought to gain possessions of cattle. One very famous battle for the cattle and water during the Rigvedic period was the Battle of the Dasarajna (10 Kings) on the banks of the Purushni (Ravi) River between Sudas, the ruler of the Bharata tribe and a coalition of ten tribes (five Aryan and five non-Aryan tribes). The confederacy's leader, Purukutsa was killed in the battle and the Bharatas emerged as victorious and also as the most dominant Vedic tribe. A number of different causes propounded by historians. As per one theory, it was an outcome of a rivalry between Sage Vashishta (the priest of the Bharatas and one of the Saptarishis or Seven Great Rishis) and Vishwamitra (the priest who assisted the 10 tribes) while as per another proposition, it was due to the water dispute between the two over the sharing of the waters of the Purushni River. The hymns of the Rigveda call attention to the ten tribes attempting to steal cows from the Bharatha tribe. However, some historians are of the opinion that the hymns show signs of late interpolations and cannot be taken seriously for the reconstruction of history.
Mythology, however, narrates a story to provide an explanation for the cause of enmity between Vashishta and Vishwamitra. Before Vishwamitra took to ascetism, he was the king of Kanyakubja and one day while hunting he happened to come across the hermitage of Sage Vashishta who welcomed him and his army generously and fed with delicious foods with the help of his cow, Kamdhenu, also known as Sabala (The Mahabharata mentions the cow as Sabala). Desirous to own such a miraculous cow, the king tried to persuade him to give it to him in return for thousands of cows, horses, elephants and jewels. Vashishta declined the offer. As a result, Vishwamitra attempted to take it by force and sent his army. The cow created the Pallavas, Yavanas, Shakas, Kambojas, Barvaras, Kiratas, Haritas and such warriors in order to defend itself. In the end, Vishwamitra was defeated, and he became a sage.
Before the advent of the Vedic period in the Indian subcontinent, it is believed that the Indus Valley Civilization shows the prevalence of bull worship and majority of the IVC seals bear the representation of the humpless bull. But their seals also feature the humped bull. By the Vedic Age, cattle and cows in particular became extremely significant to its economy. However, they did not worship cattle, but they had a god named Pushan who took care of the cattle. They mainly worshipped natural phenomena such as rain, water, fire, storm, and others for children, cattle, food, wealth, health, etc. Gradually the cow in Brahmanical normative texts became a revered object. With the ascent of the Puranic gods particularly Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, the Vedic gods were made subservient to the former. The primitive popular beliefs associated with bull worship, fertility cults and natural phenomena such as the worship of trees, mountains, rivers, etc. were absorbed and accordingly, Shiva was assigned a bull as his divine mount. Thus, bull worship is still practiced while cow veneration evolved later.
Fun Fact:
In Rajasthan, there is a notable milch breed of cattle known as Rathi. One epithet for the Rathi cow is the "Kamdhenu of Rajasthan." They are mostly located in desert areas of the state, such as the districts of Jodhpur, Bikaner, and Ganganagar.
Rathi Bull, the "Kamdhenu of Rajasthan"
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