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Pañcagavya

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Pañeagavya literally means ‘five products derived from a cow’.

The society has been venerating the cow for over three millennia. Working for the good of ‘go-brāhmaṇa,’ the cows and the brāhmaṇas, has been considered as a very pious act. The dharmaśāstras have prescribed several prāyaścittas or expiations for sins. In many of these rites consuming the pañeagavya finds a place, thereby reflecting the great veneration for the cow. The pañcagavya is a preparation from five[1] products derived from a cow.[2]They are:

  1. Milk
  2. Curds
  3. Ghee
  4. Urine
  5. Dung

The proportion in which they are mixed is 8:8:4:2:1. All these are to be taken from a kapilā[3] cow. While preparing it, several mantras from the Ṛgveda[4][5] and other Vedas[6][7] are to be chanted. A part of it, mixed with green darbha[8] is offered into fire with some more Vedic mantras and the remainder is consumed with a special mantra indicating the power of this pañcagavya to burn up all the sins.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ Five means pañca.
  2. ↑ Cow means gavya.
  3. ↑ Kapilā means brown.
  4. ↑ Ṛgveda 1.91.16
  5. ↑ Ṛgveda 4.39.6
  6. ↑ Taittiriya Āranyaka 10.1
  7. ↑ Vājasaneyī Samhitā 22.1
  8. ↑ It is Poa cynosuroides.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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