All that brass: Cow donation’s alloyed avatar catches young worshippers’ fancy at Kashi ghats

The holy cow, albeit in a brass avatar, is offering a way out in Varanasi to young worshippers who neither have the time nor the money to donate a real cow but still

The holy cow, albeit in a brass avatar, is offering a way out in Varanasi to young worshippers who neither have the time nor the money to donate a real cow but still wish to acquire ‘punya’ (spiritual merit) in the ongoing Hindu holy month of Shravan (July 17-August 15).

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This is how it works. Priests seated on wooden platforms dotting the famed ghats of the ancient city keep brass cow figurines with themselves. After a dip in the Ganga, pilgrims, many of them in the age group of 25-35 years, approach these priests for rituals. At this point, the priest asks the devotee whether he wishes to donate a cow. If the answer is ‘yes’, the priest hands over the brass cow to the worshipper.

The worshipper then places the figurine on his own palms while the priest chants a mantra and applies sandal paste on the devotee’s forehead, says Pandit Prasad Dixit, a prominent astrologer and priest of Varanasi.

The ritual is completed with the pilgrim placing the brass cow back on the priest’s wooden platform and offering a donation to the priest in lieu of the ‘sacred animal’. The amount can vary from little over a rupee to up to Rs 11,000, Dixit says.

“Donating a cow has special significance in Sanatana Dharma (the eternal faith or Hinduism). It is observed that the person who donates a cow earns punya (spiritual merit). With the passage of time, the manner of donating a cow has changed,” he says.

Pandit Kishori Raman Dubey aka Babu Maharaj, another local priest, seconds his view.

“The trend of donating brass cows is on the rise among devotees in the age bracket of 25 to 35 years. In this pious month, on an average, around 500 people donate cows in this unique way daily. They find it quite convenient and avoid the complexity of buying a cow and bringing the animal to the ghat,” he says.

“In last 22 days, around 2000 youths donated brass cows and gave dakshina (monetary donation) in place of a living cow,” he adds.

Two other priests, Pandit Kishun Pandey and Sandip Tiwari, confirm the new trend.

Jai Kishore, a Jaunpur resident who is in his mid 30s, is among the pilgrims to have opted for brass cow donation during his visit to the city. He was in Varanasi to offer prayers at Kashi Vishwanath temple on Monday.

First, he went to Dashashwamedh Ghat and took a dip in the Ganga and then donated a brass cow at the ghat itself.

“I am a believer. When I went to the priest, I saw a youth completing the process of cow donation very conveniently. He just placed a brass cow on his palm. Panditji chanted some mantras and the process was over. I also did the same,” he says, adding he paid Rs 1100 to the priest.

This amount is much less than the price of an actual cow.

“Nowadays, price of even a small cow ranges from Rs 10,000 to Rs 14000 or more,” says Dharmendra Yadav, a farmer from Cholapur area in Varanasi. The price of cows yielding 10-15 litres of milk can be as high as Rs 38,000-Rs 55,000.

As Jai Kishore left, another youth, an engineer by profession who didn’t disclose his name, performed the same ritual.

Avnish Rai, who is in his mid 20s and visited the same ghat on Wednesday, says, “This way, godan (cow donation) is very easy. It doesn’t take too much time. I liked it.”