Kamadhenu

Kamadhenu ( ), juga digelar Surabhi ( ), adalah seorang dewi berkaitai lembu ramal dijelaskan dalam mitologi Hindu sebagai ibu dari semua lembu. Dia adalah seorang "lembu banyak" menakjubkan yang dapat memberikan pemiliknya apa-apa sahaja dia inginkan. Dia sering digambarkan sebagai ibu lembu-lembu lain dan sebelas Rudras. Kamadhenu juga mewakili lembu generik suci dihormati dalam agama Hindu.

Pelabagi kitab memberikan berlainan keterangan tentang kelahiran Kamadhenu. Sementara sesetengah menceritakan bahawa dia timbul dari pusaran lautan kosmik, yang lain menjelaskannya sebagai anak perempuan kepada Daksha dan isteri pendeta Kashyapa. Masih kitab-kitab lain menceritakan bahawa Kamadhenu berada dalam perarakan pendeta Jamadagni atau Vasistha, yang raja-raja kesat cuba untuk mencurinya dari para pendeta itu dan akhirnya menghadapi akibat-akibat dahsyat dengan tindakan mereka.

Sementara Kamadhenu biasnaya memberikan susu dan barang susu untuk korban pendeta atau tuannya, pada waktu-waktu lain dia menghasilkan pejuang-pejuang untuk melindunginya.

Nama dan nama julukan
Kamadhenu sering dikenali dengan nama sesuai Surabhi, yang juga digunakan sebagai sinonim untuk seekor lembu biasa. Profesor Jacobi menganggapkan nama Surabhi—"yang semerbak"—telah berasal dari bau aneh lembu-lembu. Menurut dengan Monier Williams Sanskrit–English Dictionary (1899), Surabhi bermakna semerbak, menawan, yang menyenangkan, dan juga lembu dan bumi. Ia dapat khususnya dirujukkan pada lembu ramal Kamadhenu, ibu lembu yang kadang-kadang dijelaskan sebagai dewi Matrika ("ibu").

Nama-nama sesuai lain disandarkan pada Kamadhenu adalah Sabala—"yang bertitik"—dan Kapila—"yang merah".

Nama julukan "Kamadhenu", "Kamaduh" (कामदुह्) and "Kamaduha" (कामदुहा) secara harafiah bererti lembu "dari mana semua keinginan dipenuhi"—"lembu yang banyak".

Dalam Mahabharata dan Devi Bhagavata Purana, dalam konteks kelahiran Bhishma, lembu Nandini diberi epitat Kamadhenu. Dalam kejadian lain, Nandini digambarkan sebagai lembu-anak perempuan dari Surabhi-Kamadhenu. Sarjana Vettam Mani menganggap Nandini dan Surabhi sebagai sinonim dengan Kamadhenu.

Ikonografi dan simbolisme

Sebagai kekayaan dan pelindung Brahmin
Dalam mitos Hindu, Kamadhenu sering dikaitkan dengan Brahmin ("kelas sami" termasuk sages), yang dia menjadi simbol kekayaan. Susu lembu dan hasilannya seperti ghee (clarified butter) merupakan bahagian penting bagi api korban Vedic, yang dilaksanakan oleh sami Brahmin; dengan itu Kamadhenu mistik kadang kala dirujuk sebagai Homadhenu—lambu the cow from whom oblations are drawn. Moreover, the cow also offers the Brahmin—who is prohibited to fight—protection against abusive kings who try to harm him. As a goddess, she becomes a warrior, creating armies to protect her master and herself.

Lembu Jamadagni

Suatu lagenda menceritakan bahawa lembu perkorbanan Kamadhenu tinggal dengan pendeta Jamadagni. The earliest version of the legend, which appears in the epic Mahabharata, narrates that the thousand-armed Haihaya king Kartavirya Arjuna destroyed Jamadagni's hermitage and captured the calf of Kamadhenu. To retrieve the calf, Jamadagni's son Parashurama slew the king, whose sons in turn killed Jamadagni. Parashurama then destroyed the kshatriya ("warrior") race 21 times and his father is resurrected by divine grace. Similar accounts of the abduction of the celestial cow or her calf, the killing of Jamadagni by Kartavirya Arjuna and the revenge of Parashurama resulting in the death of Kartavirya Arjuna, exist in other texts. The Bhagavata Purana mentions that the king abducted Kamadhenu as well as her calf and Parashurama defeated the king and returned the kine to his father. The Padma Purana mentions that when Kartavirya Arjuna tried to capture her, Kamadhenu, by her own power, defeated him and his army and flew off to heaven; the enraged king then killed Jamadagni.

In the Brahmanda Purana, Kamadhenu creates a great city by her power to accommodate Kartavirya Arjuna's army, when they visit Jamadagni's hermitage. On returning back to his kingdom, Kartavirya Arjuna's minister Chandragupta persuades him to capture the divine cow. The minister returns to the hermitage and tries to convince the sage to give away the cow, but to no avail, so he tries to snatch Kamadhenu with force. In the ensuing fight, the sage is killed, but Kamadhenu escapes to the sky and Chandragupta takes her calf with him instead. The Brahmanda Purana narrates this Kamadhenu Sushila was gifted to Jamadagni by the Kamadhenu-Surabhi, who governs in Goloka.

The Brahma Vaivarta Purana narrates that the celestial cow – called Kapila here – produces various weapons and an army to aid Jamadagni defeat the king's army, who had come to seize her. When the king himself challenged Jamadagni for battle, Kapila instructed her master in martial arts. Jamadagni led the army created by Kapila and defeated the king and his army several times; each time sparing the life of the king. Finally, with the aid of a divine spear granted to him by god Dattatreya, the king killed Jamadagni.

Lembu Vasistha

The Ramayana presents a similar account about Kamadhenu, however here the sage is Vasistha and the king is Vishwamitra. Once, king Vishwamitra with his army arrived at the hermitage of sage Vashistha. The sage welcomed him and offered a huge banquet – to the army – that was produced by Sabala – as Kamadhenu is called in the text. The astonished king asked the sage to part with Sabala and instead offered thousand of ordinary cows, elephants, horses and jewels in return. However, the sage refused to part with Sabala, who would was necessary for the performance of the sacred rituals and charity by the sage. Agitated, Vishwamitra seized Sabala by force, but she returned to her master, fighting the king's men. She hinted Vashistha to order her to destroy the king's army and the sage followed her wish. Intensely, she produced Pahlava warriors, who were slain by Vishwamita's army. So she produced warriors of Shaka-Yavana lineage. From her mouth, emerged the Kambhojas, from her udder Barvaras, from her hind Yavanas and Shakas, and from pores on her skin, Haritas, Kiratas and other foreign warriors. Together, the army of Sabala killed Vishwamitra's army and all his sons. This event led to a great rivalry between Vashistha and Vishwamitra, who renounced his kingdom and became a great sage to defeat Vashistha.

Lihat juga

 Lembu dalam agama Hindu
 Nandi (lembu jantan)
 Auðumbla

Catatan

Buku

Makhluk legenda Hindu
Bovin mitos
Dewi haiwan