Gau Mata
The Hindu idea of the cow as a mother, honoured for the milk she gives and treated as sacred.
Also: Gaumata, Go Mata, Mother Cow
Gau Mata means Mother Cow, and it expresses a widespread Hindu view of the cow as a giver of life who nourishes people with milk as a mother does, and whose dung and work sustained village life. The cow is linked with Krishna the cowherd, with Kamadhenu and with the earth goddess, and her care is seen by many as a religious duty. Reverence takes many forms: feeding a cow before eating, worship at festivals such as Gopashtami, giving a cow as go-daan and supporting gaushalas. How this reverence should be reflected in law and public life is discussed widely in India, and views differ.