The Cow in the Rice Field

At that time the goddess Umā, Śiva's wife, could not bear that Śiva kept the Gaṅgā hidden in his matted hair. The Gaṅgā, goddess and river, had been dear to Śiva from the time Umā became his wife. When Umā told him to let her go, he would not, and she spoke in private to her son Gaṇeśa, to his brother Skanda, and to Jayā, and said to Gaṇeśa: Neither gods nor demons nor kings, nor you yourself, can make him give her up. Either I will go to the Himālaya and practise austerity, or holy brahmins, their sins burned away by austerity, must ask for her, and so she may come down to the earth. Gaṇeśa heard in the halls of the gods that Gautama had done what the gods themselves could not, and he said: That brahmin could move the Gaṅgā from my father's hair. So Gaṇeśa went with Skanda and Jayā to Gautama's hermitage and stayed there among the sages.

After some days he said to the sages: Let us go back to our own pure hermitages. We have been fed by Gautama's food; let us ask his leave. The sages asked Gautama, and he begged them with folded hands to stay. I serve your feet like a son, he said. This hermitage is yours. Then Gaṇeśa said to the brahmins: We are bought with food, and he will not let us go. We cannot leave by gentle means, and this good man deserves no punishment. Let me find a way, with your consent. They agreed, so long as it was for Gautama's good and the good of the world.

Gaṇeśa took the form of a brahmin, and said to Jayā: Take the form of a cow, and go where Gautama is. Eat the rice and spoil it. When he strikes you, or cries out, or even looks at you, fall down with a pitiful cry, and neither die nor live. Jayā did as she was told. Gautama saw a strange cow eating the rice, and drove it off with a blade of grass, and the cow cried out and fell, and a great cry of sorrow went up.

The brahmins, led by Gaṇeśa, said: We will go from here. We cannot stay in your hermitage. Gautama, struck as if by a thunderbolt, fell down before them. Look at this cow fallen on the ground, they said, the purifier of the world, in whom the gods and the holy places have their form. We must go. The vows we have kept will waste away if we stay in your hermitage, and austerity is our only wealth. Gautama stood before them humbly and said, You are my refuge; you must make me pure.

Then Gaṇeśa, in his brahmin form, spoke for them all: This cow neither dies nor lives. We have heard that the Gaṅgā is held in Śiva's matted hair. Bring her down quickly, by your austerity and discipline, and sprinkle this cow with her water. Then we will all stay in your house as before. Flowers fell from the sky and shouts of victory went up, and Gautama, with folded hands, said: By my austerity, by the grace of the fire and of the gods and of Brahmā, and by your grace, may my resolve be fulfilled. So be it, said the sages, and they took their leave of him and went back to their own hermitages, now rich with food and water, and Gaṇeśa and Skanda and Jayā went home, their work done.

When they had all gone, Gautama sat and wondered what had come upon him, and by his knowledge he understood it all: it had been done for the gods' work and the good of the worlds, to please Śiva and Umā, and to bring down the Gaṅgā. All of it is for good, he thought, and there is no sin in me. And he was glad, and resolved: I will worship Śiva and bring down the best of rivers, and let Umā be pleased with me, for the Gaṅgā in Śiva's hair is her co-wife.