Panchagavya

Panchagavya (or Bramha koorcham)

Panchagavya consists of five products from the cow: dung, urine, milk, curd and ghee. Panchagavya is prepared and used when performing rituals for ancestors at a particular lunar phase when the person or the house is to be purified after the death of someone in the family; when a housewarming ceremony is performed in a new house to ward off evil forces; on the day a young priest is administered the Gayatri Mantra with the sacred thread; and on Maha Sivarathri day, the day of Lord Siva. There are few quotes:

Kd;g[ nghy; Kjy;tdhiu mKJ bra;tpf;f \Sk;

md;g[ nghy; J}a bre;bey; mhprp khtLbkd;fPiu

Jd;g[ nghk; kdj;Jj; bjhz;lh; Tilapy; Rke;J nghfg;

            gpd;g[ nghk; kidtpah; Md;bgw;w m";nre;jpj; brd;whh;

-       bghpag[uhzk;

Cdpy; nka  Mtp eP/ cwf;fhkhL czh;r;rp eP

Mtpd; nka Ie;Jk; eP/ mtw;Ws; epd;w J}a;ik eP

thdpbdhL kz;qk; eP/ tsk; fly; aht[k; eP

ahDk; eP/ mjdpd;wp vk;gpuhDk; eP/ ,uhknd

-       ehshapu jpt;a gpuge;jk; 845

jpUr;re;j tpUj;jk; 94

           g{tpDf; fU';fyk; bgh';F jhkiu

        MtpDf; fU';fyk; அரண் ; ma;e;jhl;Ljy;

          nfhtpYf; fU';fyk; nfhl;lKkpd;ik

          ehtpDf; fU';fyk; ekr;rpthant

-       ekr;rptha jpUg;gjpfk;

eht[f;furh;/ ehyhe;jpUKiw

        All these verses give an impression that Panchagavya is used to establish a link between living and dead, seen and unseen, physical and para physical, and earthly and heavenly forces.  Such a high esteem and status for a simple product from a common animal many sound paradoxical, but when the truth is unraveled, one is overcome with wonder.

        Earthly beings are made up of five basic-elements, viz. Earth (body dry matter), Water (90 percent of the body is water), Fire (98.4 degree celcious), Air (oxygen to every cell) and Space, which are at non-equilibrium within each of them and also among them.  This is the reason for the existence of beings with all kinds of inequalities.  Indian wisdom says that these basic units are almost at equilibrium in the cells of a cow, that is why the cow has been accepted as near divine in Indian culture, and worshipped as Goddess from time immemorial.  It is called Kamadhenu, the giver of all richness to humanity.

        The farmers used to perform worship to a cow after decorating the head and face of the cow while Nattukkottai Chettiar  community to whom the money lending was way of life in down south of the TN, worships the cow at the back and at the time of the house warming ceremony, the cow is to brought into the newly built house with its back facing the house believing that the Goddess of Prosperity (Laksmi) and Goddess of Wisdom (Saraswathi) dwell in the urine and the dung respectively.

       According to ancient texts, all the beneficent forces like gods, devas, sages, yogis and divine spirits are said to dwell in the body of the cow.  The products from the cow have the ability to bring in the flow of cosmic energy, whenever and in whatever from they are used.  Cosmic energy, even a speck of it, when made to pass through a living system, transforms the living being to wholesomeness, removing the imbalances in its physical, chemical, biological and physiological aspects and harmonizes the basic elements which results in revitalization of the growth process.

      At the famous  Srirangam temple  where the deity Swami Sriranganatha dwells, the daily practice  (during the visvaroopa dharsan by 5.00 AM) is to bring a cow, allow it to turn it 's back to the God and stand infront of the  sanctum; When the first  pooja is performed , the screen is removed at the entrance so that the God Ranganatha  could see the back of the cow where Goddess Laksmi is supposed to dwell.

The hump and horn signify the local breeds.  Hump is said to be sensitive to cosmic vibrations while horn prevents the vibration of any kind from anywhere.  Both regulates the inflow and out flow of cosmic forces in cows.  Cows and bulls kneel down if their hump is gripped with hand.  In castrated bulls, the hump is small while in un-castrated bulls, the hump is usually luxurious with dark shining hairs.  There must be a link between vitality and hump in animals.

Preparation:

a. The panchagavya is now being prepared from the raw materials sourced from exotic cows. But the potency of the Panchagavya is the best when the raw ingredients are sourced from Desi cows.

a.  The colour of the cow also matters as indicated in our ancient texts as belowand as informed by Mr.Saravana Guru, Nattasreeswaran Temple, Erode, TN:

Sl.No	Colour of the cow	Raw Material	Associated Rhishis	Sanskrit version
01	Black	Milk	Bharathwasar	Krishna go sheerum
02	White	Curd	Kausisigar	Shitha go thathi
03.	Grey (Smoke  colour)	Ghee	Kasyapar	Thumru go grithm
04	Light brown colour )	Urine	Gowthamar	Kapali go jalam
05	Red	Dung	Athri Maharishi	Raktha go mayam

 

b. There are two different versions of Panchagavya possible. One is for prevention of ailments and ward of evils (Samkara Gramam) and the other is for creative purposes (Sristi gramam) to promote growth and development. The former one is prepared with one unit  of dung + ½  the unit of Urine+ ¼ of Ghee + 1/8^th of Curd + 1/16^th of milk. The latter one is prepared with one Unit of milk + ½ unit of curd+ ¼ unit of ghee + 1/8 unit of urine + 1/16 of dung.

c. As per sage Parasarar the composition is given below:

01.   Urine from black cow (Signifying Varunan)

02.    Dung from white cow (Signifying Fire)

03.   Milk from bronze colour cow (Signifying Moon)

04.   Curd from red cow (Signifying Vayu)

05.   Ghee from light brown cow ( Signifying Sun)

Or all items can be obtained from Kapilai (light brown ) colour cow.

One unit  (palam) of urine, half thumb size dung, seven unit of milk, three unit of curd, one unit of ghee and one unit of water immersed with dharpa grass make potent Panchagavya or Brhmakoorcham. There are manthras to be chanted when handling the individual items, incorporation and preparation of Panchagavyam

d. Sage Prajapathi suggests other method as below:

One unit of dung, two units of urine, four units of ghee, eight units of milk, five units of curd.

        Even among the desi cows, there are cows with sixteen special attributes (காராம்பசு) and natural markings on the body to indicate the sacredness of the cow. There is a message that the grithm prepared out of the milk from the fifth teat (rare occurrence) of a cow cures the ailments like cancer. There is a book in Devanagari language with tamil translation which deals with curative use of Panchagavya both for physical and  psychic violations by human in day to day life.