One day, while the Buddha was staying at Jetavana, the monks asked him if there was any benefit in sacrificing goats and other animals as offerings .

"No, " replied the Buddha. "No good ever comes from taking life." Then he told his story.

Long, long ago, when Brahmadatta was reigning in Varanasi, a brahmin decided to offer a Feast for the Dead and bought a goat to sacrifice. He said to his students, "Take this goat down to the river, bathe him, hang a garland around his neck, feed him some grain and bring him back."

They led the goat to the river. While they were brushing it, the goat started to laugh and then weep loudly.

The students hurriedly took the goat back to their master and told him what had happened at the river.  Hearing the story, the master asked the animal why it had laughed and then wept.

"In times past, " the goat began, "I was a brahmin who taught the Vedas like you. I, too, sacrificed a goat as an offering for a Feast for the Dead. Because of killing that single goat, I have had my head cut off 499 times. I laughed aloud when I realized that this is my last birth as an animal to be sacrificed. Today I will be freed from my misery. On the other hand, I cried when I realized that, because of killing me, you too, will be doomed to lose your head five hundred times. It was out of pity for you that I cried."

"Well, goat," said the brahmin, "in that case, I am not going to kill you."

"Brahmin!" exclaimed the goat. "Whether or not you kill me, I cannot escape death today."

"Don't worry," the brahmin assured the goat. "I will guard you."

"You don't understand," the goat told him. "Your protection is weak. The force of my evil deed is very strong."

The brahmin untied the goat and said to his students, " Protect him " .

After the goat was freed, he stretched out its neck to reach a  bush growing near the top of a large rock. At that very instant a lightning bolt hit the rock, breaking off a sharp piece of stone which flew through the air and cut off the goat's head. A crowd of people gathered around and began to talk excitedly about the accident.

A tree deva had observed everything and drawing a lesson from the incident, admonished the crowd: "If people only knew that the penalty would be rebirth into sorrow, they would cease from taking life. A horrible doom awaits one who slays." The spirit urged them only to do good, to spend their lives in charity and meritorious works.

The Buddha ended his lesson, identifying that Birth saying, "In those days I was that deva." ~  Matakabhatta Jataka (Jataka No. 18) How sad that we have forgotten the magical status of the Goat in every mythology across the world. Mythology is not simply story : much of it is actual history that has been made easier to believe , much of it conveys the ethos and culture of the time. My favourite god  is the Greek  Pan ( the name means All), half goat , half man , flute player and lord of the forest creatures. The tradition of half animal half man only shows the closeness of all creatures – just as we have the snake – man traditions in India Let us look at the goat's place in all religions. There are hundreds of goat fertility spirits but here are some major temples and gods.:

There is a carving of a goat in the Jokhang at Lhasa, Tibet.  This commemorates Dungtse Rama Gyelmo, the goat that filled the lake  with earth so that the great shrine could be built there. The animal vehicle of Damchen Garway Nagpo the Blacksmith, a sworn protector of Tibetan Buddhism, is a brown goat.

In Indian cosmogony, Prakriti, the mother is depicted as a female goat.  Her colors of red, black and white represent the 3 gunas of the Hindu samkhya metaphysical system.

The Hindu Goddess Kali 's vehicle is the black goat. Strangely enough , goats are sacrificed to her everyday at Kalighat in Kolkata – I'm not so sure I would want my nearest companion to be killed .

Agni, the Vedic fire deity, rides Mesha his ram, and in Hindu tantric practice the manipura chakra whose symbol is fire is depicted as a ram. Kubera the Hindu deity of wealth, is depicted sometimes as a ram

The famous Temple of Apollo at Delphi, Greece was built in the 6th century BC,  on an inaccessible rocky spur of Mt. Parnassos because goats browsing there had been heard to speak.   Amalthea  was a Greek
nymph, who as a nanny goat nursed the infant Zeus, the head of the Greek Gods .  One of her horns was broken off and Zeus transformed it into the cornucopia [horn of plenty].  A star associated with her is
considered the source of lightning. The sacred animal of Athena is the goat.

Odin is the head of the Scandinavian  Norse gods. His steed is Heidrun the goat  and from her udders comes the mead that feeds the warriors of Valhalla.

The Egyptian God of the sun , Amon-Ra  and Amen -- a word that seals the prayers of at least 2 of our widest contemporary religions -- was depicted with a ram's head or as a sun-disc with ram's horns. Which
means that when you say Amen or Ameen , it is in part praying to a goat headed God . Then you eat him ?

To join the animal welfare movement contact : gandhim@nic.in

previous articles...

Animal Owners’ personality traits resemble their Pets’

Human Propensities of Goat

Animal sacrifice at the altar of religion

Animal as foster parent

Animal feed from rendering plant

Trade in WildLife

Human Intelligence of Birds

Human Propensities of Cow

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