Once, King Kaushik, who was also called Vishvamitra, was touring his kingdom with hisarmy. He reached the ashram of Sage Vashistha, who invited him for meals. Vishvamitra asked him, 
“Do you have enough food to fed myarmy?” Vashistha said, he had a cow called Nandini to prepare a big feast for Vishvamitra and his army. Surprised at its powers, Viswamitra said, “What will you do with the cow in this forest? This cow will be more useful to a king. Give me this cow as a gift. ” When Vashistha did not agree to his demand, Viswamitra forcefully captured the cow.
Separated from the sage who was like a father to her, Nandini was so sad that she ran away from the king’s palace . She went back to Sage Vashishtha. Vishvamitra then went to a forest to perform a long tapasya to get Nandini . After ten years of tapasya , Shiva was very pleased and gave him many weapons. Vishvamitra took all the weapons to fight Vashistha. But he could not defeat Vashistha because he absorbed all his weaponsusing one powerful weapon. Vishvamitra went back tothe forest to perform more tapasya. He meditated for many years and became a brahmarishi. Now he had all the powers to get Nandini, but he had attained such mental peace that he no longer wanted the cow .
NANDINI
Kamadhenu, the sacred cow which grants all wishes and desires, is an
integral part of Hindu mythology. myth is defined as
any invented story, idea, or concept:
His account of the event is pure myth. an
imaginary or fictitious thing or person. an
unproved or false collective belief that is used to justify a social
institution.The story of Kamadhenu or anything for that matter is part
of our “HISTORY” , HOWSOEVER ANCIENT IT MAY BE .It is not Myth , It is
not false , It is not imaginary , it is not invented. Eg : The idol of
Vittal in Pandarpur is 28 Chaturyugas old. approx : 120,960,000
years old. Even today I have heard the “uneducated” Maharashtians
singing songs about Vittal with words like “attavees chaturyuge” (28
chaturyugas).There are contradictory accounts of the birth of Lord
Ganesa, in different puranas. These happen because of the different
births in different Kalpas.The use of the word “mythology” to describe
our “history” was started by the British, who set out to demean and
brainwash Hindus into thinking that our “history” is actually
“mythology”.MOn Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:19:37 -0000 “gopa90″ wrote ABOUT
SACRED COW NANDINI Respected sirs The following are some information
(new to me) I could collect from different internet sources about
Kamadhenu and, her daughter Nandini .I thought I could share the
information in brief form with you all. Sincerely Gopala krishnan
*Note1 While some sources state Nandini as the daughter of Kamadhenu
some other sources state Nandini another name for Kamadhenu herself as
well as the name of her daughter. **Note2 - Some sources state
Kamadhenu was maintained by Indra and her daughter Nandini was given
to Vasishta. Some other sources state Kamadhenu was maintained by
Vasishta ***Note3 Some sources state Vasishta had in his possession
the divine cow Kamadhenu, and Nandini her child, who could grant
anything to their owners. 1. Bhishmar and Nandini relation It was not
only Vishwamitra that was tempted to take away Nandini, the divine
cow, but others also were tempted. Dyo was a Vasu, an angel Vasu
number eight. Dye’s wife saw Nandini and was tempted to take I because
it was so beautiful When the eight Vasus visited Vashishta’s ashram
with their wives, one of the wives took a fancy to Kamadhenu and asked
her husband Dyo to steal it from Vashishta. He stole it with the help
of the others, and was cursed by Vashishta to be born in the world of
men. The seven Vasus who assist in stealing Kamadhenu have their curse
softened to be liberated from their human birth as soon as they are
born, but the last Vasu, due to his being instrumental in the theft,
is cursed to endure a longer life on the earth, though the curse is
softened so that he becomes one of the most illustrious men of his
times. He is born as Bhishma. The other seven were born as the older
siblings of Bhishma, who were drowned by their mother Ganga as soon as
they were born, thus fulfilling the softened curse on them. 2. King
Dileepa story of worshipping Nandini Once Dileepa was going on some
work. He was in deep thought and so passed by Kamadhenu who was there
without saluting her. Therefore he was childless. Pained by this,
Dileepa went with his queen Sudakshina to the hermitage of Vasishta
and expressed to him the reason for his sorrow. Vasishta gave him the
remedy also. He was advised to serve Nandini, daughter of Kamadhenu.
Dileepa and his queen served Nandini with devotion. Raghu was born as
his son later. Raghu’s son was the emperor Aja. Indumati, his wife,
was as noble as she was lovely. Aja loved her very greatly. 3. Reason
for refusing to give Nandini to Kousika King Kousika (Vishwamitra)
wanted to acquire Kamadhenu (Nandini) but Vashishta refused because a
sage can never buy or sell a cow. So when Vishwamitra wanted to have
Kamadhenu forcibly, Vashishta created an army by his divine powers and
defeated him. 4. Kamadhenu (Nandini) was not possessed by Vasishta
originally Kamadhenu, the sacred cow which grants all wishes and
desires, is an integral part of Hindu mythology. This divine cow,
which lives in swargalok (heaven), emerged from the ocean of milk
(ksheerasagar) at the time of samudramanthan (the great churning of
the ocean by the gods (suras) and gemons (asuras) It was presented to
the seven sages by the Gods, and in course of time came into the
possession of Sage Vasishta. 5 Details of Kamadhenu and her other
names Kamadhenu’s complexion is like the white clouds. Every part of
cow’s body has a religious significance. Its four legs symbolize the
four Vedas, and its teats the four Purusharthas. Its horns symbolize
the gods, its face the sun and the moon, its shoulders Agni (the god
of fire) Kamadhenu, the “cow of wishes or desires,” has a bovine body,
a female head, polychromatic wings like a tropical bird, and a
peacock’s tail. Kamadhenu is also well-known through its other five
forms: Nanda, Sunanda, Surabhi, Susheela , Sumana and Nandini
Kamadhenu is also called Surabhi (hence her descendants or worshippers
are called Saurabheya); Kamadugha; Kamaduh; Savala and Nandini (this
last name was also given to the daughter of Kamadhenu). Dinu is also
known as kamadinu when she is in the mood . 6. Kamadhenu creation of
Brahma? Mythologically, Brahma (the creator) created the brahmins
(priests) and the cow at the same time, the Brahmins were to recite
the religious scriptures while the cow was to afford ghee (clarified
butter) for offerings in religious sacrifices By a curse she had to go
to nether worlds and subsequently came up during churning of Milky
sea? I read like that somewhere. 7.Rajasthans mount Abu and Nandini
relation Mount Abu is located in the southwestern corner of Rajasthan
and is Rajasthan’s only hill station. It is also a major pilgrim
center. The Padma Purana relates the story of how Mount Abu came into
existence Once Nandini, the cow belonging to the venerable sage
Vashishtha, was trapped in a deep chasm and could not get herself
free. When all efforts failed, the sage appealed to Lord Shiva For
assistance. Saraswati the divine stream, flooded the pit and the cow
floated up. Once his cow was free, Vashishtha approached the great
Himalaya and asked him to fill the gorge permanently to avoid further
mishaps. 8.Kamadhenu daughter of Daksha Kamadhenu is sometimes said to
be the daughter of Daksha, and the wife of the rishi Kasyapa
(Manusmrithi-English version published in US Brahmins group) 9.
Nandini and Parasurama relation The calf of Kamadhenu Nandini was
acquired by the sage Jamadagni after years of penance. It was coveted
and stolen by the Haihaya king Kartavirya, which led to a wholesale
massacre of kshattriyas by Jamadagni’s son Parasurama. 10 Temples for
cows Patteeswaram is a small village, eight kilometres from Kumbakonam
in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The village was named after
Patti, another calf of Kamadhenu, the divine cow in Hindu mythology
11. Rigveda quotations-Nandini owned by Vasistha Many hymns of the
Rig-Veda are attributed to these two sages: one hymn represents
Vasishtha as the family priest of King Sudas, and in the Rig-Veda
(7:33:11) he is called the son of the apsaras Urvasi by Mitra and
Varuna, hence his name Maitravaruni. He is also supposed to have owned
Nandini, the cow of plenty (offspring of Surabhi). As this cow was
able to grant the sage all his wishes, he became the master of every
vasu (desirable object). 12.Surabhi cows and cows attributes Just who
and what are the surabhi cows and how the surabhi cows attained such
an elevated and exalted position that they are able to represent a
portion of the energy of the supreme Lord Krishna will be revealed in
the following information given in the Anusasana Parva of the
Mahabharata by Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa. The direct descendants of the
surabhi cows are the sacred cows from the continent India which are
uniquely distinguished the same as the surabhi by the beautiful hump
on their backs and the wonderfully soft folds of skin under their
necks. The Vedas have stated that the milk of a cow is equivalent to
ambrosial nectar and that ghee derived from cow’s milk is the best of
all libations poured onto the sacred fires of brahmins. When one
awakes in the morning one should always remember cows. Before falling
to sleep at night one should always remember cows. There is no wealth
that is equal to cows. To talk about cows, to hear others speak about
cows, to offer gifts of cows to worthy people and to see cows are all
auspicious activities. Cows constitute the stairs that lead to heaven.
At the conclusion of the surabhi cows austerities Brahma himself
appeared before them and granted their wishes blessing them with the
benediction that cows would eternally be the sustainers of all
creatures. This is why cows are sacred and most holy and the foremost
of all creatures in creation and verily the refuge of all the worlds.
The name for cow in the Vedas is known as aghyna which means
inviolable. Another name is ahi which means not to be killed and
another is aditi which means never to be cut into pieces. 13. King
dilip saves Nandini from attack of Lion Refer- King Dilip had no
children. He approached Vasishta.. Vashishta replied that they should
serve the cow Nandini, child of Kamadhenu, and perhaps if Nandini was
happy with their service, she would grant them with a child. So,
according to Vashishtha, Dileepa served Nandini every day, and
attended to her every need for twenty-one days. On the twenty-first
day, a lion attacks Nandini. Dileepa immediately draws his bow and
tries to shoot the lion. But he finds that his arm is paralyzed and
cannot move. He reasons that the lion must have some sort of divine
power. As if to confirm this, the lion started to speak to him. It
said that Dileepa had no chance of saving the cow because the cow was
the lion’s chosen meal The lion tells Dileepa to return to
Vashishtha’s ashram. Dileepa replies by asking if the lion would let
Nandini go if he offered himself in Nandini’s place. The lion agreed
and Dileepa sacrificed his life for the cow. But then the lion
mysteriously disappeared. Nandini explained that the lion was just an
illusion to test Dileepa. Because Dileepa was truly selfless,
Nandini granted him with a son.
