The cow is a living heritage not just of Hindus but of humanity. In world traditions, the cow stands for fertility, prosperity, and life, and is often called the mother-ancestor, perhaps for being the first mammal to be domesticated by man. She has an aura of holiness and of mystical power, despite being raised as livestock for meat in present times. A foreign scholar once pointed out that during a famine, ‘the cow is far more useful as a creature that can produce limitless amount of milk, than as a dead beast that would provide meat for a limited period only.’ In the Norwegian tradition, Audumla, the primordial milch cow fed the six-headed son of Aurgelmir, the progenitor of Gigantes.