(b) During the early Vedic age or Rigvedic age, cattle formed their most valued possessions and chief form of their wealth. The cow was,in fact, a sort of currency and values were reckoned in the heads of the cattle. The importance of the cow can be measured from the fact that many early linguistic expressions were associated with the cattle. The word for battle came to be known as ‘gavishth’, literally,a search for cows. Those who lived in the same cowshed came to belong to the same ‘gotra’, which later indicated a common ancestor.The daughter was known as ‘duhitri’, milker of the cow.