Mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik unpacks the buffalo’s enduring place in India’s cultural imagination from ancient civilisation to regional folklore. While cows often receive reverence, buffaloes have been vital to agriculture, dairy economies, and religious symbolism, especially in riverine and rice-growing regions.

The buffalo appears in Harappan seals as early as 4,500 years ago, hinting at its historic significance. In Vedic texts, figures like Indra are metaphorically linked to the buffalo’s strength. Tamil Sangam poetry also uses its imagery to contrast uncultivated rusticity with refinement demonstrating its embeddedness across regions.

In folk mythology, particularly in Maharashtra, the buffalo-god Mhasoba is revered as a protector deity associated with pastoral communities, distinctly outside Brahminical traditions. He's considered a guardian of local territories and connected to river goddesses.

Buffaloes represent cultural values of fertility, prosperity, strength, and balance. Unlike the cow’s pan-India sacred status, the buffalo embodies regional mythologies, ecology, and economy revealing how local landscapes shape religious and artistic expression.