"In sum, if we adopt a literalist approach, we must concede that the horse is as much an animal of the Dasyus as it is of the Aryas: the horse can no longer be seen as a marker for immigrating Indo-Aryans. The only way out of such self- inflicted conundrums is to abandon colonial readings of the Veda and to look deeper for what 'horse', 'bull' and 'cow' really stood for in the Vedic rishis' mind. Let us also note that contrary to what is often stated, the horse (or its symbol) is not the Veda's primary animal: that honour goes to the bull, a symbol of power and might, as in many other ancient cultures. Every powerful Vedic god—Indra, Agni, Varuna, Vishnu, Rudra, etc.—is praised as a bull, very rarely as a horse."