Symbol

Goat can mean a he or a she. Ram is an uncastrated adult  male sheep. While the ram is Agni’s vahana, its three colours,

1. red, 
2. black or 
3. white represents 

the three gunas;

1. sattva, 
2. rajas and 
3. tamas. 

Goats are very symbolic of  sacrifice. Its horns symbolize power. The curve represents adaptability in trying situations. The vahana of Goddess Kali is also a black goat. Agni’s ram is called Mesha. Kubera also has a ram for his transport. Goats occasionally get mentioned in Puranas. After Sati’s self-immolation, Daksha’s head gets chopped off by Lords Siva. The gods beg for his mercy and Shiva breathes life into Daksha by replacing his head with that of a goat. Apparently, the seeds that
fell from Prajapati transformed as goat. In all, goats are described both as vahana and objects of sacrifice in Tantric texts also.

Gods that have goats as their vahana also symbolize that they have a hold and suppress ‘goat characteristics.’  Goats have a habit of not staying put in one place. They are quite fickle minded, as in eating grass, they are never in one place, forever hopping around. Even in excreting they use their little tail to wag and spread their droppings. That is a sign of indiscipline. Rams also symbolize kama and give a horny image. It can represent a lustful person. Then again goats, in general, are symbols of simplicity, frugality and perserverance.

Spiritual practice calls for single pointedness. “Annam, aave,mannodhu kliye, illikudam, aadu, neyyari” in Tamil is the classification of spiritual aspirants. The second last “aadu” means goat. The goat category of spiritual students are those needing improvement as they have a tendency to move from one school of thought to another quite indiscriminately.