25 Dāna

CHAPTER XXV

DANA (Gifts )

Manu ( I. 86 ) and others state that in the four yugas ( ages ) viz. Kșta, Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali, the principal aspects of religious life were respectively tapas, metaphysical knowledge, sacrifices, 1973 and gifts. Manu (III. 78 ) eulogises the stage of householder as the most worthy because all men in the other asramas are cherished and fed with (Vedic ) knowledge (as a teacher of Vedic students) and with food by him. Yama speci fies the characteristic features of the four aśramas as follows: ‘quiescence is the dharma of ascetics, cessation from taking ordinary food that of forest hermits, dāna (making gifts) that of householders and obedience ( or service ) that of brahmacāring.’ Vide Daksa 1. 12-13 also for the peouliar outward characteristios of the four asramas. Therefore the subject of dana ( gifts or obarity ) will now engage our attention.

Gifts of various kinds and donors have been highly eulogised in the Rgveda. There are danastutis ( eulogies of gifts ) in Rg. I. 125 (where the gifts made by king Svanaya son of Bhāvayavya to Kakṣīvat are praised and dana in general is eulogised in verses 5–7), l. 126, 1-5 (where the same praise is continued ), V. 61 ( where SyĀvāśva praises the donors Taranta, Purumilha and Ratha. viti ), VI. 47. 22-25 (praise of the donor Prastoka Sārñjaya), VII. 18. 22-25 ( praise of the gifts made by Sudās Paljavana), VIII. 5. 37-39 ( praise of Kasu Caidya ), VIII. 6. 46-48 (praise of Tirindira Pārasavya ), VIII. 46. 21-24 (praise of Kanita ), VIII. 68. 14-19, X. 62. 8-11 (praise of Sāvarṇi). Among the objects gifted the most prominent are cows. In Rg. I. 126. 3 Kaksivat represents 1974 that he received sixty thousand cows

  1. 79: qt gago argi Ante me NETTA Fest gitu #Ul. 86 =TATOR 232, 28 = OTTATT I. 23 = ATSTOT 8. 65–66. watat # ATAT धर्मस्त्वनाहारो बनौकसाम् । वानमेव गृहस्थानां शुश्रूषा ब्रह्मचारिणाम् ॥ पम quoted in FATE (19 p. 6).

  2. IT AT FIAT FOR AT THE FT Tatay: In: FHU TATTRAUTT tai surga 978T . . 126. 3. Sayada oxplains tem कसारा समूहोभागात.898

(Ch. XXV

from Svanaya, along with ten chariots to each of which four bay horses were yoked and in which young girls were seated. In Rg. VIII. 5. 37 reference is made 1975 to the gifts of ten thousand cows and of 100 camels by Kasu Caidya. In Rg. V. 30. 12 a gift of 4000 cows to Babhru by the men of king Rṇañoaya is mentioned. Horses are also often described as objects of gift, e. g. Rg. V. 18. 5 ( gift of 50 horses), VII. 16. 10, VIII. 46. 22 (gifts of 60000 horses, 2000 camels, 1000 bay mares and 10000 cows); VIII. 68. 17. For gifts of camels vide Rg. VIII. 5. 37, VIII. 46. 22. For gifts of young damsels vide Rg. I. 126. 3, VI. 27. 8, VII. 18. 2%, VIII. 19. 36, VIII. 68. 17. The word ‘vadbū’ used in all these passages cannot mean that the young girls were meant to be the wives of the donees, since in some of them the ‘vadhūs’ gifted are as many as 10, 20 or even 50.1976 So they were maid servants or female slaves. Rg. X. 117 contains an eulogy of the gift of food, the 6th verse of wbich is the basis of the later teaching of Manu III. 118, Viṣṇu Dh. 8. 67. 43, Bhagavad-gitā 3. 13 and is as follows: ’the foolish mani997 (who does not share with others ) obtains food to no purpose ; I Bay the truth that it is really his destruction; he does not offer food to Aryaman (i. e, to the gods) nor to his friend (or guest ); one who takes food alone (without giving to others) partakes simply of sin.’ This injunction was most assiduously followed at all times in India. In the Chān. Up. IV. 1-2 it is stated that Jānaśruti Pautrāyana, a man of faith and very charitable, bad ereoted everywhere shelters in order to feed at all times all people that came from all quarters. Rg. X. 107 (of 11 verses ) is an apotheosis of dakṣiṇā (gift or sacrificial fee which generally consisted of a cow or cows), which word is repeated several times in almost every verse. Verges 2, 7 and 8 are very interesting . Those who make gifts of dakṣiṇā (cows or fee) stand high in heaven, those who make gifts of horses stand in the world of the Sun, donors of gold secure immortality (become gods), those who give garments increase the duration of their life. Gifts endow (the donor) with horses, cows, the

  1. yarradu: U TOETATEMENT ET T EIER. VIII. 5. 37; पटि सहसायस्यायुतासनद्रानां विंशति शता। दश श्यादीनां शता दशज्याषीणां दश mat HUWT 11 *. VIII. 46. 22,

  2. samt fingu: TUTTE a re an a acufa: # #. VIII, 19. 36.

  3. मोपम विन्दते अप्रचेताः सत्यं ब्रवीमि वध इस तस्य नार्यमणं पुण्यति नो pero ut refe rat 11 8. X. 117. 6. The last quartor is quoted by Kulluka on Manu III. 118. The verse occurs in d. wr. II. 8. 8.

Ch. XXV]

Dana-eulogy of

839

moon (silver?), gold, food which is the life of us and the know ing ( donor) makes gifts of his armour. Donors do not die ( they reach immortality in heaven), they do not go down to a low goal, they are not harmed, nor do they suffer pain; dakṣiṇā renders unto these donors this whole world and also heaven’. Rg. VI. 47. 23 mentions that from Divodāsa gifts of ten horses, ten boxes (i, e, chariots or boxes of gold), ten garments, in addition to dinners and ten lumps of gold were received. 1978

It appears that although in the Rg. gifts of horses are spoken of es next in importance to gifts of cows, popular sentiment changed very early. In the Paundarlka sacrifice the fee was a thousand horses and in the Jyotistoma one cow and one horse (Sabara on Jaimini III. 4. 28 ). The Tai. S. II. 3. 12. 1 days 1979 Varuṇa indeed seizes him (i. e. he suffers from dropsy ) who accepts the gift of a horse and that one should offer to Varuṇa as many offerings prepared on four potsherds as the horses accepted." Jaimini ( III, 4. 28-31 ) establishes two propositions in connection with this that the iṣti to Varuna is to be performed when the gift of a borse or horses is accepted in & Vedic saorifice and that the iṣti is to be performed by the donor ( and not by the acceptor). The Kāthaka Saṁ. XII. 6 also recommends that the horse should not be accepted as a gift, as it has two rows of teeth. In the Tai. Br. II. 2. 5 reference is made to the gift of gold, clothes, & cow, & horse, a human being, a bedstead and several other objects and their presiding deities are said to be Agni, Soma, Indra, Varuna, Prajāpati &o. The Tai. S. II. 2, 6. 3 says he who accepts an animal with two rows of teeth, such as a horse or a human being, ( thereby ) secures (to himself ) a portion of ātman (self); he should offer & mess cooked on twelve potsherds to Vaiśv.. nara.’ Manu X. 89 forbids the sale of the horse and other animals with uneloven hoofs; but the Peboa inscription from Garibnath temple shows that brāhmaṇas engaged in the sale of horses and that a tax agreed to be levied from vendors and purchasers was made into & permanent fund for temples and priests ( vide E. I. Vol. I. p. 186 ). Gaut. 19. 16 men. tions the horse among objects that are gifted by way of

  1. Et quasi TTHISTI prograveritarar HT Fare *. VI. 47. 23.

  2. Tout y gargra use agria Traser often TUOTTHONET TUNTI . . II. 3. 12. 1.

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1 Ch. XXV

penance for sins. The Sān. Br. ( 25. 14 ) says “980 that he who after promising to gift all, does not give all, is reduced to falling into a deep pit or is killed. The Ait. Br. (30.9) enjoins 1981 that one should not accept a gift rejected by the priests and if one accepts it it should be given over to one’s enemy.

The Sat. Br. (II. 2. 10. 6) says there are two kinds of devas, the gods ( heavenly ) and the human gods viz, brāhmaṇas who have studied the Veda and mastered it; sacrifice is divided between these two, i. e. oblations go to the gods and the fee to the learned brāhmaṇas who are the human gods. These two kinds of gods when gratified place him ( the sacrificer) in nectar (or in the celestial world ).’ 1982 The Tai. 8. VI. 1. 6.3 states that it is indeed tapas when 1983 a man makes & gift of what he owns.’ We saw above (note 11) how the Br. Up. V. 2. 3 inculcates the three virtues of self-restraint, charity ( dana ) and compassion. In the Ait. Br. 39.6 1984 it is stated that the king when anointed should make gifts of gold, fields and cattle. But it appears from the story of Viśvakarman Bhauvana narrated in the Ait. Br. ( 39,7) and also in the Sat. Br. (XIII. 7. 1. 13-15 ) that when he desired to make a gift of the earth to his priest Kaśyapa As sacrificial fee the earth appeared and . sang a verse’ no mortal must give me away as a gift; O

Viūvakarman Bhauvana, you desired to give me away; I shall plunge into the midst of water, so that this your promise to Kaśyapa is fruitless. It seems however that gifts of villages had come to be made very early. The Chan. Up. IV. 2. 4-5 narrates how Janaśruti desirous of learning the samvargs lore

  1. योहन सर्व ददासि सर्व वदानीति अपन गर्तपत्यमेव तबीयतेम चा मीयत TFT THE FEW TAPUT ME fratres: 1 tt. r. 25. 14.

  2. ATQUE Prywatott aferuor#PAT Ja por ger faren Tai Temat ardurararaat sigara que lê. D. F. 30, 9; the शतपथ III. 5.1.26 also has the words तस्मासिवृत्त…गृहीयात् and it adds सिंही

T OTTA

  1. Vide 8. B. E. vol. 12, pp. 309-310 and also vol. 26, p. 341 ( where the same passage ocours ).

  2. There a re time I a. #. VI. 1. 6.3.

  3. marame Pay Day At Apofta f attore मां दिवासिय। निमल्सेहं सलिलस्प मध्ये मोघरत एष कश्यपायास सार। इति । ऐ. 11. 39.7; in the (ṣaqy XIII. 7. 1. 15) the words are a t a: श्लोक जगो।ममा…… मोवन मन्द आसिथा उपमेश्यति स्यासलिलस्य माये सुषेष से

ITTI

F

Ch. XXV)

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from Raikys offered a thousand cows, a golden chain, a chariot to which mules were yoked, his own daughter ( as a wife) and certain villages to Raikva, which came to be known as Raikvaparna villages in the country of Mahāvīṣa, where Raikys lived,

The literature on dūna is of enormous extent. Apart from casual references in the other parvans of the Mahabharata, the major portion of the Anuśāsına parys is devoted to the various aspects of dāng. The Purāṇas, particularly Agni (chap. 208–215 & 217), Matsya (chap. 82-91 and 274-289) and Varība (chap. 99–111), contain numerous verses on dāna. There are digests specially devoted to the topio of dāna, the most extensive and important being Hemādri’s Dānakhanda (of the Caturvarga. cintāmaṇi), Dābakriyakaumudi of Govindānands, the Dana mayūkba of Nilakantha, the Dānavākyāvali of Vidyapati, the Dānasāgara of Ballālasong and the Dānaprakāga of Mitre miśra. Only a brief summary of the topics dealt with in all these is attempted below,

What constitutes gift (dāna ) according to the sāstra has been discussed from very ancient times. There is a distinction between yūga, homa and dana. The first is constituted by abandoning something that belongs to one, intending it for a deity and accompanying it with Vedic mantras; home is throw ing into fire something belonging to oneself over which one abandons one’s ownership and which (thing) is intended for a deity; dāna consists in the cessation of one’s ownership over & thing and creating the ownership of another over that thing and this last oocurs when the other accepts the thing, which acceptance may be mental or vocal or physical; vide Sabara on Jaimini IV. 2. 28 (quoted above in note 1703 ), VII. 1. 5, IX. 4, 32 and the Mit. on Yāj. II.’ 27.1985 The Mit. explains that physical acceptance may be effected in various ways such as by actually receiving the thing in one’s hand, by simply touching it and quotes & smrti which illustrates this ‘one should give (and the donee may accept) a deer skin (by touching it) on the hairy side, & cow by its tail, an elephant by

  1. q :

T

r g #FETT 24 ta igrere on H. VII. 1.5; स्वस्वस्वनिवृत्तिः परस्वत्वापादनं च दानम् । परस्पस्वापादनंच परो यदि स्पीकरोति तदा संपचते मान्यथा । स्वीकारश्च विविधः । मानसो वाचिका कायिकश्चेति । …कायिकः पुनरुपादाना भिमर्शनादिरूपोऽनेकविधः । तत्रच नियमः स्मर्यते । दयाकृष्णाजिनं पृष्ठे गां पुच्छे करिणं करे । केसरेषु तथैवानं वासी शिरसि वापयेत् । इति…क्षेत्रादौ पुनः फलोपभोगण्यतिरेकेण FIT FATIHTI Fountyuta rar FAET. OD 14. II. 27.

  1. D. 106

842

( Ch. XXV.

its trunk, a horse by its mane, a female slave by (touching ) her head’. The Mit. adds that as it is impossible to accept a field physically (except by enjoying its fruits) its acceptance is effected by some enjoyment, however small, of its produce. The Viṣṇudharmottara quoted in Danakriyakaumudi p. 7 gives more examples of the method of acceptance. Vide Bṛhat Parāsara (chap. VIII. p. 242) for copious illustrations of the way in which a gift is to be accepted according to the nature of the thing given. The word ‘pratigraba’ has a technical meaning in Dharmaśāstra. Medbātithi on Manu IV. 5 days 1986 * merely taking a thing (from another) does not constitute pratigraha (as understood in Dharmaśāstra ). The latter word is applicable only to a particular kind of acceptance viz. when a person accepts what is given by the donor with the idea that he (the donor) will derive from that act some unseen spiritual result (adrsta or puṇya) and when in making the gift a vedio mantra is repeated. When one gives alms, no mantra (such as * devasya tva’) is repeated and hence that is not the dāna spoken of by sāstra, nor does any one apply the word pratigraha to the acceptance of an article given through affection to a friend or a servant.’ When such a word as vidyādāna (gift of learning to a pupil) is used, the word dana is employed there in a figura. tive sepse only; otherwise the teacher will have to give a dakṣiṇā to the pupil, whereas it is the pupil who may give a dakṣiṇā to the teacher. When some gift is made to an image, the word dāna in that case is also used in a secondary sense, as the image cannot accept the gift. Therefore Devala defines dana (of the sāstric kind) 1987 as ’that is described as dāna when wealth is given according to sāstrio rites 80 as to reach & receiver who is a fit recipient as defined in the sāstra. What is given to a worthy person without an eye to any particular object (to be achieved by such gift) but solely with the idea of doing one’s duty, that is called dharmadana’. The Dana mayūkha p. 3 explains that the definition of dāna given by

  1. Ha TEOTATI Qur: 1 Farge Ta piatt grant TuT 19 बुद्धवादीपमान मन्त्रपूर्व गृहसः प्रतिग्रहो भवति। न च भैले देवस्य त्वादिमन्त्रोचारणमास्ति। Hestefar 801 PANETTET: 1 Auto on RI. IV. 5.

  2. Hiarifadorit TyraraferaVETTI PATHYPHISTO aroga Tea para l as quoted by startet p. 287, Tarteet p. 2, ANTE (TRU p. 13), quer (D. C. Ms. No. 368 of 1891-95 ) folio 2 b. The last reads **T for TOTUL. Terut te faqaTET TEIT WARU mata agora u quoted by AIPELE ( ror p. 14).

Ch. XXV1

Dāna

843

Devala applies to the best kind of dana (called sāttvika) and not to dana in general. If & gift is sent to a person, but it is lost while on its way or it is stolen and never reaches the donee, then there is no acceptance and so no complete dana and the donor cannot reap the reward of dāns in such a case.

There are six angas (constituent elements ) of dana, as stated by Devala, 1988 viz. the donor, the donee, sraddhā (charitable attitude), the subject of gift which must have been acquired by the donor in a proper way, a proper time and a proper place. The first four are clearly indicated in Manu IV. 226-227. These six will have to be dealt with one after another.

One important word that deserves consideration in the sub ject of dāna is iṣtāpūrla. That word has a high antiguity. It occurs in the Rgveda and the sense seems to be ’the cumulative spiritual result or merit due to a man’s performance of sacri. fices and oharitable acts’. Rg. X. 14. 8 is addressed to one recently 1989 dead ‘may you join the pitȚs, may you be united with Yame, and with your iṣtāpūrta in the highest heaven’. The word, though employed in the singular (probably as a samābāra-dvandva compound), consists of two parts, ista ( what is sacrificed) and pārta (what is filled). In the Atharvaveda also the word occurs.’ may the iṣtāpūrta of our ancestors save us (from our enemy); I seize yonder (man or enemy) with divine wrath’ (II. 12. 4). Vide also Atharvaveda III. 29.1. Some times the two components are employed separately or in the dual when compounded. The Tai, S. V. 7.7.1-3 has the inter esting observation 1990 when he comes by the Devayāna paths, then make ye his iṣtāpūrta manifest to him; whatever sacrifice was offered, whatever was handed over, whatever was given and the dakṣiṇā offered, may Agni present in all actions place all that in heaven among the gods for us.” The Tai. Br. II. 5. 5 gays 1991 “may Ista and pūrta last for endlege

1988, prar sfaturaient a large arrest ET-TAFTOWN ra for: as in 19**To folio 3 , A ( 919 p. 14).

  1. Hyu58 Tagi: TAR FUrgenta TH SUTARTI 5. X. 14. 8; yerga AT # rugpong Tetaalt a II. 12. 4.

  2. Orti g iaitutga varṇar … VITÉ TOUTTET VE* T EUTTI ara hot: wtay at quam. V. 7.7. 1-3; urta fure marmurange NUTATI . . XV. 54 and XVIII, 61.

  3. go agreftet hart arda radgan THPTIE wr. 11.6.5; MYFTUT

TP HCI ET TETET I TE # 18 T. III. . 14.

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Ch. XXV

years; having sacrificed with an offering that is ever-lasting, & roan ascended to the highest and ever-lasting world’ and Tai. Br. III. 9. 14 remarks “the brāhmana ghould sing you made gifts, you performed sacrifices, you cooked food (for serving to others). Indeed iṣtāpūrta belongs to a brāhmaṇa; he makes him ( the king) prosper by iṣtāpūrta.” The XV, 54 says ‘O fire, may you be awake ( or kindled ), may you be watchful for us; join with iṣtāpūrta ( the sacrificer) and him with his iṣtāpūrta.’ The Kathopaniṣad I. 1.8 states that when a brāhmaṇa guest is allowed to stay in & house without being served with food be destroys the iṣtāpūrts, the issue and the cattle of the householder. The Mundaka Up. I. %. 10 condemns those who regard iṣtāpūrta as the highest and do not hold that there is anything higher than that and states that they have to come down to this world or to a lower world again after enjoying the blessings of Heaven.

Aparārka (p. 290 ) quotes the Mahābhārata for defining ista and purta 1998 whatever is offered in the single fire (i. e. grhys fire) and what is offered in the three srauta fires and the gifts made inside the vedi ( in srauta sacrifices ) are called iṣta; while dedication of deep wells, oblong large wells and tanks, temples, distribution of food, and maintaining publio gardens these are called pūrta.” Aparārka quotes Nārada also ‘Honour ing a guest and performance of vaiśvadeva constitute ista while the dedication of tanks, wells, temples, places for public distribution of food and gardens is called pūrta and also gifts made at the time of eclipses, or on the sun’s passage in a zodiacal sign or on the 12th day of a month.’ Hemadri (Dāna p. 20 ) quotes Saṅkha that nursing of those who are ill consti tutes pūrta. Manu (IV. 226-227) ordains’ one should always absiduously perform iṣta and purta, which when done with śraddha and with wealth justly acquired become inexhaustible. One should ever resort to dānadharma ( that mode of dharma which consists in gifts ) which is either iṣta or pūrta, according

  1. ATTITAT I Ca n taret e guardat Terax. मित्यभिधीयते ॥वापीकूपतडागानि देवतायतनानि च। अनप्रदानमारामः पूर्तमित्यभिधीयते। marre p. 290 (vide note 370 for art &o.); the 2nd verso is ft 44, whilo of 43 defines # 48 HET WT: pri agrat e 1971 malezi amor Ferhafinuat ll. for 5 is the same as 37 43. Vide array ( # p. 20 ) where peo and HET are ascribed to myi also y# 68-70 and for tror 2092-3 wbicb define re and you almost in tbe same words

88 H .

Ch. XXVI

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845

to one’s means, after meeting a worthy person (as recipient) and with a pleased attitude of mind.’

Any one including women and sūdras could make gifts. So much emphasis was laid on the duty to make gifts that Aparārka quotes a verse 1993 * two persons should be drowned in water after tying round their neck & large stone, viz. s rich nan not making gifts and a poor man who is not a tapusvin ( who undergoes austerities or who is restrained ).’ It is stated in Atri 46, Likbita 6 and other smrtis that 194 ‘Ista and pārts are dharma common to all twice-born classes; the sūdra las authority to perform pūrta dharma, but not the Vaidika dharma (sacrifices etc.), According to Devala the donor should be free from incurable or disgusting diseases, be religious, chari tably inclined, free from vices, pure and following a blameless profession for livelihood. Several smftis note that it is a rare sight to see a man giving away in charity wealth earned by him. Voda-vyāsa'5 (IV. 60) says “amongst a hundred men, one may be found to be brave, among thousands & learned man, among hundreds of thousands an orator, but a donor may or may not be found.’

A good deal has already been said above (pp. 113-114) about the persons fit to be donees (pātra) and an unfit one. A few more words may be added here. Dakṣ& III. 17-18 states ‘& gift made to one’s parents, guru, friend, to a well conducted man, to one who has laid the donor under obligation, to the poor, the helpless, those endowed with special excellence, leads to rewards, while gifts made to rogues, to bards, to wrestlers, to those who devote time to bad lores, to gamblers and deceitful persons, to cātas, to pāranas and thieves brings no

  1. Fratta vaan ne taxistare / aravit an hayrene मम् ॥quoted by अपरार्क p. 199, दानवाक्यावलि folio 2 a. This is उद्योगपर्च 33.60 ( which reads THIĦ Tongaat).

  2. इसापूर्ती द्विजातीनां धर्मः सामान्य इज्यते । अधिकारी भवेदो पूते धर्म न F # 911946, para 6 and quoted by A parārka p. 24 as Figu00f’s. ure. रोगी धर्मात्मा दित्सरग्यसनः शुचिः। अनिन्धाजीवकर्मा च षभिता प्रशस्यते ॥ देवल quoted by w p. 288, QATIE ( p. 14). Tims are said to bo eight such as Tuberoulosis etc.

  3. शतेषु जायते च सहमेषु पण्डितः। बसा शतसहस्रेषु दाता भवति पान alla FF IV. 60.

846

fruit (or merit ). 1086 Manu 4. 193-200 ( = Viṣṇu Db. S. 93. 7-13 ) contains a list of persons to whom gifts should not be made, such as a brābmana who is like a cat or hypocrite or who does not know the vada. Bșhad-Yama III. 34-38 enumerates those brāhmapes who are unfit to be invited at & sraddha or to be donees such as lepers, those who suffer from incurable diseases, those who officiate at sacrifices for sūdras, a devalaka and seller of Veda (teaching it with a prior stipulation for money) and in IV. 55-56 says that gifts made to brāhmaṇas that are addicted to bad actions, that are covetous, devoid of Veda study and sandhyā performance, who have swerved from the vows proper (for brāhmaṇas), who are wicked and who are immersed in pleasures of sense become fruitless. Vanaparva ( 200. 5-9) enumerates 16 futile gifts such as to one who left off the order of sarmyāsa or of wealth acquired by unjust means &c. Almost the same verses occur in Bșhat-Parāśara (VIII. pp. 241-242), which are quoted in Par. M. I, part 1, p. 188. Vide also Vṛddha Gautama (III. obap. pp. 508-509) for numerous futile gifts. It is one’s duty to give food at the end of Vaiśvadeva to all (vide note 1779 above) and the Viṣṇudbarmottara directs that as to gifts of food and clothing the only consideration is whether the donor is hungry or in need of clothes and not caste nor qualities. 19966 When on seeing a needy person the donor feels pleasure and indicates it by a smiling face, when he shows honour and is free from a feeling of ill-will or irritation (towards the sup pliant), that is said to be sraddhā, according to Devala. 1997 Manu IV. 235 says that he who gives a gift with honour and he who accepts it with honour both go to heaven, but if the reverse is the case they go to hell.

Numerous rules are laid down about the things that can be the subject of gifts (i. e. about deya). Whatever is in this

  1. मातापित्रोरी मित्रे विनीते चोपकारिणि। दीनानाथविशिष्टेषु वत्तं च सफल भवेत् ॥ धूलबन्दिानि मलेच कुपैये कितवे शठे। चाटचारणचौरेषु वसं भवति निष्फलम् ।।
  • III. 17-18, the 2nd verse being quoted by your p. 286. About tho moaning of cāṭa that occurs in many grents there is ao upenimity. Tho Mit. on Ydj. I. 336 (TCUFFIT &o.) explains TT: H ET FEIFT # Array HUETTE Vide E. I. vol. IX p. 284 n. 10, p. 294, XI. p. 176, XIV. p. 156 for discussion of the mosning.

  1. murrerage regia I STWFT Uruari foretre da freguat : TRACE p. 5.

  2. Hiru Turaifenerint a FETI MENI T T WITH Fethune quoted by stary p. 288.

Ch. XXV)

Dāna-subjects of gift

847

world a most desirable thing and what one prizes most in one’s house may be given to a man endowed with good qualities by a donor who desires inexhaustible (merit) from it-Anusasana parva 59. 7.1998 According to Devala, that is a proper subject for a gift, which has been acquired by the donor himself without causing pain or loss to another or without worry or trouble to himself, whether it be small or valuable (or much). 1998 It is not the extent of the gift that causes greater or lesser merit. Merit (puṇya) of gifts depends upon the mental attitude, the capacity of the giver and the way in which the donor acquired his wealth. If & man2000 were to give even the whole earth acquired by unjust means, or if he makes a gift without sraddha (as defined) or to an unworthy person he would secure no prosperity (religious merit) thereby. On the other hand by making a gift of even a handful of vegetables with a heart full of sraddha and to a very worthy person, he may secure all prosperity. If one possessing a thousand makes a gift of 100 or one having ten makes & gift of one and another gives only water according to his ability, they all reap an equal reward.

____Among deya things, some are the best, some middling, some inferior. Food,3005 curds, honey, protection, cow, land, gold, horse and elephant – gifts of these nine are said to be the best ; learning, house for shelter, domestic paraphernalis (like oots ),

medicine-these four are said to be middling; shoes, swings, carts, umbrellas, vessels, seats, lamps, wood, fruits and what ever is old and worn out and all other unspecified objects are inferior. Yaj. (I. 210-211) appears to have this difference in view when he says thataman, making agift of land (capable

_1998. पचविष्टतम लोके यचापि दयितं गृहे । तत्तणयते देयं तदेवाक्षयमिता। अनुशासनपर्व 59.7 =मार्कण्डेय 35. 52-53-मल्य 72. 39. This is विष्णुध. ५.92.32. ___1999. अपरापाथमक्लेशं स्वयं येनाजितं धनम् । स्वल्पं पा विपुलं पापि देयमित्यभिधी यते । देवल quoted in अपरार्क p. 288.

  1. अन्यायाधिगतां दत्त्वा सकलां पृथिवीमाप । श्रद्धावर्जमपात्राय न काचिद् भूति मामुयात् ॥ प्रदाय शाकमर्षि वा श्रद्धाभक्तिसमुद्यताम् । महते पात्रभूताय सर्वाम्युदयमाम. पात् ॥ देवल quoted by अपरार्क p. 290 ; सहस्रशक्तिश्च शतं शतशक्तिर्वशापि च । दया. पच यःशक्त्या सर्व तुल्यफलाः स्मृताः ॥ आश्वमेधिकपर्व 90. 96-97; एका गांवशर्वचार दश वयाच गोशती। शतं सहनार्दद्यात्सर्वे तुल्यफला हि ते ॥ अग्निपुराण 211. 1.

  2. अवधि मधु त्राणे गोभूरुक्माचहस्तिनः । दानान्युत्समदानामि उत्तमद्रग्य वामतः । विद्यावाच्छादनापासपरिभोगोषधानि चादानानि मण्यमानीति मध्यमवग्यदानतः। उपानरमध्यानानि छत्रपाबासनानि च। दीपकाष्ठ फलादीनि चरम बहुवार्षिकम् ॥बहुस्वादर्थ जाताना संख्या शेषेषु मेव्यते । अधमाम्यवशिष्टानि सर्वदानान्यतो विदुः॥ देवल quoted by अपरार्क pp. 289-90, हेमानि (दान. pp. 16.)848

History of Dharmātastra

(Ch. XXV

of yielding a crop or fruits), lamp, wood, garment, water (water reservoir ), sesame, ghee, house for travellers, money for settling a person as a married man (or bringing about his marriage by finding a girl for him), gold, draught ox, is honour ed in the heavenly world, while one who makes & gift of a houge, corn (of various kinds ), protection from danger, shoes, umbrella, flowers, unguents, conveyance ( chariot &c.), tree, a desired thing, & cot secures endless happiness. Gifts of three things are said to be superior to the gift of anything else and are styled *00% atidana, viz. of cows, land and Sarasvati (vidya) according to Vas. Dh, S. 29. 19 and Bṛhaspati 18. Vas, Dh. S. 29. 19, Manu 4. 233, Atri, 340, Yāj. I. 21% say that the gift of vidyā is the best of all gifts such as those of water, food, cows, land, garments, sesame, gold and clarified butter. On the other hand Anusagana-parva (62.2) and the Viṣṇudharmottara ( quoted by Aparārk& p. 369 ) gay that the gift of land surpasses all other gifts. The Viṣṇu Dh. S. 92. 1 says that the gift of protection from danger (abbayadāna) is the highest. The gifts of certain objects were called mahādanas. These and a few other dānes will be dealt with in some detail later on.

Danas are divided into nitya 2003 (called ajasrika by Devala), naimittika and kāmya. Whatever is given everyday (such as food after Vaiśvadeva &o.) is nitya, what is given at certain specified times (such as on eclipses) or on account of doing certain acts (such as penance for lapses) is called naimittika. what is given through the desire of securing progeny, victory, prosperity, heaven or a wife is called kāmya (as it springs from & desire). Dedication of a garden or of a well &c. is called dhruvadāns (permanent gift) by Devala; while the Kurma purāṇa adds to the well-known three a fourth division called vimala (pure) defined by it as ‘what is given to those who know brahma for securing the grace of God with a mind full of devotion.’ Vas. Dh. 8. 29. 1-15, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 92 and Manu IV, 229-232 (which are repeated in Viddha-Gautama, chap. XI. p. 586 ) and many of the purāṇas are eloquent over what

  1. श्रीण्याहुरातिदानानि गाया पृथ्वी सरस्वती। अतिदानं हि दानाना विद्यावानं natin af 20. 19; at afat Haffor grafiqmage I MFW 62. 2.

  2. TITANETI HRAF Eira Reid area pau अपस्यविजयैश्वर्यत्रीबालार्थ यदिण्यत । इच्छासंस्थं तु तहान काम्यमित्यभिधीयते ॥ कालापेक्ष क्रियापेक्षमर्थापेक्षमिति स्मृतम् । त्रिधा नैमित्तिकं प्रोक्तं सहोम होमजितम् ॥ देवल quoted hy TV p. 289 and gar (prae p. 16); seitsforuri p e care!

a partition are a s ferrallagerer quoted by ATE (7.P. 17).

Ch, XXV )

Dana

849

rewards a man reaps by making gifts of water, food, sesame &c. The Bhagavad-gitā (17. 20-22) divides dānas into sāttvika, rājass and tāmasa and defines them as follows: When a gift is made because one feels it one’s duty to make it and at a proper time and place and to a worthy person who will not return it, it is oalled sāttvika; when it is made with an expectation of the donee doing a good turn in return or with a view to secu ring some reward therefrom and is given grudgingly, it is rājasa; when a gift is made at an ‘improper time or place and to an unworthy person and without showing honour to the reci pient and with disrespect (or contempt), it is declared to be tāmasa.

Many texts emphasize 8 rule similar to that in the Bible * But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in seoret-Matthew VI. 3-4. Yogi-Yājñavalkya says 2004 that the reward of making gifts secretly, possessing knowledge without being puffed up and engaging in japa without others seeing it is infi nite. Devals says ‘sacrifice, gift and study lose their power and perish by being declared to others, by boasting about them or by repenting of having done them. Therefore one should not without good reason (such as protecting a gift &c.) proclaim one’s meritorious act.’

Certain things when offered voluntarily by a person with his own hand must be accepted and not spurned even by one who does not ordinarily accept gifts. Manu IV. 247-250, Yāj. I. 214-215, Ap. Dh. S. I. 6. 19. 13-14, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 57. 11 declare that kuśas, vegetables (raw), milk, fish, fragrant substances, flowers, curds, clay, flesh, a bedstead, a Beat, fried barley, water, precious stones, fuel-sticks, fruits and roots, honey, food offered without being asked (except of the impotent, of prosti tutes and of patita) must not be spurned, but must be accepted.

Certain objects could not be donated either because one bad no ownership over them or because the sages forbade such gifts. Jaimini (V1.7.1-7) establishes several propositions, viz. that one can make a gift only of what one owns, that one cannot make

  1. uwa saratan Penti scorta y EURITA gent the Ramu any quoted in T. T. p. 243 ; 787#TAT 149 is #wa (1) cava … … … … We ll; fā en 24HTTEE लापाशोचनाम्याच भग्रतेजो विपद्यते । तस्मादारमतं पुण्यं न प्रधा परिकीर्तपदेदेषल quoted by sa p. 290, FAIRE ( 19. p. 17 ).

1, D. 107

850

a gift of one’s relatives (parents, sons and others) in the Viśva jit, that & sovereign cannot make a gift of the whole of his kingdom, that horses cannot be gifted in that sacrifice as śruti forbids such a gift in that sacrifice, that a sūdra who serves the sacrificer merely as a duty cannot be given away and that what over is of the full ownership of a person at the time of giving the dakṣiṇā can alone be gifted in the Viśvajit sacrifice. Nārada200% (dattāpradānika 4-5) forbids eight kinds of gifts viz. of what is handed over to a creditor by a debtor for delivery to a third person, what is borrowed for use (such as an ornament on a festive occasion), a pledge, property jointly owned with others, a deposit, son and wife, one’s entire property when one has children, what has been already promised to another man. Daksa III. 19-20 enumerates nine things as not proper subjects of gifts ( adding to Nārada’s list ’ a friend’s wealth and gift through fear’and omitting what is already promised to another’). Yaj. II. 175 is of similar import. Apararka p. 779 quotes verses of Bphaspati and Kātyāyana to the same effect. Vide above (pp. 507-508) as to a man’s power over his children.

The texts took care to set limits to a man’s generosity. After emphasizing in very eloquent language the obligation to share one’s possessions, however meagre, with others, Veda-Vyasa 2006 (IV. 30-31) inculcates the doctrine that charity begins at home. Ap. Dh. S. II. 4.9.10-12, Baud. Dh. S. II. 3. 19 ordain that one should not stint one’s dependents (whom one is bound to main tain), one’s servants and slaves for distributing food to guests and others. Yaj. II. 175 prescribes that one should make gifts in such a way as not to cause detriment to one’s family. Bpbaspati&007 explains this by saying that one may give away

  1. अन्याहितं याञ्चितकमाधिः साधारणं च यत् । निक्षेपः पुत्रदारांश्च सर्वस्वं चान्वये सति । आपत्स्वपिदि कटास धर्तमानेन देहिना। अदेयान्याहुराचार्या यच्चान्यस्मै मतिभुतम् ॥ नारद (दत्तामदानिक 4-5); सामान्य पाचित न्यास आधिारा: सदद्धनम् । भयादिच निक्षेपः सर्वस्वं चान्वये सति । भापत्स्वपि न देयानि नव वस्तूनि सर्वदा। यो पदाति समूहात्मा मायश्चित्तीयते नरः ॥ दक्ष III. 19-20.

  2. यहदासि विशिष्टेभ्यो यशाश्नासि दिने दिने । तत्ते वित्तमहं मन्ये शेषं कस्यापि रक्षसि ॥ किं धनेन करिष्यन्ति देहिनो गत्वरायुषः । यद्वर्धयितुमिच्छन्ति सरीरमशाश्वतम्। प्रासावर्धमपि प्रासमथिभ्यः किं न दीयते । इच्छानुरूपो विभवः कदा कस्य भविष्यति ॥ माण नाशस्तु कर्तग्यः या कृतार्थः स नो मृतः। अकृतार्थस्तु यो मुत्युः प्राप्तः खरसमो हि सः॥मातापितषु पहसं धातु वधुरेषु च जायापत्येषु यो दद्यात् सोऽनन्तः स्वर्गसंक्रमः । पितुः शतगुणं दानं सहनं मातुरुज्यते । भगिन्यां शतसाह सोदरे दत्तमक्षयम् ॥ दग्यासस्मृति IV. 16, 18, 24, 26, 30-31 quoted by हेमादि (दान) p. 33%; ride अग्निपुराण 209. 32-33.

  3. कुटुम्बभक्तपसनादेयं पदतिरिच्यते । मध्यास्वादो विषं पश्चाइ वार्धोन्यथा भवेत् ॥पहस्पति quoted by अपरार्क P. 780 and हेमाद्रि (वान. p. 44).

Oh. XXV)

Dāna-limits of

851

wealth that is over and above what is required for maintaining one’s family and for clothing and that the charity of one who disregards this rule is something that is sweet like honey at first but like poison in its effect. In this Bṛhaspati only echoes what Manu says ( XI. 9-10) ’the charity of him who has wealth enough to make gifts to strangers, when his own people live a life of misery, is only a false imitation of dharma (and not the true dharma), it is at first like honey but will taste like poison (later). Whatever a man does for his welfare in the next world by stinting those whom he is bound to maintain results in un happiness to him while living and also after death’. The Anugāsana parva (37. 2-3) declares that if one makes & gift stinting one’s servants, he makes himself a sinner, even though one may say tbat one would give whatever any one begs for (compare Luke VI. 30 give to every man that asketh of thee’). Hemādri quotes 2008 Śivadharma to the effect that a man should set apart three parts out of five from his acquisitions for bim self and his family and two parts for dharma, as life is evanescent,

Certain things were forbidden to be accepted as gifts. The gift of animals with two rows of teeth was forbidden by sruti (vide Sabara on Jaimini VI. 7. 4 quoted above). Vas. Dh. S. 13. 55 declares that a brāhmaṇa should not accept the gift of weapons, poisonous substances and spirituous liquor. Manu IV. 188 states that a brāhmaṇa who is not learned should not accept the gift of gold, land, horses, cow, food, garment, sesame, clarified butter; but if bo accepts he is reduced to asbes ( i. e. perishes ) like wood. Hemādri ( Dāna p. 57 ) quotes the Brahma purāṇa that a brāhmaṇa should not accept the gifts of ewes, horses, precious stones, an elephant, sesame and iron, and that one who accepts a gift of antelope skin or sesame would not be born again as a male and that if a person accepts the bedstead, ornaments and the clothes of one who is dead he would go to hell.

As to the proper times for gifts, several rules are laid down, Apart from the daily duty to make gifts ( Yāj. I. 203 ) gifts had to be made on special occasions and if so made were more meritorious than the gifts inade daily. Laghu-Śatātapa (145-153)

.

  1. तस्मात् विभाग वित्तस्य जीवनाय प्रकल्पयेत् । भागद्वय धर्मार्थमनित्यं जीवित 0; for quoted by SARE (gra. p. 44) and TAGE p. 5..

852

gays 2009 that a gift must be made on the first day of each ayana ( the sun’s passage to the north or south ), at the beginning of Ṣadasiti and while an eclipse of the sun or moon is in progress and that the rewards of the gifts made on these ocoasions are inexhaustible. Vanaparva 200. 125 is to the same effect. A gift made on Amāpāsyā imparts rewards a hundred times (of the reward of making it on any ordinary day), a thousand times when made on the suppression of a tithi, a hundred thousand times when made on the equinoctial day and a gift brings endless rewards when made on Vyatipāta. Sasvarta (208–209) says that gifts made on the ayana day, equinoctial day, vysti. pāta, the suppression of a tithi and on the eclipses of the sun and moon, on new moon day, 12th day, samkranti(sun’s passage into a zodiacal sign) becomes inexhaustible and these tithis are highly commended and so also Sunday for a bath, japa, home, dinner to brāhmaṇas, fast and gifts.2010 Śatātapa ( 146) states that 16 ghaṭikās before and also after the moment when the sun enters & new zodiacal sign is the holy time for gifts, while others give 30 ghaṭikās (before and after ) for Karkataka (Cancer samkrānti), 20 for Makara (Capricorn) and 105 for Tula (Balance ) and Meṣa (Aries). Viśvarūpa on Yaj. I. 214-217 states that the times specified as the proper occasions for srāddha are all of them the most appropriate times for making gifts. Vide Prajapati 25 and 28 and Atri 327 for similar rules. Savkha says that if amāvāsyā falls on Monday, the 7th tithi on Sunday, 4th on Tuesday, 8th on Wednesday these four are like

  1. a raggare TI autorit a WATER 93 200. 126 ; syaret ET ON TAR F I quattfattet fatti Trafit: # MATTEET 145, quoted as ṣtamar by ur p. 291. The sun’s entrance into the signs of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisoos is called षडशीति; ride बृहस्पराशर P. 245 and अपरार्क P. 292 quoting वसिष्ठ, Sigtrop 209. 9-10.

  2. TAPET TOT HER a ra rage THIEU statura M araq 150 quoted as tut#18 by a p. 292; Forster p. 144 also quotes the first re. When throe tithis occur on the samo day it is called at as the middle one is suppressed in the calendars (vide 37 p. 292); शतमिन्दु is quoted as याज्ञ. by हेमादि (वान p. 69). इयतीपात is one of the 27 योगs beginning with विष्कम्भ and is defined as श्रवणाविषधनिष्ठार्वानागदेवत ATT I HOAT teritor stra: #ean (THE according to wore P. 426 )–whon the moon is in the constellations of Śravaṇa, Advini, Dhuniptha, Ardra, Aslesa (first quarter ) and amavasyx falls on Sunday it-ię Vyatipata. Even Bana in the Hargacarita IV states that Harpa was born on a day that was free from all inauspicious conjunotions such as Vyatipata.

Ch. XXV)

Dana-special times for

833

eclipses and 80 gifts made on these days yield infinite rewards ( quoted by Hemidri, dānakhanda p. 66). The Viṣpu Dh. S. chap. 89 deals with the rewards of the gifts of various articles made on the full moon days of the twelve months of the year, Anuśāsana chap. 64 speaks of dānas on the 27 nakṣatras from kṛttikā.

The general rule was that gifts were not to be made at nigbt. But there are several exceptions. Atri 327 states that & gift even at night is commended on the occasions of eclipses, marriages, sankrantis and the birth of a child. Devala 2011 quoted in Par. M. I. part I, p. 194 has a similar verse and the Par. M. adds that only on the Cancer and Capricorn samkrāntis are gifts allowed to be made at night.

The above rules about the special occasions for gifts are amply borne out by epigraphic evidence. A few examples may be oited. A very large number of grants on copper and stone relate to gifts of lands and villages at the time of solar eclipses, For example, vide Tiwarkhed plate of Rāstrakūta Nannaraja dated sake 553 (653 ?) in E. I. vol. XI. p. 279, I. A. vol. VI, p. 73 (in sake 534 i. e, 613 A. D.), the grant of 30 nivartanas of land purchased for 30 gadyāṇakas of gold on a total eclipse of the sun in 754 A. D. in the time of Cālukya Kirtivarman II (E. I. vol. III. p. 6), E. I. vol. III. p. 193 (of sake 716 ), E. I. vol. IX, p. 100 (in 660 A. D.). Grants on the occasion of a lunar eclipse are found in J. B. B. R. A. S. vol, 20, p. 135 (Navsari plates of Raṣtrakūta Mahasamanatadhipati Karkarāja issued in sake 738, i. e. 817 A. D.), in E. I. vol. I. p. 341 (Patna Inscription of the time of Yadava Singhaṇa dated sake 1128 i. e. 1207 A.D.), E.I. vol. 19, p. 41, E.I. vol. 20, p. 125 (in saivat 1108). Grants on ayana days may be seen in I. A. vol. 12, p. 193 (Haddala plates of the Cāpa Mahāsā mantadhipati Dharaṇi-varāba issued in sake 836), the Saõjan grant of Amoghavarṣa dated Sake 793 (Uttarayaṇa-Mabāparvani). Grants on Samkrāntis are found in E. I. vol. VIII. p. 182 ( Dhulia plate of Karkarāja dated sake 701), E. I. vol. XII. p. 142 (in 1087 A. D.). E. I. vol. VIII. p. 159 (in sarvat 1207 ). It may be noted that not only on the sun’s passage in a rāśi, but even on Jupiter’s passage in a rasi ( Taurus in this case ) a grant was made as seen in Lucknow Museum plate of Kirtipāla (E. I. vol. VII, p. 93 in sarvat 1167 i, e. 1111 A. D.). A village was

  1. राहुदर्शनसंक्रान्तिधिवाहात्ययवृद्धिषु । स्नानदानादिकं कुर्युनिशि काग्यवतेषु unay quotod by tam (ar p. 81).

854

granted on Viṣuvasamkrānti to s brāhmaṇa in honour of Buddha by Mahipala I, a.king of Bengal (vide E. I. vol. XIV, p. 324). For grants on Akṣaya Tftigā (3rd of the bright half of Vaisakha) vide E. I. vol. 14, p. 198 (when 32 villages were granted to 500 brahmanas in samvat 1156) and E. I. vol. VII. p. 98 (Lar plates of Govindacandra of Kanoj in saivat 1202). For & grant made on Mahākartiki (the full moon day of Kārtika) vide E. I. vol. X, p. 75 (which is a grant to several brāhmaṇas for ena - bling them to offer bali, caru, vaiśvadeva, agnihotra and the five mahāyajñas, in Kalacuri saivat 292 i. e. about 540 A. D.).

The places ( deśa) where gifts are to be made are also speci fied in the smśtis, purāṇas and digests. Gifts 2018 made in the house yield ten times as much merit (as when made elsewhere), a hundred times when made in & cowpen, & thousand times when made in sacred places (tirthas) and an infinite number of times when made near an image (or linga) of Śiva. The Skanda purāṇa 2018 quoted by Hemādri ( dana p. 83) states that Benares, Kuruksetra, Prayāga, Puṣkara (Ajmer), the banks of the Ganges and of the ocean, Naimiṣ& forest, Amara-kantaka, Sriparvata, Mahakāla (at Ujjayini), Gokarna, Veda-parvata-these and the like are declared to be holy places resorted to by gods and siddhas; all mountains, all rivers and the ocean are holy; the habitations of cows, siddhes and søges are also boly; whatever is donated in these sacred places confers infinite reward.

When making & gift of anything one has to pour water on the hand of the donee. Ap. Dh. S. II. 4. 9. 9-102014 states that all gifts are to be made with water except in the case of vedio sacrifices where they are to be made as directed by the vedic texts. Gautama V. 16 says the same. In the case of all gifts they are to be accompanied by a separate dakṣiṇā. The Agni purāṇa2018 211. 31 makes an exception in the case of gifts of

  1. T ui Tai tiga gara guerrtāng FTEWART TATT Foun quoted in दानमयूख p. 8.

  2. u 1 por: GoIFO ISTRERE ATA कण्टकम् । श्रीपर्वतमहाकालं गोकर्ण वेदपर्वतम् । इत्याद्याः कीर्तिता देशाः सुरसिदनिषेविताः । सर्षे शिलोचयाः पुण्याः सर्वा मद्यः ससागराः । गोसिद्धमनिवासाश्च देशाः पुण्याः प्रकीर्तिताः। एषु तीर्धेषु यहत्तं फलस्यानम्त्यकृनवेत् । स्कन्दपुराण q. by हेमाद्रि (दान p. 83 ).

  3. fogareiror qarati qura ETT I 14. . II. 4. 9. 9-10; Fury Figarren

h arrastaa wengit. V. 16-17. 2015. अदसदक्षिणं वान व्रतं चैव पोत्तम। विफल तद्विजानीयाजस्मनीष हुतं हविः। paragrrur quoted by GATTIE ( p. 111); sfogott #187 of Thor FORTI E Grunta afirmaya 1 q. in af (T p. 112); this is SHSTRY (211. 30) and Trainer at p. 11 quotes it from fete

Ch. XXV)

Dāna

855

gold, silver, copper, husked rice, corn, daily śrāddha and daily devapūjā ( which may be without daksinā). That dakṣiṇā should consist pre-eminently of gold, but if gold itself is the article donated then the dakṣiṇā may be of silver. In the case of very costly gifts like tulāpuruṣa, the dakṣiṇā may be one hundred or fifty or 25 or ten niskas or one-tenth of the price of the thing gifted or according to ability.

Hemādri (Dāna pp. 96-97) and Dānamayūkba (pp. 11-12) quote verses from the Viṣṇudharmottara stating the presiding deities of the several articles that are donated (such as Agni of gold, Prajāpati of dāsas, Rudra of cows &c.) and adds that wherever no presiding deity is specifically named Viṣṇu is the presiding deity. Those very verses are quoted as from the Kapila pascarātra in the Dānakriyākaumudi (p. 5). The Agnipurāṇa (209. 40-48 ) has similar verses. This notion is derived from the Brāhmapas and Srautasūtras which speak of Rudra as the pre siding deity of the gifts of cows, Soma of garments, Prajāpati of human beings and so on ( vide Tai. Br. II. 2.5, Āp. Śr. 14. 11. 3).

The general procedure of making gifts may be stated here once for all. The donor and the donee should have taken their bath and should wear two white garments each, the donor should wear & pavitra, perform acamana, should face the east, should wear the sacred thread in the upavita form, be seated on & pure seat (of kuśa &c.) and seat the dones on & seat and make him face the north, then the donor should utter the name of the subject of gift, its presiding deity and the purpose for which he makes the gift, and say ‘I make a gift to you of such and such an article, pour water on the donee’s hand, and when the donee says ‘give’ the donor should sprinkle water on the subject of gift and place it into the hand of the donee, who utters the syllable .om’ and says ‘svasti’. Then dakṣiṇā is given to the donee. The detailed formula is set out below.8016 Necessary changes

  1. The formula may be described as follows: STEER ATH भमुके पक्षे अमुकतिधौ अनुकराशिस्थे भास्करे भारतवर्षाख्यभूपदेशे सूर्यग्रहणादौ अमुक गोत्रः अमुकशर्मा अमुककाम: अमुकगोत्राय अमुकमबराय अमुकशर्मणे ब्राह्मणाय इदम मुकद्रग्यं अमुकदेवसं तुम्यमहं संप्रददे इति द्विजकरमध्ये सकुशं जलं वद्यात् ।ग्रहीता करमध्येन गृहीत्वा स्वस्तीति पवेत् । अयेत्यादि. अमुककामनया कृतस्य अमुकदानकर्मणः प्रतिष्ठार्थ दक्षिण अमुकगोत्राय अमुकशर्मणे ब्राह्मणाय तुभ्यमह संमददे न मम इति वृक्षिणां वधात् ।। Vide shyrio 209, CARE (TBK) pp. 606-7 and Theft pp. 14 ff. for the procedure. The singero 209. 59-61 mentions the following purposes for which gifts are usually made ‘पुत्रपौत्रगृहैश्वर्यपस्नीधर्मार्थसणाः । कीतिविधामहाकाम-सौभाग्यारोग्यदये। सर्वपापोपशान्त्यर्थ स्वर्गाथै झुक्तिमुक्तये। एतत्सम्य संमददेमीयतां मे हरिस शिषः॥

Vide Stocedure. The stuually made

856

have to be made as to the statement of the occasion, the receipt of the subject of gift &c. (if it is land or a house, it cannot be received in the hand; the donee simply walks round it or on it or enters it). ___Yaj. I. 133 prescribes that the king should daily make gifts to brahmanas learned in the Veda, of milch cows, gold, land, houses and the requisites of marriage (i. e. maideps, expenses of marriage &o.). This was nothing new that was prescribed by Yaj. It has been followed for ages by the kings. The Vanaparv 2017 186. 15 states that he who makes a gift of a maiden in the brābma form or of land enjoys bliss in the world of Indra. We find from the inscriptions of Usavadata 2018 (pro bably in the 1st century A.D.), son-in-law of Nahapana, at Karle and Nasik that he gave 3 lakhs of cows, 16 villages to gods and brāhmaṇas, fed one lakh of brāhmaṇas every year, got eight brāhmaṇas married at his own expense at Prabhāsa ( in Kathiawar), built flights of steps on the river Barnasa, con structed quadrangles, houses and halting places (pratiśraya) at Bharukaccha (modern Broach), Dasapura (in Malwa), Govardhana (Nasik) and Sorparaga (modern Sopara), con structed wells and tanks; kept free ferry boats over the rivers Iba, Parada, Damana, Tapi, Karabena, Dahanuka (all between Thana and Surat); established meeting halls and shelters for gratuitous distribution of water; conferred 32000 cocoanut trees in Nanangola (modern Nargol) on the assembly of brāhmaṇas of the Carska sākha at Rāmatirtha in Sorpāraga and three other places. He adds that be purchased from a brāhmaṇa for 4000 kārsapanas a field that originally belonged to the brahmana’s father and made a grant of it for supplying food to the assembly

  1. यो मानदेयां ददाति कन्या भूमिप्रदानं च करोति विमे । ददाति दान विधिमाप यश्च स लोकमामोति पुरन्दरस्य ।। वनपर्व 186. 16.

  2. Vido E. I. vol. VII. P. 57 for Karle Inscription No. 13 of Usavadxta and E. I. rol. VIII P. 78 (for Nasik No. 10) ‘नहपानस्य जामा माविमीकपुत्रेण उपवदातेन त्रिगोशतसहनदेन मा पासायां सुवर्णदामतीर्थकरेण देवताम्य: माह्मणेभ्यश्च षोडशग्रामदेन अनुवर्षे बाह्मणशतसाहनीभोजापपित्रा प्रभासे पुण्यातीय नाम णेभ्यः अष्टभार्यामदेन भरकच्छे वशपुरे गोवर्धने शोरगे च चतुशालावसधपतिश्रयम्देन आरामतडाग-उदपानकरेण इबा-पारादा-दमण-तापी-करणा-दाइनुकानापापुण्यतरकरेण पतासांच नदीनां उभयतोतारं सभाप्रपाकरेण पीण्डीतकावडे गोवर्धने सुवर्णमुखे शोरगे च रामतीय चरकपर्षदग्या मामे नानगोले दात्रीशतनाळिगेरमूलसहस्रप्रदेन गोवर्धने बिरश्मिषु पर्वतेदु धर्मात्मना इदं लेणं कारितम् ।……दत धानेन क्षेत्रं पाह्मणस चाराहिपुत्रस अधि भूविस हथे कीणिता मूलेन कदापणसहमेहि चतुहि 4000 यसपितसतक भगरसीमाय उत्तरापराय दीसाय एतो मम लेणे पसतानं चानदीसस भिक्षुसपस मुसाहारो भाषिसदि। (Nasik No. 10).

Oh. XXV)

Dana-for settling brāhmanas

857

of monks coming from all quarters that dwelt in the cave constructed by him. This is certainly & formidable list of benefactions for one ruler.

As to spending money for the marriages of brāhmaṇas and settling them as householders, a few words may be said here. Dakṣa2014 III. 32-33 says ‘The merit of him, that establishes & brāhmaṇa who is without father or mother by performing his samskāras and by getting him married, is beyond reckoning’ A man does not secure that bliss by observance of agnihotra or the performance of Agnistoma, which he secures by establi shing a brāhmaṇa in life’. Aparārka (p. 377) quotes a long passage from the Kālikāpurāṇa about Naivesika dana. Its purport is briefly as follows: “The donor should choose eleven brāhmaṇas of śrotriya families ( devoted to the study of the Veda) and of good oharacter and conduct, should build eleven houses for them, should get them married at his expense, should furnish the houses with stores of corn, with cattle and maid servants, beds, seats, vessels of clay and copper and other utensils for taking food and with garments; and having thus furnished the houses, should settle the eleven brāhmaṇas in the eleven houses and for their maintenance bestow upon each one hundred nivartanas of land or a hamlet, or half a village; he should induce the brāhmaṇas to be agnihotrins. By so doing he secures all the merit that is secured by the performance of sacrifices, vratas, various dānas or pilgrimages to sacred places and enjoys in heaven all pleasures. A man who is unable to do as much as above may settle only one brāhmaṇa according to his means and he secures the same rewards’. In the Epigraphic records there are numerous instances of kings spending for the marriages of brahmaṇas. For example, the Aphsad Inscription of Adityasena ( vide Gupta Inscriptions No. 42, p. 203 ) speaks of gifts of agrahāras on the marriages of one hundred brāhmaṇa girls to brābmaṇas. A copper-plate grant of the Silāhāra prince Gandarāditya speaks of the king having got 16 brāh manas married at his expense and of having created endow ments of three nivartanas for each for their maintenance at the time of their marriages (vide J. B. B. R. A. S. vol. 13, p. 1, dated 1032 śake). As the brāhmaṇas were supposed to lead a

  1. Amitaaragtat a Frigrenar : 1 T: forura peut pou**91 नविधतेन तन्छेयोनिहोत्रेण नाग्निष्टोमेन लग्यते। यच्छ्रेयः प्राप्यते पुंसा विप्रेण स्थापितेन

# III. 32-33. The first is quoted by sarap. 378.

A.D. 108858

Flistory of Dharmaśāstra

(Ch. XXV

life of comparative poverty, plain living and high thinking and as they were the inheritors, preservers and transmitters of the sacred literature of the country, as they also engaged in teaching without stipulating for any fee, the State that bad in those days no settled educational system as in modern times deemed it its duty to provide the resources which would enable the brāhmaṇas to carry on their self-imposed task. Yāj. II. 185 declares that the king should set apart in his capital & place for the habitation of brāhmaṇas learned in the Veda, should establish them there, should provide means of maintenance for them and then say to them ‘follow your duties’ (svadbarma), Aparārka quotes (p. 792) thereon from Bṛhaspati several verses that add ’the king should bestow on the brāhmaṇas who are learned and kindle the sacred fires (Agnihotrins) houses and lands under his own ediots from which no taxes in the present or future would be levied. The brāhmaṇas 80 settled should perform for the citizens their religious rites whether daily or to be performed on Occusions or kāmya or for averting evil omens or for the sake of prosperity and should give decisions in the cases of doubts. They should make rules and conventions for the whole village or for corporations and guilds and for reli. gious purposes. Those rules must be observed and when there is trouble caused by rogues and thieves all must join to put it down and that object must not be left to one person. 2020 These prescriptions indicate what benefit was expected of the marriages and settlement of learned brāhmanas. Kaut. II. 1 also pres oribes that lands free from taxes and fines should be settled upon purohitas, śrotriyas &c. There is nothing peculiar to India or to the caste system in this. Among the numerous charitable purposes mentioned in the preamble to the Statute of Elizabeth ( 43 Eliz. chap. 4) which (preamble) is even now applicable in England ’the marriage of poor maids’ is one.

The gift of land has been eulogized as the most meritorious of all gifts from ancient times. Vas. Dh. S. 29. 16 quotes & verse which is found also in Bșhaspati 7, Viṣṇudharmottara and Matsyapurāṇa (quoted by Aparārka pp. 369, 370), the

  1. maraftat farduration: 1 3824 furare part in

EL # Stardust on T FT: 1 M oura UFORUT ETSTT सः ॥ नित्य नेमित्तिकं काम्यं शान्तिक पौष्टिक तथा पौराणां कर्म कुर्युस्ते सन्दिग्धे निर्णय तथा । ग्रामणिगणार्थ तु संकेतसमपकिया। बाधाकाले त सा कार्या धर्मकायें तथैव च। ANTE ENTRE OTUT #TATUTOTT FETTA PESOSTAT pro **per por u gera quoted by अपरार्क P. 792.

Ch. XXV |

Dana-of land

859

Mabābbārata (Anuśāsana 62. 19) and which says’ whatever 2041 sin & man may commit when in straitened circumstances, he is purified therefrom by making a gift of only as much land as is equal to gocarma’. Aparārka (pp. 368, 370) quotes many verses from the Viṣṇudharmottara, the Adityapurāṇa, the Matsyapurāṇa on the high rewards reaped by the gift of land. The Vanaparva 2022 (93, 78-79) declares ‘whatever sing a king is guilty of in bringing the earth under his control, all those he gets rid of by performing sacrifices with munificent gifts ; by bestowing on brāhmaṇas lands and cows in thousands, the king becomes free from all sins as the moon is freed from darkness’ (Rāhu ). Anuśāsana 59.5 voices the popular Bentiment that .gifts of gold, cows and land save even the wicked’.

  1. परिकचित्कुरुते पापं पुरुषो वृत्तिकर्शितः । अपि गोचर्ममात्रेण भूमिदानेन uraha 1 A8 29. 16, a 62. 19, 5, 7, Thurry 4, 164. 18. The PART, ON TT. I. 210 quotes it as Manu’s and reads the 2nd qra as is

raatsia ar’. Bṛbaspati defines gocarma as equal to ten dirartanas and a nirartana is defined by him as land that is 30 rods (square ) with a rod of ten cubits. Ha ha firstevefananias ara farci TH ER ** 1 T. 8. The FANTArt on 21. I. 210 quotes yg. 49 Fret…ay art

a quarter , TTTTT I. 17 also reads PET &c. Bṛ. 9 gives another definition of gocarma that extent of land wbich a thousand cows with their calves and a bull occupy without being compelled to stand doing nothing is called gocarma’ सवृष गोसहस्रं तु यत्र तिष्ठत्यतन्द्रितम् । TTTTTHEat asta ma all. QTTTT XII. 49 says that that land which a bundred cows with ono bull occupy without being closoly packed together is gocarma. Viṣgu Dh, s. 5. 181 dofipes gocarme differently as ’that inuch land of whatovor oxtent the crops raised on which will maintain one man for a year’. Vide Apartrka p. 1225 and Hemadri (Vratakhanda, part 1 pp. 52-53) for soveral definitions of gocarma. The word nivartana is very anciont. Kaut. (II. chap. 20) says that dagda is oqual to four aratnis, ten dandas are oqual to oue rajju and 3 rajjus aro equal to a nivartanu (80 that it nivartina in 30 daqdas). The Band. Db.s. (III. 2. 2-4) speaks of a brābinana who maintains himself by cultivating six pivartaves of land. A field of 100 vivarta nas is mentioned in Nasik Inscription No 5 (E. I. vol. VIII p. 73). The word nivartana Ocours also in a grant of tho Pallave king Śivaskandavarman (E. I. vol. I p. 6). Vide E. 1. vol. XI p. 280 for a noto on nivartana.

  1. gai god for FAHTIN i primante currarangerariament: माणेम्पो दवद ग्रामानगाव राजन सहमशः । मुख्यते सर्व पापेम्पस्तमोग्य इव चन्द्रमाः ।।

of 33. 78-79.

860

(Ch. XXV

As gifts of land were so highly valued, the smrtis contain numerous rules about them. Yāj. (I. 318-320)2088 prescribes the following rules: ‘wben a king makes a gift of land or bestows a nibandba he should execute a writing (about the gift) for the information of future good kings. He (the king) should issue & permanent edict bearing his signature and the date on a piece of

H

  1. वश्वा भूमि निबन्धं या कृत्वा लेख्यं तु कारयेत् । आगामिभदनुपतिपरिज्ञामाय पार्थिवः ॥पटे वा ताम्रपद्धे वा स्वमुद्रोपरिचिहितम् । अभिलेख्यात्मनो वंश्यानारमान च महीपतिः ॥ प्रतिग्रहपरीमाणं दामच्छेदोपवर्णनम् । स्वहस्तकालसंपलं शासनं कारयेस्थिरम् ॥ 9. I. 318-320. Try on Tr. I. 318-320 roads a rarea and remarks igaz 1956, vareta g … Ha egura.’ For the verse qie… Ta vide Appendix, Nibandha is a fixed :paynent to be made every year or montb or on certain ocoasions to a person or temple or the like, as for example of 80 inany betel leuves or botelnuts out of each load of betel leaves or outs. It is translated ruther inaccurately as corrody by Colebrooke and others. Viśvarūpa on Yāj. II. 124 explains it as ‘* per manent endowment’ (akṣayanidhi); the Mit. explains ETT TUETT get 441: ente qoftwajca poria!, The Mit. explains TETT Toofa differeatly as a gian na T …70rr (aat?) foradat ataftar Hatuara; 349 p. 579. STRE ET AIT ART

R 24 SERIF ET T’. This passage of Yaj. is cited in The Collector of Thana v. Hari 6 Bow. 546 (F. B.) at pp. 557-558 and tho definition of nibandba from the Vyavalarumayūkha in Ghelabhui v. Hargovan 36 Bom. 94 at p. 101. One of the versos of gafa is haray मनाहार्य सर्वभाग्यविजितम् । चन्द्रार्कसमकालीनं पुत्रपौत्रान्धयागतम् ।। (अपरार्क p. 579). For examples of the grants of pibandhas,vide E.I. vol. X1V p. 295 at p. 309 where menerous dues on articles are given to a tomaple by the Paramāra king Comuzdaraja (on one bbaraka of candied sugar and jaggery 006 varpaka aad on loads of cotton thread dyed with manjiṣtba one rupeo, one cocoaput on a load of couvanuts, one betel-nut from ono tbousand nuts, one palika on each jar of ghoe or oil), E. I. vol. XIl at p. 331 (Inscription at Yevur dated 1105 A. D. as to a gift of aibandba for the benefit of a temple of Kesava ‘on sales of areca nuts an impost of five areca nuts on each gold pieco and 25 leaves on cacb load of betel leaves’), E. I. vol. XI p. 26 ut p. 30 the grant of one haru of barley corn for each water wheel for tho worship of u Jain saint in sativat 1167 ), E. I. vol. XI. p. 35 (grant in sam. 1189 for two palikās of oil from each oil-mill payable to the shrine of a Jaid saint), E.I. vol. XI. p.37. In the Mathurt Brāhmi Inscription of the 28th year of the reign of the Saka king Deva putra Huviṣku (about the beginning of the 2nd century A.D.) a permanent endowment was called ‘akpayanyi (E. I. vol. 21 p. 55 at p. 60). So also the same word is used in the Nalanda atone Inscription of the time of Yaśovarmadeva with regard to a Buddhist temple (E. I. vol. 20 p. 37 at p. 89). Vide also £. I. vol. 15 p. 15 and E. I. vol. 17 p. 345 at p. 348. The Gupta Inscription No. 62 (p. 261) records the gift of twelve golden dināras made as an akṣayanīvi (a permanent endowment) from the interest of which ono bhiksu was to be fed avory day.

Ch. XXV |

Dana-rules about land grants

861

cloth or on a copper-plate marked at the top with his seal and write down thereon the names of his ancestors and of himself, the extent (or measurements) of what is gifted and set out the passages (from smrtis) that condemn the resumption of gifts’. Vigvarūpa the oldest extant commentator of Yāj. states that the edict or order should also bear the names or signatures of the royal officers such as ājñā, dūtaka, the name of the place where the king’s army is encamped &c. and that the names of woinen (such as the queen mother or queen) should be mentioned, and that verses stating the result of resuming gifts made by former kings should find place in the edict. Apararka (pp. 579-580) quotes long extracts from Bphaspati and Vyāss on the same subject. Bṛhaspati says that a royal edict recording a gift of land should be executed on a piece of cloth or on copper-plate, should state the place (of issue) and (the names of) tbe king’s ancestors, that it should be stated to last till the sun and moon endure, that it was not to be resumed or taken baok and was to be free from all future taxes and that it was to go on to the sons and grandsons from generation to generation (of the donee), it should state that heaven would be the reward of the donor and those that continued the gift, that the result of the resumption of the gift would be hell for 60,000 years to the resumer and it should bear the king’s seal, the year, the month, the fortnight and day and should bear the signature of the superintendents (royal officers). Vyāsa after stating these requisites adds that the edict should be addressed to brābmanas and other respectable people, to the king’s officers, to all householders and to all others including medas and cāndalas, that it should state that the gift is made for securing merit for one’s parents and one’s self.

The thousands of copper-plate grants and inscriptions on stone published so far show that these directions contained in Yāj., Br. and Vyāsa have been followed to the letter from at least the 5th century onwards. In the earliest inscriptions verses about the merit of gifts and the sin of resumption do not ocour. For example, in Gupta Inscription No. 8 (pp. 36 ff) dated 88 of the Gupta Era (i. e. 407-8 A. D.) of Chandragupta II the only words (in prose) are ‘whoever would cut off this charitable gift would be guilty of the five great sins’; similarly in the Gupta Inscription No. 5 (p. 32) dated Gupta era 93 the words are

• whoever would destroy this charity now set on foot would be guilty of the murder of brāhmaṇas and cows and of the five

862

Ch. XXV

sing that bring immediate punishment’. In the Inscriptions of the early Pallava king Śivaskandavarman also (E. I. vol. I p. 7) such verses are not found. In the copper-plate grant of Skanda-gupta (dated 146 Gupta year i. e. 465-66 A. D., Gupta Inscriptiong2044 No. 16, p. 68 ) there is a verge on the point, but it is not one of those that are found in most inscriptions.

In the earliest records verses lauding gifts and deprecating their resumption are few (one or two) but in later records their number increases. For example, in the copperplate of Maitraka Vyāghrasena (E. I. vol. XI, p. 221) there are only two verses and in the plates of Dhruvasena dated Gupta-Valabhi samvat 206 and 210 respectively there are only two and three verses (E. I. vol. XI. pp. 107, 111 ), while there are 16 verses in an insoription of Yabahkarnadeva dated in Kalacuri sarvat 823 ( E. I. vol. XII p. 205 ) and 15 vorges in the copperplate grant of Cahamāna Ratnapāla dated in Vikrama samvat 1176 (E. I. vol. XI, pp. 312-313). In most of the inscriptions containing these lauda tory and imprecatory verses, they are oited as from Vyāsa or Manu or from smrti in general. In the Appendix 2095 a list of about forty such verses is given and in the footnotes it is pointed out wherever possible from what smrti or other source they are taken and a reference is made to some of the earliest inscriptions and grants where they occur. The references will show that these verses occur in inscriptions from all parts of India. Two of the most usual verses are : ’the earth was donated by many such kings as Sagara and others; whatever king is lord of the earth at any particular time enjoys the reward ( merit) of the gift of that land. The donor of land enjoys bliss in heaven for sixty thousand years and he who

  1. HETTA at 157

: #:18: Crim: 09 farparurdur #gfagrar From Gupta Loscription No. 16 at p. 71. In the Sanjun platos of Amoghavarsa I (E. I. vol. 18 p. 235 at p. 251 ) occurs besides 6 verses the following prose passage af var वृतमतिरासिम्यादाधिमानकं चानुमादेत स पाभिर्महापासक: सोपपासकैश्च संयुक्तः F ETI!. Vide also E. I. XI. (of Valabhi ora 206 ) p. 107 for tho Bame words.

  1. Vide Pargiter’s paper in J. R. A. S. for 1912 pp. 248-255 for some verses relating to gifts of lands in land grants. He doals with only seven verses and refors oply to the Purtnas and the Mahabharata. In my notes (in the appendix) an attempt has been made to traco some of thom to the smrtie, It is quite possible to traco moro of these vorges in the emṛtis if « more thorough soarob were made than I could fnd time to mako.

Oh, XXV)

Dūna-land grants

863

destroys (or resumes ) it or who abets the destruction dwells in hell for the same period.’ In spite of such imprecations it appears that lands donated by former kings were sometimes confiscated by their successors. For example, in an inscription of Indrarāja III dated sake 836 it is stated that the king restored four hundred villages that had been confiscated by former kings (E. I. vol. IX, p. 24 at p. 33 ‘pūrvaprthvipala. viluptani); in the Talmanchi plates of Calukya Vikramaditya I ( dated 660 A, D.) there is a recital that’he re-established the endowments of temples and brāhmaṇas that had been lost in the three kingdoms’ (E. I. vol. IX. p. 100). The Rājatarangiṇi (V. 166-170 ) states that king Samkaravarman ( in the first half of the 10th century), the son of Avantivarman, deprived temples of all their properties for replenishing his treasury emptied by his vices.2028 Parāśara (XII, 51 ) says that the sin of resuming land already donated cannot be expiated even by performing a hundred Vājaper& sacrifices or by the gift of millions of cow. In the Khoh plates of Parivrājaka Maharaja Saṁkṣobha (Gupta Insoriptions No. 25 p. 115 ) dated Gupta samvat 209 (528-529 A. D.) there is & peculiar curse pronounced on him who would interfere with his gift ‘him who would interfere with this gift I shall, though functioning in another body ( on account of rebirth), consume (burn) with terrible ourses (or imprecatory thoughts )’. Vide also Gupta Ing. No. 23 p. 107 of G. S. 191. When a grant of a village or villages was made kings excepted therefrom grants already made in favour of shrines of gods and brāhmaṇas. For example, in the Pikira Grant of Simhavarman ( E. I. VIII. p. 162 ) it is stated

this village is granted by us as a gift to brāhmaṇas excepting the cultivated lands given as endowment to gods’ (devabho gabalavarjam ). In E. I. vol. X. p. 88 ( of 697 sake) the grant excludes the portion already bestowed on gods and brāhmaṇas’ (pārvapratta-deva-brahma-dāya-rahitaḥ). The grant of the village by the Candella king Paramardideva in sam, 1236 expressly excludes five balas ( land measure) of land granted to Buddha (i. e. to a temple of Buddha then existing). Vide E. I. XX. at p. 129. This shows that & Hindu king respected an endowment already made to a shrine of Buddha or to a monastery of Buddhists ( devasri-buddha-gatka-pancahalam

  1. Spreh at store itat: Tuoti reint # FF FEET grirt: 11 … Utaratuuraris shah #itft fie reafer en

TOTUIT 11 Statisoft V. 166 and 170.

864

(Ch XXV

bahiskrtya ). Vide also I. H. Q. vol. VIII for 1932 p. 305 (plates of Bhoja dated sam. 1079 where the expression “ deva brahmana-bhuktivarjam’ occurs ); E. I. vol. II p. 360 (sam 1162 ); E. I. 14, p. 194 ( sain. 1150 ); E. I. vol. I, p. 85 at p. 88 (G. S. 334 ). There are many instances where kings making grants of a field say that they purchased it from the owner and then bestowed it. For example, in E. I. vol. 17 p. 345 there is a grant by Kumāragupta (G. S. 193 ) of this character and see p. 856 above where such a grant is referred to. Even in the most ancient grants what is granted is set out with great parti. cularity. A few examples will show this. In the Nasik Inscrip tion No. 3 of Vasithiputa 2027 Siri-Puļumāyi ( E. I. vol. 8 p. 65 ) the grant is in these words. And to this village of Samalipada (Salmalipadra ) we grant the immunity belonging to monk’s land, making it not to be entered by royal officers, not to be touched (by any of them ), not to be dug for salt, not to be interfered with by the district police, (in short) to enjoy all kinds of immunities’. So also the Mayidavolu plates 2028 of the Pallava Śivaskandavarman state ( E. I. vol. VI, p. 87 ) to this village of Viripara we grant all the immunities enjoyed by the brahmadeyas. Let it be free from digging for salt, free from being interfered with by the district police (or officers ), free from supply of bullocks in succession, free from the entrance of soldiers, free from supply of boiled rice, water pots, cots and lodgings, with these and all other immunities prescribed by rules ) regarding all brahmadeyas, we have caused it to be exempted’. In the Gupta Inscriptions No. 55, p. 235 (the Chammak copperplate of Pravarasena II ) 2029 there are numerous words about the various taxes and exactions remitted which it is difficult to understand at this distance of time, but some of

  1. एतस च गामस सामलिपदस भिखुहलपरिहार वितराम अपालस भनोमस strarqe STaTrafas Tetagitarit i E, I. vol. VIII at p. 65.

  2. एक्स गामस पिरिपरस सवषह्मदेय परिहारे वितराम अलोणखादक अरठस पिनायिकं अपरंपराबलिषद अभउपपेस अकूरचोलकधिनासिखटासवासं एतेहि अनहि च

#294a14 FEVETTIE Figmat E. I. vol. VI. at p. 87.

  1. MFATHOTA: … strana: 1 surogat garant TEATA मर्यादा वितरामः तयाअकरदायीअभटछात्रमवेश्य: (अभवचाटमवेश्या?) अपारंपरगोबलिवर्दः अपुष्पक्षीरसन्दोहः भचारासमचर्माङ्गारः अलषणलिनकोणिखनका सर्वविष्टिपरिहारपरिहतः सनिधिः सोपनिधिः सक्रतोपक्रात: आचन्द्रादित्यकालीयः पुत्रपौत्रानुगमकाः भुजतां न

TT: platea: Gupta Ios. p. 238; at p. 186 (G.8.214) the words are मामो … सोवो सोपरिकरी अवाटभटमवेश्यो राजाभाग्यसकरमस्यायोत्पत्रकोपपमान

?!… trocar (here only the finos irnposed upon thieves woro exempted from the gift).

Oh. XXV1

Dāna-land grants

885

which may be stated it was to be free from taxes, not to be entered by the regular soldiers, nor by cāļas, it was to be entirely free from all obligations of forced labour, it was to carry with it hidden treasure and all deposits.’

It is often stated in the grants that lands or villages are granted with the eight bhogas (vide E. I. vol. VI. at p. 97, the Gadag Ins, of Hoysala Vira-Ballaļa in sake 1114). The eight bhogas are enumerated in some of the inscriptions themselves, In the Srisaila plates of Virūpākṣa (of sake 1388) they are stated to be nidhi ( treasure trove), niksepa ( what is deposited on the land), vāri (water), aśman (stones, mines), akṣiṇi ( actual privileges), āgāni (future profits), siddha ( what is already brought under cultivation), Bādbya (wasto land that may in future be turned into cultivable land ).8030 In the times of the Marathas when lands or villages were granted it was usual to put in such words as ‘jalataru-trṇa-kāṣtha-pāṣāṇa-nidhi-nikṣepa’ (water, trees, grass, wood, stones, treasure-trove and deposits). It has been decided by the modern Indian Courts that these words conferred on the grantee ownership in the soil itself and that in the absence of these words it is possible to hold that the grant was only of the royal share of the revenue and not of the soil itself. 2031

The question whether the king is the owner of all land in his kingdom has been discussed from very ancient times. Jaimini (VI. 7. 3) states the proposition that in the Viśvajit sacrifice ( where the sacrificer has to donate everything that belongs to him) even the emperor cannot make a gift of the whole earth of which he may be the ruler, since the earth is common to all (to the sovereign as well as to those who cultivate

  1. Para sa mah

TTHETI En E. I. vol. 15 at p. 22; in the Conjeovaram plates of store arra (Sake 1444), the verse runs ‘farura9919 4 8 sorar

TA M

VE II. Vide also E. I. vol. I, at p. 400 (duke 1451, in Canaroso) ‘Faruraturopar faroft SITTAFERU TV Tor HITETS FUTURE CAT TOTEUTT E. I. vol. XIII p. 34 a 1 and I. A. vol. 19. P. 244 for the meaning’s of these words.

  1. For a great where these words occur and which was held to bo of the soil, vide Ravji v Dadaji 1 Bom. 523 ; for a grant which was held to be of the royal share of tho revenue only, vide the grant in Vaman , the Collector of Thana 6 Bom, H.O. R. (A. O. J.) 191. Vide also Amrit Vaman v Hari 44 Bom. 237 about the interpretation of the worde

water, grass &o,’.

D. 109

866

( Ch. XXV

it and make use of it). Sabara 1088 elaborates this by adding that others have as much right over the earth as the emperor, that the emperor is entitled to a share of crops produced from the earth as his since he protects them; but that all other persone also walk on the earth, produce crops on it, get their sustenance from it and so they also have rights over the earth and therefore there is no difference between the emperor and other persons as to rights over the earth. This view is relied upon by the Vyavahāramayūkba 8083 which says therefore it is said in the 6th chapter of Jaimini that the whole earth cannot be given away by the emperor and a province by a feudatory chief. The ownership in the several villages and fields on the entire earth or in a province belongs to the holders of the land alone, while kings are entitled only to collect taxes. Therefore when kings now make what are technically called gifts of fields, no gift of land ( soil) is effected thereby, but only provision is made for the maintenance of the donee (from the taxes which are alienated by the king). Where however bouses and fields are purchased from the holders thereof (by the king) be bas also ownership (over the fields &c.) in those cases and he in such cases secures the full merit of the gift of land (if he makes a gift of such fields)’. These paesages embody the important proposition that the state is not the owner of all lands, but is only entitled to levy taxes from the holders of land.

There is another view also according to which the king was the owner of lands and the subjects were only ocoupants. This latter view, being more convenient and paying, has been adopted in modern times by the British Government in its policy and legislation (e. g. vide section 37 of the Bombay Land Revenue Code, Bombay Act V. of 1879). The Mit. on Yāj. I. 318 states 2034 that the words of Yāj. imply that the privileges of

  1. TAI PUTEHairatetene CTET . VI. 7. 3 ; # Arafa i 99: 1 क्षेत्राणामीशितारोममुण्या दृश्यन्ते म फत्मस्य पृथ्वीगोलकस्येति । आह। यइवानी सार्व भौमः स सहिदास्पति । सोऽपि मेति प्रमः । कुतः । यावता भूमिभागेन सार्वभौमो भूमेरीटे ताप ताम्पोपित कश्चिधिशेषः । सार्वभौमस्य तदधिकं यदसौ पृधियां संभूतानां बीमा दीमा राणेन निषिष्टस्य कस्यचिद्भागस्येष्टे न भूमेः । तनिविष्ठाच ये महण्यास्सैरम्यत्सर्ष. ATTOTETT UTEUTAHOTT u nd Tier wateraf 14:1’ .

  2. Vide for the text my edition of the TAGE P. 91.

  3. अमेन भूपतेरेष भूमिदाने निबन्धवाने वाधिकारो न भोगपतेरिति दशितम् । FRUCTE. OR OT. I. 318. Numorous grants were addressed to rāptrapati, vipayapati, bhogapati &o. Vide Gupta Ing. No. 24 p. 110, E. I. XI at P. 82 ( 1076 sarn.) and XII at p. 34 for the word bhoga’ in the senso of * district in . kingdom’. Bhukti also has the same sen80.

Ch. XXV)

Dana-land grants

867

en of land

TDOT

T 114

making a gift of land or of a nibandha belonged only to the king and not to the governor of a province or a district under the king. The Mit. on Yāj. II. 114 quotes a smști 8038 ’land passes on the happening of six ciroumstances viz. with the con sent of one’s village, of one’s agnatio relations, of sūmantas, and of one’s coparcepers and when accompanied with water and ( dakṣiṇā of) gold’ and remarks that the consent of sāmantas (neighbours ) is only necessary AB & safeguard against disputes about boundaries and that of the villagers is necessary for giving notice of the alienation to all. As the king is not men tioned here, the king’s consent does not appear to have been necessary for the gift of land by a private person. But it appears that the king’s consent was sometimes sought for gifts by private persons and obtained e. g. in Gupta Ins. No. 31 p. 135 Mahārāja Sarvanātha (G. S. 214 ) approves of a gift of two villages made to a person and his sons and grandsons in succes sion for the worship of the goddess Pistapurikādevi by & doneo to whom they had been originally granted.

On account of the great value attached to copper-plate grants as documents of title, there were great temptations to forge them. In the Madhuban copper-plate of Harṣa ( E. I. vol. VII. p. 155 at p. 158 ) reference is made to a grant fabricated by & certain brāhmaṇa named Vānarathys about a village called Somakuṇdakā. Manu IX. 232 prescribes death as the penalty for fabricators of royal oberters. Vide Fleet on ‘Spurious Indian Records’ in I. A. vol. 30, p. 201.

From Manu and other smrtikāras it appears that so far as lands already brought under cultivation are concerned they appear to hold that the ownership of the land is in the culti vators and the king is only entitled to levy taxes for the protection ho affords. In Manu VII. 130-132 it is stated ’the king should take a fiftieth part of cattle and gold and a sixth, 8th or 12th part of the orops and a sixth part of trees, flesh, honey, ghed, perfumes, herbs, liquids, flowers, roots and fruits &o.’ and in X. 118 Manu allows the king to raise his demand in times of emergenoy to a fourth of the produce of land. Manu IX. 44 states that a field belongs to him who uproots the stems of trees and shrubs from waste or unculti. vated land. Manu VIII. 39 provides that in ancient treasure.

  1. TANAHTAETATOTEHETI Terrinera #rtoti fam. on VI. II. 114,

acrimastat868

trove found underneath the ground and in mines the king is entitled to a share because he affords protection and because he is lord of the earth. This militates against the view that the king is the owner of all lands, sinoe, if that were so, Manu would have declared that the king took all the mines and treasure found in & oultivated field. In VIIL 243 Manu prescribus & fine for a oultivator not oultivating his field at the proper time or allowing the crops to be eaten up. But this would not make the king the owner, since the fine is imposed because the king is deprived of his share of taxes by the action of the cultivator. All these passages show that Manu held that the ownership of erable land was in the oultivator himself and the king was only entitled to demand a certain share of the produce (which is designated bhaga or kara as in Manu VII. 133). This is further supported by the conduct and practioe of powerful but good kings who purchased lands from their holders when they wanted to donate lands already cultivated. It may be conceded that land that was waste or not cultivated by anybody was deemed to belong to the king. Manu (VII. 115-119) enjoins that the king should appoint a headman for a village and officers for ten, 20,100 and a thousand villages, that each of the preceding one was to report to the officer next above him about crimes and other matters, that the headman of a village was to take for his livelihood the perquisites (such as food, fuel &c.) that tbe king could daily demand from the villagers, and that the other officers were to be remunerated by grants of plots of land (which when first granted must have been un cultivated). Kaut. II. 1 states that land prepared for cultiva. tion may be granted to cultivators who will pay a tax for life, that lands may be confiscated from those who do not cultivate them and may be given to others, that lands bestowed upon superintendents, accountants and similar persons 88 remunera. tion cannot be sold and mortgaged by them. For want of space this subject oannot be further pursued here. In modern times opinion has been sharply divided on the question whether the revenue from the land is in the nature of rent or is a tax. Baden Powell in ‘Land Systems of British India’ vol. I, pp. 240, 280 holds that land revenue is not rent but is a tax. In an elaborate judgment delivered by Sir Michael Westropp C. J. after exhaustively reviewing the original sanskrit texts (pp. 30-39 ) and the works and reports of famous statesmen and writers such 88 Elphinstone, Munro, Mill and Wilson (pp. 39-53) the conclusion arrived at is stated to be that the proprietary

Ch. XXV

Dana-agrahāra and mahādānas

869

right of the sovereign derives no warrant from the ancient laws or institutions of the Hindus and is not recognized by modern Hindu lawyers as exclusive or incompatible with in dividual ownership’ (p. 53 ). 2026

The word agrahāra has been applied to the grant of lands or villages to brāhmaṇas from very ancient times. It occurs frequently in the Mahābhārata e. g. Vanaparv& 68. 4, Asrama vāsiparva 2.2, 10. 41, 13. 11, 14. 14, 25. 5. Vide E. I. vol. I, p. 88 (grant of the Valabhi king Dhruvasena III, in G. 9, 334 i. e. 653-654 A. D.) and in the Madhuban copper-plate of Harsa dated in the 25th year of his reign (i. e. 631, A. D., E. I. vol. I, p. 73 and VII at p. 158).

Gifts of certain kinds are called Mahādānas. According to the Agnipurāṇa 2037 ( 209. 23-24) the Mahādānas were ten, viz. gifts of gold, horses, segame, elephants, maids, chariots, land, house, & bride, and a dark-brown ( kapila ) cow. The Mahādānas are, however, usually enumerated as 16 in the puriṇas (vide Matsya, chap. 274-289, Agni, chap. 210, Linga purāpa II, chap. 28 ff). The sixteen mahādānas are: Tula. puruṣa (weighing & person against gold or silver which is then distributed among brāhmapas), Hiranyagarbha, Brah māṇda, Kalpavṛkṣa, Gosahasra, Kamadhenu (or Hiranyakama dhenu ), Hiraṇyāsya, Hirapyāśvaratha (or simply Asvaratha), Hemahastiratha (or simply Hastiratha ), Pañcalāngala, Dharma dana (or Haimadharādāna), Vibyacakra, Kalpalatā (or Maba. kalpa- ), Saptasāgara, Ratnadhenu, Mahābhūtaghata. In the Lingapurāṇa (Uttarārdha, chap. 28 f) the names are somewhat different. The names of these Mahādanas (of some at least) go back to centuries preceding the Christian Era. The word ‘Mahādānāni’ occurs in the Mahābhārata (Asramavāsi-parva 3. 31, 13. 15). In the Hathigumpha Inscription of Khāravela (2nd century B. C.) Kalpavśkṣa appears to be mentioned (E. I. vol. XX. p. 79). Bāṇa often refers to Mabādānas in general and Gosahasra in particular. 2038 It has already been shown (on

  1. Vide Vyakunta Bapuji v. Government of Bombay, 12. Bom. E. C. (Appendix pp. 1-224).

  2. STOIT TROPICTAEVIETI I FT97 miles WATT #UT II MIESTrO 209. 23-24. Tbis vergo with slight variations is quotod by mr p. 198 (but without the name of the work).

  3. f lauta TETHETTE I Frutt para 88 (two moan ings of li qaro PTURATT 014 et … AUTE M

A TTa 974

u III, 11th para.

870

( Ch. XXV

p. 856 ) how Uṣavadāta made extensive gifts some of which fall under mabādānas. The Tulāpuruṣa is very frequently spoken of in the Epighraphio records. The Cambay plates of the Rāṣtrakūta king Govinda IV (dated sake 852) state that the king was weigbed against gold (E. I. vol. VII. p. 26). Vide also E. I. vol, XI p. 112 (in Dantivarma Ins. of sake 675), E. I. vol. IX, P. 24 (Rāstrakūta Indrarāja III weighed against gold in sake 836), E. I. vol. XI, p. 20 at p. 23 (Hematula of Govindacandra mentioned in sarn. 1186), E. L vol. XIV, p. 197 (dated sam. 1156, when 32 villages were given as dakṣiṇa after the two mah.. dānas of tulāpuruṣa and gosahasra); E. I. vol. VII, p. 17 (refers to tulāpuruṣa of Krṣṇarāya of Vijayanagara in sake 1437). The tulādāns is mentioned in the ancient Tamil work Silappadi kāram (vide p. 311 of Prof, Dikshitar’s translation). In E. I. vol. XII, at p. 10 it is stated that king Lakṣamanasena of Bengal granted a village as dakṣiṇā when he performed the Mahādāna called Hemāśvaratha. The Sanjan plates of Amogbavarṣa (dated sake 793) speak of the Hiranyagarbha mahādāṇa per formed by Danti-durga at Ujjayini (E. I. vol. XVIII, pp. 235,238). In the Srirangam plates of Deparāya II of Vijayanagara dated sake 1350 it is stated that the prince gave & dinner to one lakh of brāhmaṇas at the holy place or Prayāga (modern Allahabad) and on a lunar eclipse performed the Panca-la ngala vrata (J. B. B. R. A. S. vol. XIII, p. 1 at p. 3).

Brief notes will now be added for setting out the procedure of the mahādānas. The Matsya-purāṇa (chap. 274–289) devotes about 400 verses to these. Aparārka ( pp. 313-344) not only quotes almost all these verses of the Matsya-purāṇa, but also adds further details from the Bhaviṣyottara-purāṇa in certain cases. Hemādri ( Dapakhanda pp. 166-345 ) is far more elabo rate and quotes ( in addition to the Matsya ) long passages from the Linga, Garuḍa and other purāṇas and from works on Tantra and the Agamas. The Dānamayūkha devotes pp. 86-151 to the 16 mabādanas. The Matsyapurāṇa ( 274. 11-12) states that the mabādānas were performed by suoh anoient beroes and kings as Vasudeva, Ambarisa, Bhargava, Kārtavirya Arjuna, Rāma, Prablada, Pșthu and Bharata. It then gives general directions about the construction of the pandal(maṇdapa) required in making these mabādādas. The maṇdapa may be of various sizes, 16 aratnis (one aralni boing equal to 21 angulas of the donor) or 12 or 10 cubits ( one cubit being the length of the arm from the tip of the middle finger to the end

Ch. XXV)

Dāna-Tulāpuruṣa

871

of the elbow), should have four doors and a vedi ( raised plat form ) of seven or five cubits prepared with bricks, there was to be an arch on the vedi for holding the balance, it should hayo nine or five kuṇdas 2038 (pits in the ground for holding fire ) or one kuṇda, two auspicious water jars were to be placed at esob door of the pandal, the tulā was to have two posts and & cross beam of the same wood ( such as aśvattha, bilva, palāśa &c.) and was to be decked with golden ornaments. These details have to be passed over here for want of space. The rest of the procedure about tulāpuruṣa is briefly as follows ( Matsya, chap. 274 ): Priests knowing the four Vedas were to be placed on the four sides respectively (viz. Rgvedins to the east, Yajurveding to the south, Sāmavedins in the west and Athar vapas in the north). Then four homas were to be offered to Ganesa, the planets, the lokapālas, the eight Vasus, the Adityas, the Maruts, to Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva, the sun and the herbs and Vedic hymns referring to these were to be recited.

At the end of the homa, the guru invokes with flowers and incense the lokapālas (lords of the worlds or quarters ) with pauranika mantras, viz. Indra, Agni, Yama, Nirsti, Varuna, Vayu, Soma, Ikāna, Ananta and Brahmi. Then the donor should give golden ornaments, ear ornaments, golden chains, wrista lets, rings, clothes to the priests and double ( what is given to each ytvik) to the guru. Brāhmaṇas should then recite the vedic hymn on śānti (propitiatary verses averting evil ).2010 Then the donor again bathes and clad in white garments and wearing garlands of wbite flowers and having flowers in his folded hands invokes the balance that is supposed to be Govinda (Viṣṇu), and after per-ambulating the balance, he should step

  1. There is a work called Kugdarka by Sarkara, son of Nilaka otha, which in 15 stanzas succinctly gives all information about kuodas. They are of tea kinds, circular, lotus-like, creacent-shaped, yoni, trian gular, quadrangular, pentangular to ootagonal. The diagonal drawn from north-east to south-west may be one hasta, two hastas, four, 6 or oight according as the oblations to be offered are 1000 or more up to 10,000 or from 10,000 up to a lakb, or from a lakh up to ten lakhs (4 hastas ), from ten lakhs up to & crore (six hastas) and any number beyond a crore ( 8 bastas ). This extent is necessary for preventing the oblations from falling outside the kuqda. Kundas of different forms were employed according to tbe rites performed. Vide Hem&dri (dana, pp. 125–134 ) for further details.

  2. The hymn sam pa indragni’ Rg. VII 36. 1-15, in the first 18 verses of which the words ‘som nah’ occur at the commencemont,

872

into one pan and in the other pan brāhmaṇas should place pure gold. Then the earth should be invoked and thereafter the donor should leave the balance and give half of the gold to the guru and the other half to the brahmanas, pouring water on their hands before doing so and he may also make grants of villages to the guru and other priests. Then he should honour brahmanas, other respectable people and the poor and helpless with gifts. One who performs this rite stays for innumerable years in the world of Vigṇu. The same procedure was applied to weighing a man against silver or camphor (Aparārka p. 320, Hemādri, danakhanda p. 214). Apart from kings who got themselves weighed against gold as shown above, lesser persons such as ministers sometimes indulged in this mahadana, as Capdeśvara, & minister of the Mithila kings, states with pride in his Viv&daratnakara (vide H. D. vol. I, p. 370 ).

Hiranyagarbha :-( Matsya 275, Lingapurāṇa II. 29). The preliminary procedure about the pandal, the time, place, the materials, the punyābavaoana, the invocation of the lords of quarters is the same in this and the other mahadānas as in tulapuruṣd. The donor should then bring forward a golden kunda (basin or vessel ) 72 fingers high and 48 broad and having the shape of & muraja ( tabor) but looking like the interior surface of a golden lotus (with eight petals). The golden yesael ( it is called Hiranyagarbha ) should be placed on a heap of sesame. Then the golden vessel is to be addressed with paurānika mantras, identifying it with Hiranyagarbha 2041 (the Creator). He should then enter the golden vessel, sit facing the north, hold in his hands golden images of Brahma and Dharmaraja and hold his head for five breaths between his knees (to simulate the position of the foetus in the mother’a womb). The guru then repeats on the golden vessel the mantras of garbhadhana, pumsavana and slmantonnayana (and mentally revolves the other procedure of these ); the guru

thereafter makes the donor rise out of the golden vessel to the accompaniment of auspicious musio. Then the remaining twelve samskāras are 4048 performed symbolically on the donor,

  1. Rg. X. 191. 1-10 is a bymn to Hiranyagarbha and begins Piranyagarbhah sama vartat&gro bbūtanya jātab patir-eka asit :.

  2. Hemadri (dina, pp. 230-231 ) quotes versos to the effect that garbh dana is to be imitatod by sprinkling the juice of durva in the right nostril of the donor, simantonnayana by the pretende of the trait of adambara (ms in that rito), annapradana by feeding brahmapas with płynsa (rioo cooked in milk) and so on.

Ch. XXV1

Dana-Mahādānas

873

who repeats the mantra to Hiranyagarbha and says ‘formerly I was born from my mother but only as a mortal, now being born of you I shall assume a divine body.’ Then the donor, Beated on & golden geat, is bathed with the mantra ‘devasya tvā’ (vide above note 6538 ) and he distributes the golden vessel among the guru and other priests.

Brahmānda:–(Matsya 276). In this dāna, two vessels (pans) of gold are to be prepared resembling the two halves of a hemisphere (to represent the dome of heaven above and the earth below). The two halves are to be made of gold weighing from 20 palas to a thousand according to the donor’s ability and their length and breadth should be from 12 to 100 fingers; the pans should have (golden ) figures of the eight diggajas, the vedas and six angas, of the eight lokapālas and of brahmā in the middle of them, of Śiva, Viṣṇu, the sun on their top, of Umā and Lakṣmi, of Vagus, Adityas and Maruts inside ; the two should be covered with a silk garment and placed on a heap of sesame; eighteen kinds of corn should be arranged round them, Then in the eight quarters from the east golden images of Anantasayans (Viṣṇu lying on the spake ), Pradyumna, Prakrti, Samkarṣana, the four vedas, Aniruddha, Agni, Vasudeve should be respectively arranged. Ten jars covered with cloth should be placed near; gifts of ten cows with golden-tipped horns, with copper Vessels (for milking them) and covered with garments should be made and gifts of sandals, umbrellas, seats, mirrors should be made and the golden pans (called Brabmanda ) should be addressed in paurānika verses and the gold should be distributed to the guru and priests ( 2 parts to the guru and one part to each of eight priests ),

Ralpapādapa or Kalpaurka :-( Matsya 277, Linga II. chap. 33). A golden tree is to be manufactured with several fruits hanging down from it and with many ornaments and clothes. The gold may be from three palas to a thousand acoording to one’s means. From half of the gold the Kalpa pādapa is to be prepared and placed on a heap (prastha is a measure of 32 palas ) of jaggery, with images of Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva and the sun and five branches and the other four trees, Santana, Mandāra, Pārijātaka and Haricanda na are to be made each from of the one half of the gold taken and planted respectively in the east, south, west and north. Under the Kalpavṛkṣa, figures (golden) of Kamadeva ( the god of love) and his four wipes are to be placed. Eight jars filled

1, D. 110

874

( Oh. XXV

with water and covered with silk cloth and surrounded by lamps, obowries, umbrellas are to be arranged and 18 dhānyas 404? also; prayers are to be offered to the Kalpavṣkṣa to ferry the donor over the ocean of samsāra; then the kalpavrkṇa is to be donated to the guru and the other four trees 8044 to four priests. Aparārka (p. 326 ) quotes Bhavisyottara to the effect that a sonless man or woman should make this mahādāna.

Gosahasra:-(Matsya 278, Linga II. 38). The donor should subsist for three days or one day on milk alone and then the preliminary procedure of invoking lokapālas, punyābavā. cana, homa eto, should be gone through. Then fragrant substances should be applied to the body of a bull made to stand on the altar and ten cows out of 1000 should be selected. They should be covered with clothes, have their horns gold-tipped and the hoofs tipped with silver and these cows should be brought inside the pandal and honoured. A golden image of Nandikeśvara (Śiva’s bull) having golden bells round its neck, covered with silken cloth, scents and flowers, with horns gold tipped, should be placed in the midst of the ten cows. The donor should bathe in water that is medioated with the herbs called sarvausadhi 1045 and with flowers in his folded hands invoke the cows with mantras expressing the greatness of cows and address the image of Nandikesvara as Dharma and should bestow the golden image of Nandi on the guru with two Cow8 and donate one cow each to eight priests and to other brāhmaṇas five or ten oows each out of the remaining. The owner should then subsist on milk alone for one day and should be continent that day. The donor would dwell in the world of Śiva and would save his pitrs and maternal grand-father and other maternal ancestors.

Kamadhenu :-(Matsya 279, Linga II. 35). The figures of & Cow and a calf should be made from very pure gold, either one thousand or 500 or 250 palas in weight and one without

  1. The following verse enumerates the 18 dhoyas T धाम्ययषहदूतिलाणमाषगोधूमकोववकुलत्यसतीनशिम् । अष्टादशं चणकलापमयोडराजमा graag EI CHEATS: 1 (sur p. 323 ). HET 276. 7 speaks of eighteon dhanyar’.

  2. The Kalpapada pas (wisb-yielding trees) are said to be firo Mandara, P&rijataka, Santana, Kalpavykpa and Haricandana’, asiat देवतरषो मन्दार: पारिजातक। सन्तानः कल्पवृक्ष सिपाहरिचन्दनम् .

  3. The सर्कषधिs are ten ‘कुठं मासी हरि मुरा शैलेपचपनम् । पचा TEST Haut ITT: # ! Tartare quoted by TT p. 17.

Oh. XXV)

Dāna-Mahādānas

875

much wealth may make them from even three palas of gold. The skin of a black antelope should be spread over the altar, thereon & prastha of jaggery should be kept and on it the golden cow should be placed being decked with jewels, surrounded by eight auspicious jars, fruits, eighteen kinds of grains, chowries, copper vessel, lamps, an umbrella, two silken garments, bells, . neok ornaments &c. The donor should invoke the cow with paurānika mantras and then make a gift of the cow and calf to the guru. Hemādri ( dānakhanda, pp. 265-274) quotes passages from the Matsya, Agni, and Ling& purāṇas and from the Kāmiks and other works.

Hiranyatva :-( Matsya 280 ). On the altar deer skin should be spread and sesame placed and a golden horse is to be made from gold of the same weight as in Kāmadhenu and the donor is to invoke the image of the horse ( identified with the supreme God) and the image is to be donated to the guru. Hemādri (dā nakhanda p. 278 ) adds that the horse figure is to have silver welded on in five places, 8014 viz. the four feet and the mouth.

Hiranyāśvaratha:-( Matsya 281 ). A golden chariot should be made with figures of seven or four horses, four wheels, & golden flagstaff surmounted by & sapphire jar. There are to be four auspicious jars. Then this is donated along with chowries, an umbrella, silken garments and cows according to one’s means.

Hemahastiratha - Matsya 282). A golden chariot resem bling a toy-Oart should be made with four wheels, having figures of eight lokapālas, Brahmā, Śiva, the Sun, with Nārāyana, Lakṣmi and Puṣti in the middle of it, on the flag-staff there should be an eagle and the figure of Gaṇeśa on the end of the pole, there should be four golden elephants. Then it is to be invoked and donated.

Pancalāngalaka :-(Matsya 283). Five ploughshares should be made of some strong wood (teak, sandal &c.) and five of gold, ten fine oxon should be decked with gold on their horns and with pearls on their tails, silver on their hoofs and a gift of these and of land equal to one kharvata, kheta 2017 or village or

  1. A borse tbat is white in five parts of the body viz. the four feet and the mouth is deemed as very auspicious and called

pancakalyāpaka’.

  1. Ana (Tuve p. 288 ) quotes from the Ais TETTOY FT धवप्रपाकार सर्पता खातकावतम् । योजनाधधिविष्कम्भमष्टभागायत पुरम् ॥ तदर्थेन तथा खे तत्वादेम सर्वदम् ॥ तथा शुद्धजनमाया सुससुद्धकषीवला। क्षेत्रोपभोगभूमध्ये वसति atwa PT #1,

876

(Ch. XXV

a gift of one hundred or fifty nivartanas according to one’s means should be made. A brāhmaṇa with his wife is to be honoured with golden chains, rings, silken garments, wristlets.

Dharādāna or Haimadharādāna :-( Matsya 284 ). A golden figure of the earth resembling Jambudvipa is to be made with mountains on the borders and mount Meru in the middle, showing hundreds of figures and the seven oceans, made out of from five palas up to 1000 palas of gold according to one’s means. Then it is to be invoked with many verses and half or of it is to be donated to the guru and the rest to the other priests.

Viśvacakra :-(Matsya 285 ). A wheel with 16 spokes and 8 fellies should be made of gold, which may be in weight from 20 palas to a thousand palas according to one’s means. On the first nave there should be the figure of Viṣṇu in yoga posture, with the conch and cakra near bim and the figures of eight goddesses. On the second nave the sages Atri, Börgu, Vasistha, Brahmā, Kaśyapa and the ten avatāras of Viṣṇu should be carved, on the third Gauri and the mother-goddesses, on the 4th the twelve Adityas and four Vedas, on the fifth the five bhutas (elements, earth &c.) and the eleven Rudras, on the sixth the eight lokapālas and the eight elephants of the quarters, on the seventh eight&048 missiles and ( eight) auspicious things and on the 8th the gods at intervals. Then the donor should invoke this wheel and donate it.

Mahākalpalata :-( Matsya 286). Ten kalpalatas with figures of various flowers and fruits should be made of gold, they should have figures of Vidyādhara couples, of deities resembling lokapālas and the several śaktis, viz. Brāhmi, Anantaśakti, Āgneyi, Vāruṇi and others and above all there should be a canopy. Two of the kelpalatās should be placed in the middle of a circle drawn on the altar and the other eight in the eight quarters on the altar. There should be ten cows and jars. Two should be bestowed on the guru and the remaining eight on eight priests.

  1. The eight missiles are ‘Hearst

si furaha ha erfor ag T 497 Tat # EITT quoted in ga (r ve p. 331) und the eight maigalya things are rarorradina do g o मुक्ताफलं हिरण्यं च छत्रं चामरमेव ॥ आदर्शवेति विज्ञेयं महापं मालापहम् ।। OTETT in the same.

Ob. XXV)

Dana-Mahādānas

877

Saptasāgaraka :- Matsya 287). Seven Vessels ( kuṇdas ) with a diagonal of either 10; angulas (pradeśa ) or 21 angulas should be made from gold weighing from 7 palas to a thousand palas according to one’s means. The seven vessels should be respectively filled with salt, milk, clarified butter, jaggery, ourds, sugar, holy water. In the several kundas golden images of Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva, the Sun, Indra, Lakṣmi and Parvati should be dipped and all jewels should be thrown in them and all dhānyas should be arranged round them. A homa to Varuṇa should be performed and then the donor should invoke the seven oceans ( symbolized by the seven kuṇdas ) and then they should be donated.

Ratnadhenu :-(Matsya 288 ). The figure of a cow is to be made of precious stones. 81 padmarāga (ruby) stones are to be placed in the mouth of that figure, a hundred pusparāga stones in the tip of her nose, a golden tilaka on her forehead, a hundred pearls in the eyes, a hundred pieces of coral on the two eyebrows. two pieces of mother-o’pearl represent the ears, there should be golden horns, and the head should be of one hundred diamond stones, with one hundred on her neck, one hundred sapphires on the back, a hundred lapis lazuli on the sides, crystal on the belly, a hundred saugandhika stones on the waist, hoofs of gold and tail of pearls and other parts of the cow’s body are to be represented in a similar manner with various precious stones and the tongue with sugar and dung with jaggery, urine with ghee and a calf is to be made with ; of what is required for the cow and then both are donated.

Mahābhūtaghata :-(Matsya 289). A golden jar is to be set with precious stones with & diagonal of from 101 angulas to 100 angulas. It is to be filled with milk and clarified butter and on it figures of Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva are to be drawn as in the case of Kalpa vṣkṣa, and the figures of the earth raised by the great boar, of Varuṇa on his conveyance of Makara, of Agoi on a ram, of Vāyu (on a deer), of Ganesa on a rat should be kept in the jar together with the figures of Rgveda having a rosary, Yajurveda holding a lotus, Samaveda holding a lute, Atharvaveda holding stuc and stuva ladles and Puranas (the fifth veda) holding a rosary and water jar. The golden jar then should be donated.

Most of the smrtis highly extol the gift of a cow OT COWB. Manu IV. 231 states that the donor of a cow reaches the world878

[Ch: XXV

of the Sun. Yaj. (I. 201-205), Agnipurana 210. 30 presoribe that when making a gift of a cow, she should have the horns and hoofs tipped with gold and silver respectively, she should be accompanied with a bell metal vessel (for milking her) and she should be covered with cloth, she should be mild in tem per and the gift should be accompanied with a money payment and that whoever makes such & gift stays in heaven for 88 many years as there are hair on the cow’s body. Vide Samverta Verses 71, 74-75 also. In the Anusasana-parvason (51. 26-34 and chapters 77, 78 and 81) there are frequent eulogies of cows. Anusasana 57.28-29 are just like Yaj. I. 204-205. Anusasana (83. 17-18) explains that the cow is & constituent element of sacrifice, that the cow nourishes men (with milk), that their progeny (the oxen) are useful in agriculture and therefore cows deserve the highest praise, Aparārka (p. 295-297) quotes numerous passages from the purāṇas eulogizing cow. Among cows kapila is the best for gift (Anusāsana 73.42 and 77.8). Anusasana (77. 10 ff) explains why the dark-brown cow (kapila) is the best. Yaj. I. 205 states that if the cow donated is kapila it saves (from sin) the donor’s family up to seven generations (including himself). Aparārka p. 297 quotes Samvarta to the effect that the kapilā cow is equal to ten ordinary cows. The Varāhapurana chap. 111 deals with the gift of akapila cow. The method of giving a cow is briefly as follows 2050 (Hemadri, Danakhanda p. 451 ff, Danamayākha pp. 185-186): The cow is made to stand facing the east together with her calf and is worshipped by the donor (after having bathed and tied his top-knot) who sits near the tail and the dones sits facing the north. The donor holds in his hand a vessel containing

  1. गोभिस्तुल्यं न पश्यामि धनं किंचिदिहाच्युत ॥ कीर्तनं अवर्ण दान दर्शन चापि पार्थिव । गवां प्रशस्यते वीर सर्वपापहरं शिवम् ॥ …… स्वाहाकारवषट्कारी गोषु नित्यं मतिष्ठितो गावो यज्ञस्य नेयो वै तथा यज्ञस्य ता मुखम् ॥ … … गायः स्वर्गस्य सोपानं गाव! स्वर्गेपि पूजिता ॥ अनुशासन 61.26 and 333; अनुशासन 71.33 is वश्वा धेनुं सुचत कांस्य. दोहा कल्याणवसामपलापिनी च। यावन्ति रोमाणि भवन्ति तस्यास्तापद्वर्षाण्यश्नुते स्वर्ग: लोकम् ॥. This is like या. I. 205.

  2. One of the mantras is ‘यशसाधनभूता या विश्वस्याघमणाशिनी । विश्वरूपः परो देवः प्रीयतामनया गधा . The procedure in the दानमयूख is ‘भोत्यादि …… गोदानं करिव्य इति सशल्य मामुखी सवत्सां गां विर्ष च संपूज्य ससवर्णमाज्यपात्र हस्ते गृहीत्वा सत्र पुच्छ पताक्तं कृत्वा विभहस्ते कुशतिलजलान्यावाप उमफलेपभिमतफल मुक्रवा पसाधन …… मनया गोति मन्त्रं …… पोराणमन्त्रं च पठित्वा जलमुत्सजेत् । दानप्रतिष्ठा दक्षिा दवापामणधेनू अवश्य गाय: हरभयो नित्यं…इति थमोक्ता गोमतीं पियां जपेत् । वाममयूख pp. 185-186. हेमाद्रि and दानमयूस quoto gomati versos

from the महाभारत also via. अनुशासन 78. 23-25.

Ch. XXVI

Dana-of cows

879

clarified butter in which a piece of gold is put. The tail of the cow is dipped into the butter and then taken out and placed into the right hand of the doneo with the hair turned towards the east and also water, sesame and kusa grass are placed in the donee’s right hand. The donor holds in his hand a vessel full of water from which he sprinkles water with paurānika mantras, gives dakṣiṇś and then the cow starts with the donee and the donor follows them a few steps and repeats certain verses eulogizing Cows. The Agnipurāṇa (210,34) specially recommends that one who is at the door of death should make the gift of a cow (particularly a dark one) who would enable him to cross the blazing river in the world of Yama called Vaitarani ( and hence the cow is also called Vaitarani).

Yāj. I. 206-207 ( 206 = Agnipurāṇa 210. 33), Viṣṇu Dh. S. 88. 1-4, Vanaparva 200. 69-71, Atri 333, Varābapurāṇa 112 4051 attach special importance to the gift of a cow when she is just on the point of giving birth to a calf (and therefore styled ‘ubha yatomukhl) and the donor is said to stay in heaven as many years as the hair on the body of the cow and her calf. Apararka (pp. 299-301 ) quotes & long prose extract from Cyavana on the procedure of this gift. When the head of the calf has appeared, the donor should say to the worthy donee accept this cow for conferring a favour on me and not because you desire this gift’ and repeat Rg. IV.19. 6. Then taking hold of the cow with the formula ‘ka idam kasmā adāt’ (Atharveveda III. 29. 7, Asv. Sr. 5. 13, Ap. Śr. 14. 11. 2 ), the donor takes down the call and recites in & loud voice Rg. IV. 27.1 (‘garbhe nu’). Then after kindling fire the donor repeats mantras addressed to the gods, pitṛs, rivers, mountains, plants, seas, serpents, herbs respectively viz. Rg. I 139. 11, X. 16. 12, X. 75. 5, IX, 75, 4, III. 8. 11, VII. 49. 1, VI. 75. 14, I. 90. 6. Then the donor should propi. tiate the Earth with mantras ( addressed to the Earth ) viz. Rg. I. 112. 1, I. 22. 13, I. 185.7, I. 164. 41; the donor should offer 84 oblations of clarified butter, feed brāhmaṇas and receive

  1. यावद्वत्सस्य पादो शिरचैव प्रदुश्यते । तस्मिन्काले प्रदातम्या प्रयतेनान्तरा. स्मना । अन्तरिक्षगतो वरसो यावयोग्यो प्रदश्यते । तावदोः पृथिवी ज्ञेया यावदर्भ म मुशाति॥ पावन्ति तस्या रोमाणि परसस्य च युधिष्ठिर। सावयुगसहस्राणि स्वर्गलोके महीयते॥ वनपर्व 200. 69-71. 41. I. 207 and greatro 112. 28 are almost the same as rara 200. 70.

880

(Ch. XXV

their benediotions in the terms of Rg. V. 51.11 ‘svasti no’). The gift of such a cow with the paraphernalia of gold or silver, fields, corn, clothes, salt and the like, søndal-wood, releases a man from the sins of eating or drinking forbidden food, brahmaṇa murder, incest &c.

In imitation of the gift of the cow gifts of certain articles were made and they are also described as dhenus. The Matsyapurāṇa ( chap. 82. 17-22 ) speaks of ten dhenus viz. of guda (jaggery), gbrta ( ghee ), tils (sesame ), jala ( water ), kṣira ( milk), madhu (honey ), sarkarā ( sugar), dadhi (curds ), rasa (other liquids) and godhenu ( cow itself ). It gives (chap. 82) a detailed des cription of gudadhenu and adds that the liquid dhenus should be kept in jars and others should be in heaps, that the same procedure applies to all, and that some add suvarpadhenu, navanita-dhenu (cow of butter) and ratnadhenu (cow of jewels). The Agnipurāṇa ( 210. 11-12 ) enumerates the same ten dhenus. In the Anusasana-parva 71. 39-41 the three dhenus of ghrta, tila and jala are mentioned. The Varāhapurāṇa (chap. 99-110) describes in detail twelve dhenus, viz. all mentioned in the Matsya (except ghṛta and godhenu) and nevenita, lavaṇa (salt), kārpāsa ( cotton ) and dhānya ( corn). The procedure of all is more or less the same, Black antelope skin four cubits in length is to be spread on the ground that has been cowdunged and has darbhas strewn on it with the neck portion to the east (this represents the cow ) and a smaller skin is also spread (to represent the calf). If it is guda-dhenu it is made of % or 4 bharas 1088 and the calf is made with one fourth of that for the

cow. Various articles such as conch shells, sugarcane pieces, pearls, ohowries, coral &o. are placed on the skin, to represent the various limbs of the cow, which is worshipped with dhūpa (incense ) and lamps and invoked with paurānika mantras. Then the articles are donated to a brāhmaṇa. Hemādri (Dana, p. 401 ) notes that according to the Padmapurāṇa a single jar of liquids and one dropa of solids constitute these dhenus, while

  1. Pp. 304-5 quotes TT 82. 17–22 and the following vor804. Vido A pararka p. 303 and Agniporkna 210. 17-18 from which the following table may be sot out: five Turys=000 ANY, 16 ATTS mono gurup, 4 grote ono Pos, 100 T8 , 20 TOTS=*T. Vido Manu VIII. 134-136, YIj.I. 363-364 (which say that four or five suvarpus are oqual to oro).

Ch. XXV

Dāna-Dhenudāna

881

the Danaviveka establishes that Kumbha 2058 is equal to 1000 palas and others hold that kumbha contains 512 palas. These several dhenus may be donated on eclipses, on the full moon days of Kartika and Māgha, on Yugādi days or when the 7th tithi of a month falls on a Sunday and that the donor should subsist for three days on the substance to be donated. Aparārks pp. 303-313, Hemādri ( Dāna. ) pp. 397-466, Danamayūkha pp, 172-184 dilate upon these dhenus, but all those details are passed over here for want of space.

It appears that on account of the high merit agaociated with the gift of cows, donors sometimes passed old and weak oows on to donees. The Kathopaniṣad I. 1. 3 appears to contain a condemnation of such practices.4054 " He who makes gifts of oows that simply drink water and eat grabs, but yield no milk and do not possess strength ( to conceive and produce calves ) reaches those worlds called ‘anandaḥ ‘(without delights).” The Mahabharata (Anusigana 77.5-6) echoes the very words of the Kathopaniṣad. In the Apuśasana-parva 66.53 2058 it is said that one should not bestow on a brahmana a cow which is lean or is without her calf, which is barren and diseased, which is wanting in a limb or is exhausted. Hemādri (Dāna, pp. 448-449) quotes this and other passages of similar import that state that

  1. प्रस्थ, आवक, बोण and खारी are ancient measures of corn. Even Papini mentions some of these. Vido Paṇ. V. 1. 33 and V. 4. 110 (for khārī), v. 1. 53 (for adhaka). The Ap. Dh. 8. II. 8. 20.1 montions droṇa. There was no unanimity as to their exact extent. Apararka (p. 806 ), Hem&dri (Vratakhanda ) part I (p. 57), Par, M. II. part 1, p. 141 quote verses ( the latter two day from Bhaviṣyapuruga ) which give the following table: 2 9998 * suma, 2 gelas = qer, 45698 PUT, 4 TFV8 STEFT, 4 BITS = , 16 atuts - art. Paradara VI. 70 says that prasthas are equal to adhaka and 32 prasthas are equal to a drona and the Par. M. remarks देशभेदेन शानदयस्य व्यवस्थापनीयत्वाद. vide मिता. on T. III. 265 and 274, Aroraft of Heerd (verses 7-8). Acoording to Apararka (p. 846 ) a kumbha is equal to 2 drogas. The Prayasoitta tattva (p. 514 ) quotes the Kalpataru to the effect that 10 droṇa, are oqual to a khari and 20 drogas to a kumbha.

  2. drar ut tugor meget for at TATATER moufaa TCH Toge 1. 1. 3; ftarant sruoti termici APETTI ITU गोपसपना जीर्णा पापीमिवाजलाम् । दरखा तमः प्रविशति द्विज केशेन योजयेत् ॥ भवशासन 77. 8-6.

2065 ना नापपल्सो पापलया रोगान्धिता तथा नया न परिश्रान्तो वादा Tony W FTV 66. 58.

A. D. 111

882

the man who makes a gift of such a useless cow enters into the darkness of hell.

The Matsyapurāṇa (chap. 83. 92 ) speaks of ten kinds of dānas called parvatadūnas or merudānas, viz. of dbānya (corn ), lavana ( salt), guda ( jaggery), hems (gold), tila (sesame ), kārpāss ( cotton), ghrta ( ghee ), ratna ( precious stones ), rajata (silver ), sarkarā ( sugar). The Agnipurāṇa (210. 6-10) enume rates these ten. Aparārka (pp. 344-354) quotes all the chapters of the Matsya. Hemādri (Dāna, pp. 346-396 ) not only dilates upon these ten dānas, but speaks of 12 of such dānas from Śaiva works like the Kālottara. These danas were called parvata, falla or acala because the substances were heaped up like hills. The procedure in all of them is the same. A square platform inclined towards the north-east or east was to be prepared, smesred with cowdung and strewn with kuśa grass. In the midst of it a heap was to be made to represent a mountain with smaller heaps to represent hills at the foot of the mountain. In the case of the mountain of dhānya, it is to be made with 1000 or 500 or 300 drona measures of corn. Three trees of gold are to be planted on the middle of it and in the four directions lotus like plants of pearls, gomeda and priṣparāga, emeralds and sapphires, lapis lazuli respectively. Many more picturesque features such as gold and silver images of 81 gods are described in the Matsya. A guru snd four priests are to be chosen for home and 13 āhutis are to be offered to each of the gods. In the gift of salt, from 1 to 16 dronas thereof are to be employed, in the gift of jaggery from 3 to 10 bhāras, in that of gold from 1 to 1000 palas, in that of sesame from 3 to 10 dronas, of kārpāsa from 5 to 20 bhāras, of ghee from two kumbhas to 20, of ratnas from 200 pearls to 1000, with attendant hills of precious stones

of the pearls, of cotton from 20 palas to 10 thousand, of sugar from half a bhāra to 8 bhāras.

The smśtis, purāṇas and digests speak of the gifts of many animals such as of elephants, horses, buffaloes, of articles like clothes, deer-skins, umbrellas, shoes, which are all passed over here. But two or three of these many dānas deserve notice. Aparārka (pp. 375-376 ) extracts a long passage from the Bhaviṣyottara about construoting in the month of Caitre a maṇḍapa for the distribution of water to travellers in the midst of a city or in a waterless desert or near a temple. A brāhmana was to be engaged for wages to distribute water and this was to be continued for four months or at least three fortnights,

Oh. XXVI

Dana-gifts of books

883

Another important gift is that of manuscripts of the epios, dharmaśāstras and purāṇas, Aparārka (pp. 389-403) and Hemādri ( Dāna, pp. 526-540 ) quote from the Bhavisyottara, 2058 Matsya and other purāṇas long extracts about the merit secured by making such gifts, the Matsya in particular also stating the number of verses in each of the 18 purāṇas. The Agnipurāṇa also in speaking of the gifts of Mss. of purāṇas states the number of verses in each (chap. 272). The Bhavisy8. purāṇa states that books may be placed in a matha for the use of all people and that he who arranges for the reading of books in the temples of Śiva, Viṣṇu or the Sun reaps the merit of the gifts of cows, land and gold. E. I. vol. 18 p. 340 records a gift to & temple in which provision is made for the reading of the Mahābhārata from a part of the income (in Kerala in the 11th century A. D.), The Agnipurāṇa 211. 61 eulogises also the gifts of the works called Siddhāntas.

In medieval and modern times gifts were and are made with a view to propitiate the planets. And this sentiment can be traced back to the days of the sūtras. Gaut. 2057 XI. 15 advises the king to perform the rites that experts in astrology and in portentous signs might indicate (as necessary) for averting evil consequences and states (XI. 16 ) that according to some ācāryas the welfare of the king depends upon the performance of such rites. The Aśv. gs. (III. 12, 16) states that the purohita should direct the king to fight from the direc tion or side on which the sun is or (if fighting at night) from the side on which Venus shines (and not from a side opposite to them). Yāj. (I. 295–308) deals with Grahaśānti (propitiation of planets ). He states that he who desires prosperity, or the averting of calamities, or good rains, long life and health and also wants to harm his enemies by magic rites should perform & sacrifice; that the nine planets are the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rāhu and Ketu; that images

  1. THAT HET geen manata 11 FIAT Puntatt forgaqua मठे। …… शिवालये विष्णुगृहे सूर्यस्य भवने तथा । यः कारयति धर्मात्मा सदा पुस्तकवाच. नम् ॥गोभूहिरण्यवासासि शयनान्यासनानि च । प्रत्यहं तेन दत्तानि भवन्ति पुरुषर्षभ wrontare quoted by strek pp. 389 and 391.

  2. Podatecrafamam garanta rautaara at Para a XI. 15-16; wrapura TEFUTT spera i 3977. y. III. 12. 16. Vide . I. 295 - Fugttu 93. 2 and 91. I. 302, 803 = A** 93. 27-28.

884

(Ch. XXV

of the planets are to be made respectively of copper, crystal, red sandal-wood, gold (for both Mercury and Jupiter), silver, iron, load and bell-metal or they may be drawn on a piece of cloth in these colours or may be painted in circles on the ground with colours; that flowers and clothes may be offered to them of the respective colours described above; fragrant sub stances, incense of guggulu should be offered to them and oblations of cooked food may be made to them in fire with the following mantras respectively, viz. Rg. I. 35, %, Vāj. 8. 9. 40, Rg. VIII. 44. 16, Vāj. S. 15. 54, Rg. II. 23. 15, Vaj. 8. 19. 75, Rg. X. 9.4, Vāj. 8. 13. 20, Rg. I. 6.3. The fuel-sticks to be offered to the nine planets should respectively be of the following trees and plants: of arka plant, palāśa, khadira, apāmārga, pippala, undumbara, sami, dūrva and kusa grass. 108 or 28 samidhs of each of these should be tbrown into the fire, they being anointed with honey, clarified butter, curds and milk. The foods on which the brāhmaṇas are to be regaled at dinner in the grahayajña are respectively rice mixed with jaggery, rice cooked in milk, haviṣya food (i, e. the food on which the ascetics live), corn that ripens in sixty days cooked in milk, curds, and rice, rice with clarified butter, rice mixed with crushed sesame, flesh (with rice), rice of various colours. The fee ( dakṣiṇa) to be paid should respectively be a milch cow, conch, & draught ox, gold, clothes, horse (white), dark cow, iron weapon, a goat. The rise and fall of kings depend upon the ( aspects of) planets and the existence and destruction of the world depend upon planets; therefore the planets should be honoured the most ‘Says Yaj. I. 308.

The Matsya-purāṇa 8068 in chap. 93 contains a detailed procedure of grahasānti and chapter 94. (1-9) desoribes how the images of the nine planets are to be represented. Vide Vaik. IV, 13 and also Baud. gr. seṣa-sutra I. 16 for a similar treatment. In modern times the danas ( artioles donated) to propitiate the nine planets are those stated in the

  1. Tho mantras of the nine planets slightly differ in the Mateya-purana ( 93. 35-37) from those of Yøj. I. 300-301. Mataya 93. 89-63 names the same dakpinas 28 Yaj. and a pararka p. 675 quotes those versos. All the nine verses of Mataya 94 are quoted by the Mit. on Yoj. I. 297-98. Yxj. probably moant to rely only on the Vaj. S., but Hi Bomo of the mantras oooor in the Rg., roforences to the latter haro been given.

Ch. XXV)

bāna

885

Dharmasindhu 8058 quoted below. The 8. R. M. (pp. 123-164) contains & long-drawn procedure of Grahamakha, & rite to propitiate the planets. A Grabamakha is either nitya (on Viṣuva day, ayana day, birth nakṣatra), naimittika (to be performed on suoh oocasions as upanayana) and kāmya (for removal of adversity &o.)

Aparārka (pp. 365-366 on Yāj. I, 209) quotes a long passage from the Nandipurāṇa about the founding of hospitals (ārogya. śālā ) where medicines were supplied free to patients. Since the four puruṣārthas (goals of life ) viz. dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa, depend upon health, he who provides for securing this may be said to have made gifts of everything. The passage further states that a competent physician should be appointed. Hemidri (dana, pp. 893-95) quotes the same passage and another from the Skandapurāṇa to the same effect.

The smrtis prescribe that when & man docepts as a gift what he should not accept, he incurs sin from which he becomes free by giving up the thing, by reciting certain vedio mantras, (like the Gāyatri) and by tapas ( prāyasoitta ). Vide Manu XI. 193 ( = Viṣṇu Dh. 8. 54. 28). This sin is said to be due to *agat-pratigraba’ which may arise either from the caste or actions of the donor (e. g. the donor may be a cāṇdala or patita ) or from the time or place ( e. 8. taking a gift in Kuruksetra or in an eclipse ) or from the object given (such as a gift of wine or of an ewe, of the bed-stead of a deceased person or of the cow called ‘ubhayatomukhi’). Yāj. III. 289 and Manu XI. 194 (=Viṣṇu Dh. S. 54.24) presoribe for asat-pratigraha the penance of staying in a cow-stable for one month subsisting on milk alone, observing complete celibacy, repeating the Gāyatri mantra 3000 times every day. The donor, in the above cases, may incur no sin, but the donee does. The Dānakriyakaumudi (pp. 84-85 ) quotes passages from several purāṇas condemning the acceptance of gifts on the Ganges and other sacred rivers and places, and the gifts of elephants, horses, chariots, the beds

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  1. urige grana i Anurutuet VHOTTAKT कमलानि के भीत्यर्थ दानानि । पंशपावस्थतण्डुलकर्पूरमौक्तिकश्वेतपनपतपूर्णकुम्भवृषभा. भन्दस्य । प्रवालगोधूममरिकारतवषयसुवर्णरक्तवत्रताम्राणि भौमस्य । नीलवनसवर्ण कास्यसगावत्मवासीहस्तिदन्तपुष्पाणि सुधस्प । पुष्परागमणिहरिवाशर्कराश्वपीतधान्यपीत TOTO Tutifa tutti i

P ATTUTTO rapuja EMT: Qay! यिनीलमापतेलतिलकुलित्थमहिषीलोहकृष्णधेनवः शनेः। गोमेदापनीलबमकम्पलतैलतिल सोहानिराहोदर्यतलतिलकम्बलकस्तूरीछागपत्राणि केवोदनानि । शनिपीगपरिहारार्थ met daarop IFA II. part 2 p. 135.

886

ī Ch. XXV

and seats used by the dead, black deer-skin, the cow called ubhayatomukhi. The Danacandrika8060 quotes the Padmapurana to the effect that a brāhmana who is in great difficulty to main tain himself may accept a gift on the banks of the Ganges and other sacred rivers, but should himself make a gift of the 10th part of it and then he would incur no sin.

We have already seen (pp. 838-39 ) how even in the Rgveda Various rewards are promised to those who make gifts of cows, horses, gold or clothes. The Tai. S. I. 8. 4. 1 makes it a matter of give and take between gods and man ( dhebi me dadāmi te ni me dehi ni te dadhe). The same sentiments and notions continued down to the latest ages and are re-inforced by further and very detailed promises of rewards for several kinds of gifts. Vas. Dh. 8. 29. 2-27, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 91-92, Samyarta verses 46-93 may be read in this connection.

A gift once completed by acceptance is irrevocable. Yāj. II. 176 prescribes what is promised should be given and what bas been donated should not be taken back. Nārada 2081 ( Dattā pradānika, verse 8) declares that the price of goods ( delivered ), wages, what is paid for pleasure ( derived from dancers &c.), & gift made through affection, a gift made through gratitude ( for favours received ), money paid for a bride ( to her kinsmen ) and gifts for religious and spiritual purposes - these are given irrevocably. But a gift though promised was not complete and irrevocable in all cases. Gaut. V. 21 declares that a gift, though promised, need not be completed if the donee to whom it is promised is a person guilty of irreligious or improper conduct (such as visiting prostitutes ). Manu VIII. 212 is similar in import. Kātyāyana states2068 that if a man of his own free will promises a gift to a brāhmana, but does not carry out that promise, he becomes a debtor ( to that brāhmaṇs) in this world and the next. This means that a gift promised to a brāhmaṇa, though not completed by acceptance and delivery,

faat mas

2060, 90BHTATETATE u traista: ESTISTAR pure in rivauna Thaimaat p. 10 (Gaikwad Oriental Series of tr.).

  1. qui TEDETT arenemeyrfita: 1 mlyguETÜ 219 घिदो विदुः ॥ नारद (दत्तापदानिक 8); भूत्या तुष्टया पण्यमूल्यं श्रीशुल्कमुपकारिणे। PTGTETTEU DIETT TAETTU FETE: 11 TEFTTa quoted in Frage (69€. P. 193 ). मातापित्रोहरो मित्रे विनीते चोपकारिणि । दीनानाथविशिष्टेग्यो दत्तं तु सफलं भवेत् ॥ नारद quoted in Faq (179. p. 193 ), which explains Freie Friesruldahgui

  2. H acTHAT TT orail. V. 21 ; et : Para माह्मणाय प्रतिग्रहम् । न वयाणवबाप्पा प्राप्नुयापूसाहसम्॥कात्यायन quoted by

IT p. 783 and Fire (19. p. 142).

serta mengurangi at the

plains heart

Oh. XXV)

Dāna-invalid gifts

887

oould not be revoked and could be enforced in a court as a debt and the promisor fined for breach.

Gautama states (V. 22 ) that the promises made by those who were carried away by rage or extreme joy or who were under a sense of dread or were ill or distressed or covetous or made by a minor (under 16 ) or an extremely old man or by one who is a fool (or under delusion) or was intoxicated or made by & lunatic may be revoked by them and in doing so they incur no sin or blame. Nārada 2083 (Dattāpradānika, verses 9-10) amplifies this by stating 16 kinds of invalid gifts, viz. all those in Gautama (except those due to joy and covetousness ) and also what is promised as a bribe, promises in jest, giving to a person mistaking him for another, gift induced by fraud or made by one who is not his own master, gift made to a man with the idea of getting something in return ( but who does not do so ), gift to a person who is unworthy, though he proclaimed himself to be worthy, and a gift for a purpose which is sinful. Kātyāyana ( quoted by Aparārka p. 781 ) is just like Nārada and adds that if a man is in danger of life and promises the gift of all his wealth to whosoever may save him, he may resilo from the promise. Aparārka p. 782 quotes verses from Bșhas pati similar to Nārada’s. Manu VIII. 165 declares that & sale, mortgage or gift brought about by fraud, or every transaction in which a trick is played, may be set aside (by the king ). Though a gift made by one who is ill or distressed (ārta ) is declared by Gautama to be revocable, Kātyāyana 2004 states an exception viz. that when a man whether in sound health or suffering from a disease declares a gift for religious purposes and dies without completing it, then his son (or other heir) should be inade to carry out that gift. This verge contains the germ of the idea of wills, since the mere deolaration of the intention of a man to make a gift for religious purposes is here

  1. narguar FUTTTHTHEF#77749ragarr ia im. V. 22. अवत्तं तु भयक्रोधशोकधेगसमन्वितैः । तथोत्कोचपरीक्षासव्यत्यासच्छलयोगतः पालमूढास्वतन्त्रातमत्तोन्मत्तापवर्जितः । कर्ता ममायं कर्मेति प्रतिलाभेच्छया च यत् । अपात्रे पात्रमित्युक्ते कार्य वा धर्मसंज्ञिते । यहत्तं स्यादविज्ञानावदत्तमिति तत्स्मृतम् ॥ नारद.

  2. Fara aratat on ei STITH ACUTTET I samara TC4FEET #r9 79; # Freyra quoted in 97Trm p782, fracao ( 4. p. 184). Vide Bhupati Nath v. Ram Lal 37 Cal. 128 (F. B.) at p. 136 where this passage of Kit, is quoted along with the Mit. and a passage from the Mab#nirvana Tantra,

passage of Kat Ham Lal 37 cm P: 782,888

I oh. XXV

made enforceable after his death. Aparārka p. 782 conveys that the word ‘son’ is only illustrative and that every heir taking the estate is liable to make good the promise of the deceased.

In modern times & gift or bequest for dharma without any qualifying expression is held to be too vague an indication of the donor’s or testator’s intention to constitute a valid gift to charity and is declared to be void for uncertainty. Vide 6 Bom. 24, 14 Bom. 482,17 Bom. 351,23 Bom. 725,735 (P. C.). But this is opposed, as pointed out in 30 Mad. 340 at pp. 342-346, to the spirit of the ancient Hindu law. The word ‘dharma’ when used in relation to gifts had a well-recognized meaning and not a vague uncertain one. It means ‘iqta’ and ‘pūrta’ gifts according to Manu IV. 227. It appears that in 23 Bom. 725 their Lordships of the Privy Counoil rested content with the meaning of the word given in Wilson’s Dictionary, did not examine any original Sanskrit texts to find out the meaning of the word dharma used in connection with gifts and applied the principles laid down in such English cases as Morice v, The Bishop of Durham (9 Ves. 399 and 10 Ves. 522). But there is no reason why the charitable intention being quite clear the court as representing the king should not have by framing a scheme applied the property donated or bequeathed to one charitable purpose out of the several objects specified in the definition of pūrta on principles analogous to the dootrine of cy-près. 2065

  1. Vid. Lewin’s Law of Trusts’ (14th od. of 1939) PP. 472-474 whoro sovorul cases are cited out of which In ra Pyno (1903) Ch. 83 would support the argument advanced abovo.