Chapter 80

“Vasishtha said, ‘Kine are yielders of ghee and milk. They are thesources of ghee and they have sprung from ghee. They are rivers of ghee,and eddies of ghee. Let kine ever be in my house! Ghee is always myheart. Ghee is even established in my navel. Ghee is in every limb ofmine. Ghee resides in my mind. Kine are always at my front. Kine arealways at my rear. Kine are on every side of my person. I live in themidst of kine!–Having purified oneself by touching water, one should,morning and evening, recite these Mantras every day. By this, one is sureto be cleansed of all the sins one may commit in course of the day. Theywho make gifts of a thousand kine, departing from this world, proceed tothe regions of the Gandharvas and the Apsaras where there are manypalatial mansions made of gold and where the celestial Ganga, called thecurrent of Vasu, runs. Givers of a thousand kine repair thither where runmany rivers having milk for their water, cheese for their mire, and curdsfor their floating moss. That man who makes gifts of hundreds ofthousands of kine agreeably to the ritual laid down in the scriptures,attains to high prosperity (here) and great honours in Heaven. Such a mancauses both his paternal and maternal ancestors to the tenth degree toattain to regions of great felicity, and sanctifies his whole race. Kineare sacred. They are the foremost of all things in the world. They areverily the refuge of the universe. They are the mothers of the verydeities. They are verily incomparable. They should be dedicated insacrifices. When making journeys, one should proceed by their right(i.e., keeping them to one’s left). Ascertaining the proper time, theyshould be given away unto eligible persons. By giving away a Kapila cowhaving large horns, accompanied by a calf and a vessel of white brass formilking her, and covered with a piece of cloth, one succeeds in entering,freed from fear, the palace of Yama that is so difficult to enter. Oneshould always recite this sacred Mantra, viz.,–Kine are of beautifulform. Kine are of diverse forms. They are of universal form. They are themothers of the universe. O, let kine approach me!–There is no gift moresacred than the gift of kine. There is no gift that produces more blessedmerit. There has been nothing equal to the cow, nor will there beanything that will equal her. With her skin, her hair, her horns, thehair of her tail, her milk, and her fat,–with all these together,–thecow upholds sacrifice. What thing is there that is more useful than thecow? Bending my head unto her with reverence, I adore the cow who is themother of both the Past and the Future, and by whom the entire universeof mobile and immobile creatures is covered. O best of men, I have thusrecited to thee only a portion of the high merits of kine. There is nogift in this world that is superior to the gift of trine. There is alsono refuge in this world that is higher than kine.’

“Bhishma continued, ‘That high-souled giver of land (viz., king Saudasa),thinking these words of the Rishi Vasishtha to be foremost in point ofimportance, then made gifts of a very large number of kine unto theBrahmanas, restraining his senses the while, and as the consequence ofthose gifts, the monarch succeeded in attaining to many regions offelicity in the next world.'”[378]