Chapter XXV. Dāna (Gifts)

Volume II: Part II pp. 837–888

Chapter XXV. Dāna (Gifts)

dāna (Gifts)

Manu (I. 86) and others state that in the four yugas (ages) viz. Kṛta, Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali, the principal aspects of religious life were respectively tapas, metaphysical knowledge, sacrifices,¹ and giftṣ Manu (III. 78) eulogises the stage of householder as the most worthy because all men in the other āśramas are cherished and fed with ( Vedic ) knowledge (as a teacher of Vedic students) and with food by hiṃ Yama specifies the characteristic features of the four āśramas 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 brahmacārinṣ’ Vide Dakṣa 1. 12-13 also for the peculiar outward characteristics of the four āśramaṣ Therefore the subject of dāna (gifts or charity) will now engage our attentioṇ

Gifts of various kinds and donors have been highly eulogised in the Ṛgveda. There are dānastütis (eulogies of gifts) in Ṛg. I. 125 (where the gifts made by king Svanaya son of Bhāvayvya to Kakṣivat are praised and dāna in general is eulogised in verses 5-7), I. 126. 1-5 (where the same praise is continued), V. 61 (where Syāvāśva praises the donors Taranta, Purumīļha and Rathavīti), VI. 47. 22-25 (praise of the donor Prastoka Sārñjaya), VII. 18. 22-25 (praise of the gifts made by Sudās Paijavana), VIII. 5. 37-39 (praise of Kaśu Caidya), VIII. 6. 46-48 (praise of Tirindira Pārāśavya), VIII. 46. 21-24 (praise of Kāṇīta ), VIII. 68. 14-19, X. 62. 8-11 (praise of Sāvarṇi). Among the objects gifted the most prominent are cowṣ In Ṛg. I. 126. 3 Kakṣivat represents² that he received sixty thousand cows from Svanaya, along with ten chariots to each of which four bay horses were stoked and in which young girls were seateḍ In Rg. VIII. 5. 37 reference is made³ to the gifts of ten thousand cows and of 100 camels by Kaśu Caidya. In Rg. V. 30. 12 a gift of 4000 cows to Babhru by the men of king Rpañcaya is mentioneḍ 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, VIII. 18. 22, VIII. 19. 36, VIII. 68. 17. The word ‘vadhū’ 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 50.⁴ So they were maid servants or female slaveṣ Rg. X. 117 contains an eulogy of the gift of food, the 6th verse of which is the basis of the later teaching of Manu III. 118, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 67. 43. Bhagavad-gītā 3. 13 and is as follows : 'the foolish man⁵ (who does not share with others) obtains food to no purpose; I say 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 siṇ' This injunction was most assiduously followed at all times in India. In the Chāṇ Up. IV. 1-2 it is stated that Jānaśruti Pautrāyaṇa, a man of faith and very charitable, had erected everywhere shelters in order to feed at all times all people that came from all quarterṣ 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. Verses 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 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 receiveḍ⁶

It appears that although in the Rg. gifts of horses are spoken of as next in importance to gifts of cows, popular sentiment changed very early. In the Pauṇḍarika sacrifice the fee was a thousand horses and in the Jyotiṣṭoma one cow and one horse (Śābara on Jaimini III. 4. 28). The Tai. S. II. 3. 12. 1 says ⁷ ‘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 accepteḍ’ Jaimini (III. 4. 28-31) establishes two propositions in connection with this that the iṣṭi to Varuṇa is to be performed when the gift of a horse or horses is accepted in a Vedic sacrifice and that the iṣṭi is to be performed by the donor (and not by the acceptor). The Kāṭhaka Saṃ 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, a cow, a horse, a human being, a bedstead and several other objects and their presiding deities are said to be Agni, Soma, Indra, Varuṇa, Prajāpati &c. 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 a mess cooked on twelve potsherds to Vaiśva- nara.’ Manu X. 89 forbids the sale of the horse and other animals with uncloven hoofs; but the Pehoa 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 a 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 penance for sinṣ The Śāṇ Br. (25. 14) says⁸ that he who after promising to gift all, does not give all, is reduced to falling into a deep pit or is killeḍ The Ait. Br. (30. 9) enjoins⁹ 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 Śat. 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 godṣ These two kinds of gods when gratified place him (the sacrificer) in nectar (or in the celestial world).’¹⁰ The Tai. S. VI. 1. 6. 3 states that ‘it is indeed tapas when¹¹ a man makes a gift of what he ownṣ’ We saw above (note 11) how the Br. Up. V. 2. 3 inculcates the three virtues of self-restraint, charity ( dāna ) and compassioṇ In the Ait. Br. 39. 6 ¹² it is stated that the king when anointed should make gifts of gold, fields and cattle. But it appears from the story of Viśvakarmān Bhauvana narrated in the Ait. Br. (39. 7) and also in the Śat. Br. (XIII. 7. 1. 13–15 ) that when he desired to make a gift of the earth to his priest Kāśyapa as sacrificial fee the earth appeared and sang a verse ‘no mortal must give me away as a gift; O Viśvakarmān Bhauvana, you desired to give me away; I shall plunge into the midst of water, so that this your promise to Kāśyapa is fruitlesṣ’ It seems however that gifts of villages had come to be made very early. The Chāṇ Up. IV. 2. 4-5 narrates how Jānaśruti desirous of learning the saṁvarga lore from Raikva 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 Raikvaparṇa villages in the country of Mahāvṛṣa, where Raikva liveḍ

The literature on dāna is of enormous extent. Apart from casual references in the other parvans of the Mahābhārata, the major portion of the Anuśāsana parva is devoted to the various aspects of dāna. The Purāṇas, particularly Agni (chap. 208-215 & 217), Matsya (chap. 82-91 and 274-239) and Varāha (chap. 99-111), contain numerous verses on dāna. There are digests specially devoted to the topic of dāna, the most extensive and important being Hemādri's Dānakhaṇḍa (of the Caturvargacintāmaṇi), Dānakriyākaumudī of Govindānanda, the Dānamayūkha of Nīlakaṇṭha, the Dānavākyāvalī of Vidyāpati, the Dānasāgara of Ballālasena and the Dānaprakāśa of Mitramiśra. Only a brief summary of the topics dealt with in all these is attempted below.

What constitutes gift (dāna) according to the śāstra has been discussed from very ancient timeṣ There is a distinction between yāga, homa and dāna. The first is constituted by abandoning something that belongs to one, intending it for a deity and accompanying it with Vedic mantras; homa is throwing 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 a thing and creating the ownership of another over that thing and this last occurs when the other accepts the thing, which acceptance may be mental or vocal or physical; vide Śabara on Jaimini IV. 2. 28 (quoted above in note 1703), VII. 1. 5, IX. 4. 32 and the Mit. on Yāj. II. 27.¹³ 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 a smṛti which illustrates this 'one should give (and the donee may accept) a deer skin (by touching it) on the hairy side, a cow by its tail, an elephant by 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 Dānakriyākaumudī p. 7 gives more examples of the method of acceptance. Vide Bṛhat-Parāśara (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 giveṇ The word 'pratigraha' has a technical meaning in Dharmaśāstra. Medhātithi on Manu IV. 5 says ¹⁴ '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 (adṛṣṭa or punya) and when in making the gift a vedic mantra is repeateḍ When one gives alms, no mantra (such as 'devasya tvā') is repeated and hence that is not the dāna spoken of by śāstra, 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 dāna is employed there in a figurative sense 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 dāna (of the śāstric kind) ¹⁵ as 'that is described as dāna when wealth is given according to śāstric rites so as to reach a receiver who is a fit recipient as defined in the śāstra. 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 dharmadāna'. The Dāna- mayūkha p. 3 explains that the definition of dāna given by Devala applies to the best kind of dāna (called sāttvika) and not to dāna in general. If a 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 dāna and the donor cannot reap the reward of dāna in such a case.

There are six aṅgas (constituent elements) of dāna, as stated by Devala, ¹⁶ viz. the donor, the donee, śrāddha (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 subject of dāna is iṣṭāpūrta. That word has a high antiquity. It occurs in the Ṛgveda and the sense seems to be ‘the cumulative spiritual result or merit due to a man’s performance of sacri- fices and charitable acts’. Ṛg. X. 14. 8 is addressed to one recently ¹⁷ dead ‘may you join the pitṛs, may you be united with Yama, and with your iṣṭāpūrta in the highest heaven’. The word, though employed in the singular (probably as a samāhāra-dvandva compound), consists of two parts, iṣṭa (what is sacrificed) and pūrta (what is filled). In the Atharvaveda also the word occurṣ ‘may the iṣṭāpūrta 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 compoundeḍ The Tai. S. V. 7. 7. 1–3 has the interesting observation ¹⁸ ‘when he comes by the Devayāna paths, then make ye his iṣṭāpūrta 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 uṣ’ The Tai. Br. II. 5. 5 says ¹⁹ ‘may Iṣṭa and pūrta last for endless years; having sacrificed with an offering that is ever-lasting, a man ascended to the highest and ever-lasting world¹ and Tai. Br. III. 9. 14 remarks “the brāhmaṇa should sing ‘you made gifts, you performed sacrifices, you cooked food (for serving to others).¹’ Indeed iṣṭāpūrta belongs to a brāhmaṇa; he makes him (the king) prosper by iṣṭāpūrta. The Vāj. S. XV. 54 says ‘O fire, may you be awake (or kindled), may you be watchful for us; join with iṣṭāpūrta (the sacrificer) and him with his iṣṭāpūrta.’ The Kaṭhopaniṣad I. 1. 8 states that when a brāhmaṇa guest is allowed to stay in a house without being served with food he destroys the iṣṭāpūrta, the issue and the cattle of the householder. The Muṇḍaka Up. I. 2. 10 condemns those who regard iṣṭāpūrta 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 Heaveṇ

Aparārka (p. 290) quotes the Mahābhārata for defining iṣṭa and pūrta 1992 ‘whatever is offered in the single fire (i. e. gṛhya fire) and what is offered in the three śrauta fires and the gifts made inside the vedi (in śrauta sacrifices) are called iṣṭa; while dedication of deep wells, oblong large wells and tanks, temples, distribution of food, and maintaining public gardens—these are called pūrta.’ Aparārka quotes Nārada also ‘Honouring a guest and performance of vaiśvadeva constitute iṣṭa 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.’ Hemādri (Dāna p. 20) quotes Śaṅkha that nursing of those who are ill constitutes pūrta. Manu (IV. 226-227) ordains ‘one should always assiduously perform iṣṭa and pūrta, which when done with śrāddha and with wealth justly acquired become inexhaustible. One should ever resort to dānadharma (that mode of dharma which consists in gifts) which is either iṣṭa or pūrta, according to one's means, after meeting a worthy person (as recipient) and with a pleased attitude of minḍ'

Any one including women and śūdras could make giftṣ So much emphasis was laid on the duty to make gifts that Aparārka quotes a verse²¹ 'two persons should be drowned in water after tying round their neck a large stone, viz. a rich man not making gifts and a poor man who is not a tapasvin (who undergoes austerities or who is restrained)'. It is stated in Atri 46, Likhita 6 and other smṛtis that ²² ' Iṣṭa and pūrta are dharma common to all twice-born classes; the śūdra has 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, charitably inclined, free from vices, pure and following a blameless profession for livelihooḍ Several smṛtis note that it is a rare sight to see a man giving away in charity wealth earned by hiṃ Veda-vyāsa²³ (IV. 60) says 'amongst a hundred men, one may be found to be brave, among thousands a learned man, among hundreds of thousands an orator, but a donor may or may not be founḍ'

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. Dakṣa III. 17-18 states 'a 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 cāṭas, to cāraṇas and thieves brings no fruit (or merit) .²⁴ Manu 4. 193-200 (= Viṣṇu Dh. S. 93. 7–13) contains a list of persons to whom gifts should not be made, such as a brāhmaṇa who is like a cat or hypocrite or who does not know the veda. Bṛhad-Yama III. 34–38 enumerates those brāhmaṇas who are unfit to be invited at a śrāddha or to be donees such as lepers, those who suffer from incurable diseases, those who officiate at sacrifices for śūdras, 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 fruitlesṣ Vanaparva (200. 5–9) enumerates 16 futile gifts such as to one who left off the order of saṁnyāsa or of wealth acquired by unjust means &c. Almost the same verses occur in Bṛhat-Parāśara (VIII. pp. 241-242), which are quoted in Par. M. I, part 1, p. 188. Vide also Vṛddha- Gautama (III. chap. pp. 508-509) for numerous futile giftṣ It is one's duty to give food at the end of Vaiśvadeva to all (vide note 1779 above) and the Viṣṇudharmottara 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 qualitieṣ²⁵ 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 śrāddha, according to Devala.²⁶ 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 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—Anuśāsana parva 59. 7.²⁷ 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).²⁸ 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 a man²⁹ were to give even the whole earth acquired by unjust means, or if he makes a gift without śrāddha (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 śrāddha 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 a gift of one and another gives only water according to his ability, they all reap an equal rewarḍ

Among deya things, some are the best, some middling, some inferior. Food,³⁰ curds, honey, protection, cow, land, gold, horse and elephant—gifts of these nine are said to be the best; learning, house for shelter, domestic paraphernalia (like cots), medicine—these four are said to be middling; shoes, swings, carts, umbrellas, vessels, seats, lamps, wood, fruits and whatever is old and worn out and all other unspecified objects are inferior. Yāj. (I. 210–211) appears to have this difference in view when he says that a man, making a gift of land (capable 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 a gift of a house, corn (of various kinds ), protection from danger, shoes, umbrella, flowers, unguents, conveyance ( chariot &c. ), tree, a desired thing, a cot secures endless happinesṣ Gifts of three things are said to be superior to the gift of anything else and are styled³¹ atidāna, viz. of cows, land and Sarasvatī (vidyā) according to Vaṣ Dh. S. 29. 19 and Bṛhaspati 18. Vaṣ Dh. S. 29. 19, Manu 4. 233, Atri, 340, Yāj. I. 212 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 Anuśāsana-parva (62. 2) and the Viṣṇudharmottara (quoted by Aparārka p. 369) say that the gift of land surpasses all other giftṣ The Viṣṇu Dh. S. 92. 1 says that the gift of protection from danger (abhayadāna) is the highest. The gifts of certain objects were called mahādānaṣ These and a few other dānas will be dealt with in some detail later oṇ

Dānas are divided into nitya³² (called ājasrika by Devala), naimittika and kāmya. Whatever is given everyday (such as food after Vaiśvadeva &c.) 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 a desire). Dedication of a garden or of a well &c. is called dhruvādāna (permanent gift) by Devala; while the Kūrma-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 devotioṇ' Vaṣ Dh. S. 29. 1-15, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 92 and Manu IV. 229-232 (which are repeated in Vṛddha-Gautama, chap. XI. p. 586) and many of the purāṇas are eloquent over what rewards a man reaps by making gifts of water, food, sesame &c. The Bhagavad-gītā (17. 20-22) divides dānas into sāttvika, rājasa 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 called 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 a rule similar to that in the Bible ‘But when thou does alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret’–Matthew VI. 3-4. Yogi-Yājñavalkya says ³³ that the reward of making gifts secretly, possessing knowledge without being puffed up and engaging in japa without others seeing it is infi- nite. Devala 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 theṃ 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 giftṣ Manu IV. 247-250, Yāj. I. 214-215, Āp. 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 seat, 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 accepteḍ

Certain objects could not be donated either because one had no ownership over them or because the sages forbade such giftṣ Jaimini (VI. 7. 1-7) establishes several propositions, viz. that one can make a gift only of what one owns, that one cannot make a gift of one's relatives (parents, sons and others) in the Viśvajit, that a 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 śūdra who serves the sacrificer merely as a duty cannot be given away and that what-ever is of the full ownership of a person at the time of giving the dakṣiṇā can alone be gifted in the Viśvajit sacrifice. Nārada³⁴ (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 maṇ Dakṣa 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'). Yāj. II. 175 is of similar import. Aparārka p. 779 quotes verses of Bṛhaspati and Kātyāyana to the same effect. Vide above (pp. 507-508) as to a man's power over his childreṇ

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-Vyāsa³⁵ (IV. 30-31) inculcates the doctrine that charity begins at home. Āp. Dh. S. II. 4. 9. 10-12, Bauḍ 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 otherṣ Yāj. II. 175 prescribes that one should make gifts in such a way as not to cause detriment to one's family. Bṛhaspati³⁶ explains this by saying that one may give away 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 Anuśāsana parva (37. 2-3) declares that if one makes a gift stinting one’s servants, he makes himself a sinner, even though one may say that one would give whatever any one begs for (compare Luke VI. 30 ‘give to every man that asketh of thee’). Hemādri quotes³⁷ Śivadharma to the effect that a man should set apart three parts out of five from his acquisitions for him- self and his family and two parts for dharma, as life is evanescent.

Certain things were forbidden to be accepted as giftṣ The gift of animals with two rows of teeth was forbidden by śruti (vide Śabara on Jaimini VI. 7. 4 quoted above). Vaṣ 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 he accepts he is reduced to ashes (i. e. perishes) like wooḍ 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 dowṇ 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 made daily. Laghu-Śātātapa (145-153) says 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 Śadaśiti and while an eclipse of the sun or moon is in progress and that the rewards of the gifts made on these occasions are inexhaustible. Vanaparva 200. 125 is to the same effect. A gift made on Amāvāsyā 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 Vyatīpāta. Samvarta (208–209) says that gifts made on the ayana day, equinoctial day, vyatī- pāta, the suppression of a tithi and on the eclipses of the sun and moon, on new moon day, 12th day, saṁkrānti (sun's passage into a zodiacal sign) becomes inexhaustible and these tithis are highly commended and so also Sunday for a bath, japa, homa, dinner to brāhmaṇas, fast and giftṣ²⁰¹⁰ Śātātapa (146) states that 16 ghaṭikās before and also after the moment when the sun enters a new zodiacal sign is the holy time for gifts, while others give 30 ghaṭikās (before and after) for Karkataka (Cancer saṁkrānti), 20 for Makara (Capricorn) and 105 for Tulā (Balance) and Meṣa (Aries). Viśvarūpa on Yāj. I. 214–217 states that the times specified as the proper occasions for śrāddha are all of them the most appropriate times for making giftṣ Vide Prajāpati 25 and 28 and Atri 327 for similar ruleṣ Śaṅkha says that if amāvāsyā falls on Monday, the 7th tithi on Sunday, 4th on Tuesday, 8th on Wednesday—these four are like eclipses and so gifts made on these days yield infinite rewards (quoted by Hemādri, dānakhaṇḍa p. 66). The Viṣṇu 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 night. But there are several exceptionṣ Atri 327 states that a gift even at night is commended on the occasions of eclipses, marriages, saṁkrāntis and the birth of a chilḍ Devala ³⁸ 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 saṁkrāntis 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 citeḍ A very large number of grants on copper and stone relate to gifts of lands and villages at the time of solar eclipseṣ For example, vide Tiwarkhed plate of Rāṣṭrakūṭa Nannarāja dated śake 553 (653 ?) in E. I. vol. XI. p. 279, I. A. vol. VI, p. 73 (in śake 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 Kīrtivarman II (E. I. vol. III. p. 6), E. I. vol. III. p. 193 (of śake 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 Rāṣṭrakūṭa Mahāsāmantādhipati Karkarāja issued in śake 738, i. e. 817 A. D.), in E. I. vol. I. p. 341 (Patna Inscription of the time of Yādava Siṃghaṇa dated śake 1128 i. e. 1207 A.D.), E.I. vol. 19, p. 41, E.I. vol. 20, p.125 (in saṃvat 1108). Grants on ayana days may be seen in I. A. vol. 12, p. 193 (Haḍḍāla plates of the Cāpa Mahāsāmantādhipati Dharaṇī-varāha issued in śake 836), the Sañjan grant of Amoghavarṣa dated śake 793 (Uttarāyaṇa-Mahāparvaṇī). Grants on Saṁkrāntis are found in E. I. vol. VIII. p. 182 (Dhulia plate of Karkarāja dated śake 701), E. I. vol. XII. p. 142 (in 1087 A. D.), E. I. vol. VIII. p. 159 (in saṁvat 1207). It may be noted that not only on the sun's passage in a rāśī, but even on Jupiter's passage in a rāśī (Taurus in this case) a grant was made as seen in Lucknow Museum plate of Kīrtipāla (E. I. vol. VII, p. 93 in saṁvat 1167 i. e. 1111 A. D.). A village was granted on Viṣuvasaṃkrānti to a brāhmaṇa in honour of Buddha by Mahīpāla I, a king of Bengal (vide E. I. vol. XIV, p. 324). For grants on Akṣaya Tṛtīyā (3rd of the bright half of Vaiśākha) vide E. I. vol. 14, p. 198 (when 32 villages were granted to 500 brāhmaṇas in saṃvat 1156) and E. I. vol. VII. p. 98 (Lar plates of Govindacandra of Kanoj in saṃvat 1202). For a grant made on Mahākārtikī (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 saṃvat 292 i. e. about 540 A. D.).

The places (deśa) where gifts are to be made are also speci-fied in the smṛtis, purāṇas and digestṣ Gifts ³⁹ made in the house yield ten times as much merit (as when made elsewhere), a hundred times when made in a cowpen, a thousand times when made in sacred places (tīrthas) and an infinite number of times when made near an image (or liṅga) of Śiva. The Skanda-purāṇa ⁴⁰ quoted by Hemādri (dāna p. 83) states that Benares, Kurukṣetra, Prayāga, Puṣkara (Ajmer), the banks of the Ganges and of the ocean, Naimiṣa forest, Amara-kaṇṭaka, Śrīparvata, Mahākāla (at Ujjayinī), Gokarṇa, 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, siddhas and sages are also holy; whatever is donated in these sacred places confers infinite rewarḍ

When making a gift of anything one has to pour water on the hand of the donee. Āp. Dh. S. II. 4. 9. 9-10 ⁴¹ states that all gifts are to be made with water except in the case of vedic sacrifices where they are to be made as directed by the vedic textṣ Gautama V. 16 says the same. In the case of all gifts they are to be accompanied by a separate dakṣiṇā. The Agni-purāṇa ⁴² 211. 31 makes an exception in the case of gifts of gold, silver, copper, husked rice, corn, daily śrāddha and daily devapūjā (which may be without dakṣiṇā). 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 niṣkas or one-tenth of the price of the thing gifted or according to ability.

Hemādri (Dāna pp. 96-97) and Dānamayūkha (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-pañcarātra in the Dānakriyākaumudī (p. 5). The Agnipurāṇa (209. 40-48) has similar verseṣ This notion is derived from the Brāhmaṇas and Śrautasūtras 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 a pavitra, perform ācamana, should face the east, should wear the sacred thread in the upavīta form, be seated on a pure seat (of kuśa &c.) and seat the donee on a 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.⁴³ Necessary changes The Agnipurāṇa 209. 59-61 mentions the following purposes for which gifts are usually made ‘putrapautraidehyaparnīdharmaarthasṛīṇāṁ kīrtividhāmahākālam-saubhagyaārogyaabdhaye| sarvapāpopaśāntyarthaṁ svargārthā muktīhīsukṛtaye | Etatsumyy sambandhe mīpyatāṁ me śarīri: śiva:॥’ 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).

Yāj. I. 133 prescribes that the king should daily make gifts to brāhmaṇas learned in the Veda, of milch cows, gold, land, houses and the requisites of marriage (i. e. maidens, expenses of marriage &c.). This was nothing new that was prescribed by Yāj. It has been followed for ages by the kingṣ The Vanaparva⁴⁴ 186. 15 states that he who makes a gift of a maiden in the brāhma form or of land enjoys bliss in the world of Indra. We find from the inscriptions of Uṣavadāta⁴⁵ (pro- bably in the 1st century A. D.), son-in-law of Nahapāna, 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 Bārṇāsā, constructed quadrangles, houses and halting places (pratiśraya) at Bharukaccha (modern Broach), Daśapura (in Malwa), Govardhana (Nasik) and Śorparaga (modern Sopara), constructed wells and tanks; kept free ferry boats over the rivers Ibā, Pārādā, Damaṇā, Tāpī, Karabeṇā, Dāhanukā (all between Thana and Surat); established meeting halls and shelters for gratuitous distribution of water; conferred 32000 cocoanut trees in Naṇangola (modern Naṛgol) on the assembly of brāhmaṇas of the Caraka Śākhā at Rāmatīrtha in Śorparaga and three other placeṣ He adds that he purchased from a brāhmaṇa for 4000 karṣāpaṇas a field that originally belonged to the brāhmaṇa's father and made a grant of it for supplying food to the assembly of monks coming from all quarters that dwelt in the cave constructed by hiṃ This is certainly a 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. Dakṣa⁴⁶ III. 32-33 says ‘The merit of him, that establishes a brāhmaṇa who is without father or mother by performing his saṁskāras and by getting him married, is beyond reckoning’ A man does not secure that bliss by observance of agnihotra or the performance of Agniṣṭoma, which he secures by establi- shing a brāhmaṇa in life’. Aparārka (p. 377) quotes a long passage from the Kālikāpurāṇa about Naiveśika dāna. 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 character 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 agnihotṛinṣ 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 pleasureṣ 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 brāhmaṇaṣ For example, the Aphsad Inscription of Ādityasena (vide Gupta Inscriptions No. 42, p. 203) speaks of gifts of agrahāras on the marriages of one hundred brāhmaṇa girls to brāhmaṇaṣ A copper-plate grant of the Śilāhāra prince Gaṇḍarāditya speaks of the king having got 16 brāh- maṇas 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 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 had 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. Yaj. II. 185 declares that the king should set apart in his capital a 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' (svadharma). 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 (agnihotris) houses and lands under his own edicts from which no taxes in the present or future would be levieḍ The brāhmaṇas so settled should perform for the citizens their religious rites whether daily or to be performed on occasions or kāmya or for averting evil omens or for the sake of prosperity and should give decisions in the cases of doubtṣ They should make rules and conventions for the whole village or for corporations and guilds and for reli- gious purposeṣ 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 persoṇ'⁴⁷ These prescriptions indicate what benefit was expected of the marriages and settlement of learned brāhmaṇaṣ Kaut. II. 1 also pres- cribes 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 thiṣ 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 timeṣ Vaṣ Dh. S. 29. 16 quotes a verse which is found also in Bṛhaspati 7, Viṣṇudharmottara and Matsyapurāṇa (quoted by Aparārka pp. 369, 370), the Mahābhhārata (Anuśāsana 62. 19) and which says 'whatever⁴⁸ sin a 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 Visṇudharmottara, the Adityapurāṇa, the Matsyapurāṇa on the high rewards reaped by the gift of lanḍ The Vanaparva⁴⁹ (93. 78-79) declares 'whatever sins 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 sentiment that 'gifts of gold, cows and land save even the wicked'. As gifts of land were so highly valued, the smṛtis contain numerous rules about theṃ Yāj. (I. 318-320)²⁰²³ prescribes the following rules: ‘when a king makes a gift of land or bestows a nibandha he should execute a writing (about the gift) for the information of future good kingṣ He (the king) should issue a permanent edict bearing his signature and the date on a piece of

2023. वाचा भूमिं निबंधं वा कृत्वा लेख्यं तु कारयेत् । आगमिभद्रनृपतिरज्ञाननाशाय ॥ पटे वा ताम्रपट्टे वा स्वमुद्रोपरिचिह्नितम् । अभिलेख्य स्वहस्तकालसंयुतं शासनं कारयेत्स्थिरम् ॥ या. I. 318-320. विश्वरूप on या. I. 318-320 reads दानास्यच्छेयोपवर्णनम् and remarks 'एतद् दानफलम्, एतद्वाच्छेदूनफलम्, एतद्वाच्छेदूनफलम् । यदि वर्षं ... नरके वसेद् इत्यादि वि. वसेत् vide Appendix. Nibandha is a fixed:payment to be made every year or month or on certain occasions to a person or temple or the like, as for example of so many betel leaves or betelnuts out of each load of betel leaves or nutṣ It is translated rather inaccurately as corrody by Colebrooke and otherṣ Viśvarūpa on Yāj. II. 124 explains it as ‘a permanent endowment’ (akṣayaniḍhi); the Mit. explains ‘एकस्य भाण्डभरकस्यै-कस्य भक्तस्य एकस्य पणशरकशस्येयन्ति पर्णानि’. The Mit. explains ‘दानस्यच्छे-योपवर्णनम् differently as ‘दीयते इति दानं क्षेत्रादि तस्य च्छेदः...नवाघाटो (—घाटो ?) निर्मलं मर्यानिषुणं य संधयोपर्णनम्’ ; अपराकं p. 579 'अस्मिन् ग्रामे प्रतिवर्षे क्षेत्रस्मामि-नौलदमसले प्रत्यद्रं प्रतिमासं वा देयम्'. This passage of Yāj. is cited in The Collector of Thanu v. Hari 6 Boṃ 546 (F. B.) at pp. 557-558 and tho definition of nibandha from the Vyavahāramayūkha in Ghelabhai v. Hargovan 36 Boṃ 94 at p. 101. One of the verses of बृहस्पति is ‘अनाच्छेद्य-मनाहार्यं सर्वभावविवर्जितम् । चन्द्राकेंसमकालीनं पुत्रपौत्रान्वयागतम् ॥’ (अपरार्क p. 579). For examples of the grants of nibandhas,vide E.I. vol. XIV p. 295 at p. 309 where momerous dues on articles aro given to a temple by the Paramāra king Cāmuṇḍarāja (on one bharaka of candied sugar and jaggery one varpakā and on loads of cotton thread dyed with mañjiṣṭhā one rupee, one cocoanut on a load of cocoanuts, one Betel-nut from one thousand nuts, one palikā on each jar of ghee or oil), E. I. vol. XII at p. 331 (inscription at Yewur dated 1105 A. D. as to a gift of nibandha for the benefit of a temple of Keśava ‘on sales of areca nuts an impost of five areca nuts on each gold piece and 25 leaves on each load of betel leaves’), E. I. vol. XI p. 26 at p. 30 the grant of one hāra of barley corn for each water wheel for the worship of a Jain saint in saṁvat 1167 ), E. I. vol. XI. p. 35 (grant in saṁ. 1189 for two palikās of oil from each oil-mill payable to the shrine of a Jain saint), E.I. vol. XI. p.37. In the Mathurā Brāhmī Inscription of the 28th year of the reign of the Śaka king Devaputra Huviṣka (about tho beginning of tho 2nd century A.D.) a permanent endowment was called ‘akṣayanīvī (E. I. vol. 21 p. 55 at p. 60). So also the same word is used in the Nālandā stone Inscription of the time of Yaśovarmadeva with regard to a Buddhist temple (E. I. vol. 20 p. 37 at p. 39). Vide also E. I. vol. 15 p. and E. I. vol. 17 p. 345 at p. 348. The Gupta Inscription No. 62 (p. 261) records the gift of twelve golden dīnāras made as an akṣayanīvī (a permanent endowment) from the interest of which one bhikṣu was to be fed every day. 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 smṛtis ) that condemn the resumption of gifts¹. Viśvarūpa 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 women ( 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. Aparārka (pp. 579-580) quotes long extracts from Bṛhaspati and Vyāsa 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) the 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 back 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 brāhmaṇas and other respectable people, to the king's officers, to all householders and to all others including medas and cāṇḍālas, 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., Bṛ. and Vyāsa have been followed to the letter from at least the 5th century onwardṣ In the earliest inscriptions verses about the merit of gifts and the sin of resumption do not occur. For example, in Gupta Inscription No. 8 (pp. 36 ff) dated 88 of the Gupta Era (i. e. 407-8 A. D.) of Candragupta 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 sins that bring immediate punishment'. In the early Pallava king Śivaskandavarman also (E. I. vol. I p. 7) such verses are not founḍ In the copper-plate grant of Skanda-gupta (dated 146 Gupta year i. e. 465-66 A. D., Gupta Inscriptions⁵⁰ No. 16, p. 63) there is a verse on the point, but it is not one of those that are found in most inscriptionṣ

In the earliest records verses lauding gifts and deprecating their resumption are few (one or two) but in later records their number increaseṣ 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 saṃvat 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 inscription of Yaśahkarnadeva dated in Kalacuri saṃvat 823 (E. I. vol. XII p. 205) and 15 verses in the copperplate grant of Cāhamāna Ratnapāla dated in Vikrama saṃvat 1176 (E. I. vol. XI, pp. 312-313 ). In most of the inscriptions containing these lauda-tory and imprecatory verses, they are cited as from Vyāsa or Manu or from smṛti in general. In the Appendix⁵¹ a list of about forty such verses is given and in the footnotes it is pointed out wherever possible from what smṛti 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 lanḍ The donor of land enjoys bliss in heaven for sixty thousand years and he who destroys (or resumes) it or who abets the destruction dwells in hell for the same perioḍ' In spite of such imprecations it appears that lands donated by former kings were sometimes confiscated by their successorṣ For example, in an inscription of Indrarāja III dated śake 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 'pūrvaprthvīpāla-viluptāni); in the Talmachi plates of Cālukya Vikramāditya 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 Rājatarangiṇī (V. 166-170) states that king Śamkaravarman (in the first half of the 10th century), the son of Avantīvarman, deprived temples of all their properties for replenishing his treasury emptied by his viceṣ⁵² Parāśara (XII. 51) says that the sin of resuming land already donated cannot be expiated even by performing a hundred Vājapeya sacrifices or by the gift of millions of cowṣ In the Khoh plates of Parivrājaka Mahārāja Samkṣobha (Gupta Inscriptions No. 25 p. 115 ) dated Gupta saṁvat 209 (528-529 A. D.) there is a 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 curses (or imprecatory thoughts)'. Vide also Gupta Inṣ 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 brāhmaṇaṣ 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-gahalavarjam). In E. I. vol. X. p. 88 (of 697 śake) the grant excludes 'the portion already bestowed on gods and brāhmaṇas ' (pūrvapratta-deva-brahma-dāya-rahitaḥ). The grant of the village by the Candella king Paramardideva in saṁ. 1236 expressly excludes five halas (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 a Hindu king respected an endowment already made to a shrine of Buddha or to a monastery of Buddhists (devāśrī-buddha-satka-pañcahalam bahiskrtya). Vide also I. H. Q. vol. VIII for 1932 p. 305 (plates of Bhoja dated saṃ 1079 where the expression ‘devabrāhmaṇa-bhuktivarjam’ occurs); E. I. vol. II p. 360 (saṃ 1162); E. I. 14, p. 194 (saṃ 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 particularity. A few examples will show thiṣ In the Nasik Inscription No. 3 of Vāsiṭhīputa ²⁰²⁷ Siri-Puḷumayi (E. I. vol. 8 p. 65) the grant is in these words ‘ And to this village of Sāmalipada (Śāmalīpadra) 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 which may be stated 'it was to be free from taxes, not to be entered by the regular soldiers, nor by cātas, it was to be entirely free from all obligations of forced labour, it was to carry with it hidden treasure and all depositṣ'

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 Inṣ of Hoysala Vira-Ballāla in śake 1114). The eight bhogas are enumerated in some of the inscriptions themselveṣ In the Śrīśaila plates of Virūpākṣa (of śake 1388) they are stated to be nidhi (treasure trove), nikṣepa (what is deposited on the land), vāri (water), aśman (stones, mines), akṣiṇi (actual privileges), āgāmi (future profits), siddha (what is already brought under cultivation), sādhya (waste land that may in future be turned into cultivable land).⁵³ In the times of the Marathas when lands or villages were granted it was usual to put in such words as 'jalataru-trṇa-kāṣṭha-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.⁵⁴

The question whether the king is the owner of all land in his kingdom has been discussed from very ancient timeṣ 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 it and make use of it). Śabara⁵⁵ 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 persons 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 Vyavahāramayūkha⁵⁶ 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 taxeṣ 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 houses and fields are also purchased from the holders thereof (by the king) he has 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 passages 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 lanḍ

There is another view also according to which the king was the owner of lands and the subjects were only occupantṣ 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 states⁵⁷ that the words of Yāj. imply that the privileges of 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 smṛti ⁵⁸ ‘land passes on the happening of six circumstances viz. with the con- sent of one's village, of one's agnatic relations, of sāmantas, and of one's coparceners and when accompanied with water and (dakṣiṇā of) gold’ and remarks that the consent of sāmantas (neighbours) is only necessary as a 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 persoṇ But it appears that the king's consent was sometimes sought for gifts by private persons and obtained e. g. in Gupta Inṣ 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 Piṣṭapurikādevī by a donee to whom they had been originally granteḍ

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

From Manu and other smṛtikāras 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 cultivators and the king is only entitled to levy taxes for the protection he affordṣ 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 crops and a sixth part of trees, flesh, honey, ghee, perfumes, herbs, liquids, flowers, roots and fruits &c.' and in X. 118 Manu allows the king to raise his demand in times of emergency to a fourth of the produce of lanḍ Manu IX. 44 states that a field belongs to him who uproots the stems of trees and shrubs from waste or uncultivated lanḍ Manu VIII. 39 provides that in ancient treasure- 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, since, if that were so, Manu would have declared that the king took all the mines and treasure found in a cultivated fielḍ In VIII. 243 Manu prescribes a fine for a cultivator not cultivating 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 arable land was in the cultivator himself and the king was only entitled to demand a certain share of the produce (which is designated bhāga or kara as in Manu VII. 133). This is further supported by the conduct and practice of powerful but good kings who purchased lands from their holders when they wanted to donate lands already cultivateḍ 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 the 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 as remunera- tion cannot be sold and mortgaged by theṃ For want of space this subject cannot 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 as Elphinstone, Munro, Mill and Wilson (pp. 39-53) the conclusion arrived at is stated to be that ‘the proprietary . 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 individual ownership' (p. 53).⁵²

The word agrahāra has been applied to the grant of lands or villages to brāhmaṇas from very ancient timeṣ It occurs frequently in the Mahābhārata e. g. Vanaparva 68. 4, Āśramavāsiparva 2. 10. 41, 13. 11, 14. 14, 25. 5. Vide E. I. vol. I, p. 88 (grant of the Valabhī king Dhruvasena III. In G. S. 334 i. e. 653-654 A. D.) and in the Madhuban copper-plate of Harṣa 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 Mahādānaṣ According to the Agnipurāṇa ²⁰²⁷ (209. 23-24) the Mahādānas were ten, viz. gifts of gold, horses, sesame, elephants, maids, chariots, land, house, a bride, and a dark-brown (kapilā) cow. The Mahādānas are, however, usually enumerated as 16 in the purāṇas (vide Matsya, chap. 274-289, Agni. chap. 210, Liṅgapurāṇa II. chap. 28 ff). The sixteen mahādānas are: Tulāpuruṣa (weighing a person against gold or silver which is then distributed among brāhmaṇas), Hiraṇyagarbha, Brahmāṇḍa, Kalpavṛkṣa, Gosahasra, Kāmadhenu (or Hiraṇyakāmadhenu ), Hiraṇyāśva, Hiraṇyāśvaratha (or simply Āśvaratha), Hemahastiratha (or simply Hastiratha), Pañcalāṅgala, Dharādāna (or Haimadharādāna), Viśvacakra, Kalpalatā (or Mahākalpa –), Saptaśāgara, Ratnadhenu, Mahābhūtaghaṭa. In the Liṅgapurāṇa (Uttarārdha, chap. 28 ff) the names are somewhat different. The names of these Mahādānas (of some at least) go back to centuries preceding the Christian Era. The word ‘Mahādānāni' occurs in the Mahābhārata (Āśramavāsī-parva 3. 31, 13. 15). In the Hathīgumpha Inscription of Khāravela (2nd century B. C.) Kalpavṛkṣa appears to be mentioned (E. I. vol. XX. p. 79). Bāṇa often refers to Mahādānas in general and Gosahasra in particular. ²⁰²⁸ It has already been shown (on p. 856 ) how Uşavadāta made extensive gifts some of which fall under mahādānaṣ The Tulāpuruşa is very frequently spoken of in the Epighraphic recordṣ The Cambay plates of the Rāştrakūţa king Govinda IV ( dated śake 852 ) state that the king was weighed against gold ( E. I. vol. VII. p. 26 ). Vide also E. I. vol. XI p. 112 ( in Dāntivarma Inṣ of śake 675 ), E. I. vol. IX, p. 24 ( Rāştrakūţa Indrarāja III weighed against gold in śake 836 ), E. I. vol. XI, p. 20 at p. 23 ( Hemațulã of Govindacandra mentioned in saṃ 1186 ), E. I. vol. XIV, p. 197 ( dated saṃ 1156, when 32 villages were given as dakşiņā after the two mahādānas of tulāpuruşa and gosahasra ); E. I. vol. VII, p. 17 ( refers to tulāpurușa of Kṛşņarāya of Vijayanagara in śake 1437 ). The tulādāna is mentioned in the ancient Tamil work Śilappadikāram ( vide p. 311 of Prof. Dikshitar's translation ). In E. I. vol. XII, at p. 10 it is stated that king Lakşamaņasena of Bengal granted a village as dakşiņā when he performed the Mahādāna called Hemāśvaratha. The Sanjan plates of Amoghavarşa ( dated śake 793 ) speak of the Hiraņyagarbha mahādāna performed by Danti-durga at Ujjayini ( E. I. vol. XVIII, pp. 235, 238 ). In the Śrīrangam plates of Devarāya II of Vijayanagara dated śake 1350 it is stated that the prince gave a dinner to one lakh of brāhmaṇas at the holy place or Prayāga ( modern Allahabad ) and on a lunar eclipse performed the Pañca-lāṁgala 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 mahādānaṣ 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 Bhavişyottara-purāṇa in certain caseṣ Hemādri ( Dānakhaṇḍa pp. 166-345 ) is far more elaborate and quotes ( in addition to the Matsya ) long passages from the Liñga, Garuḍa and other purāṇas and from works on Tantra and the Āgamaṣ The Dānamayūkha devotes pp. 86-151 to the 16 mahādānaṣ The Matsyapurāṇa ( 274. 11-12 ) states that the mahādānas were performed by such ancient heroes and kings as Vasudeva, Ambarīşa, Bhārgava, Kārtavīrya Arjuna, Rāma, Prahlāda, Pṛthu and Bharata. It then gives general directions about the construction of the pandal ( maṇḍapa ) required in making these mahādānaṣ The maṇḍapa may be of various sizes, 16 aratnis ( one aratni being equal to 21 āṅgulas 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 of the elbow), should have four doors and a vedi (raised platform) of seven or five cubits prepared with bricks, there was to be an arch on the vedi for holding the balance, it should have nine or five kuṇḍas ⁶² (pits in the ground for holding fire) or one kuṇḍa, two auspicious water jars were to be placed at each door of the pandal, the tulā was to have two posts and a cross beam of the same wood (such as aśvattha, bilva, palāśa &c.) and was to be decked with golden ornamentṣ 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. Ṛgvedins to the east, Yajurvedins to the south, Sāmavedins in the west and Atharvaņas in the north). Then four homas were to be offered to Gaṇeśa, the planets, the lokapālas, the eight Vasus, the Ādityas, the Maruts, to Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva, the sun and the herbs and Vedic hymns referring to these were to be reciteḍ

At the end of the homa, the guru invokes with flowers and incense the lokapālas (lords of the worlds or quarters) with paurāṇika mantras, viz. Indra, Agni, Yama, Nirṛti, Varuṇa, Vāyu, Soma, Īśāna, Ananta and Brahmā. Then the donor should give golden ornaments, ear ornaments, golden chains, wristlets, rings, clothes to the priests and double (what is given to each ṛtvik) to the guru. Brāhmaṇas should then recite the vedic hymn on śānti (propitiatiary verses averting evil)⁶³. Then the donor again bathes and clad in white garments and wearing garlands of white 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 into one pan and in the other pan brāhmaṇas should place pure golḍ 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 brāhmaṇas, pouring water on their hands before doing so and he may also make grants of villages to the guru and other priestṣ Then he should honour brāhmaṇas, other respectable people and the poor and helpless with giftṣ One who performs this rite stays for innumerable years in the world of Viṣṇu. The same procedure was applied to weighing a man against silver or camphor ( Aparārka p. 320, Hemādri, dānakhaṇḍa p. 214). Apart from kings who got themselves weighed against gold as shown above, lesser persons such as ministers sometimes indulged in this mahādāna, as Cāṇḍeśvara, a minister of the Mithilā kings, states with pride in his Vivādaratnākara ( vide H. D. vol. I, p. 370 ).

Hiranyagarbha:—( Matsya 275, Liṅgapurāṇa II. 29 ). The preliminary procedure about the pandal, the time, place, the materials, the puṇyāhavācana, the invocation of the lords of quarters is the same in this and the other mahādānas as in tulāpuruṣa. The donor should then bring forward a golden kuṇḍa (basin or vessel) 72 fingers high and 48 broad and having the shape of a muraja ( tabor ) but looking like the interior surface of a golden lotus ( with eight petals ). The golden vessel ( it is called Hiranyagarbha ) should be placed on a heap of sesame. Then the golden vessel is to be addressed with paurāṇika mantras, identifying it with Hiranyagarbha ⁶⁴ (the Creator). He should then enter the golden vessel, sit facing the north, hold in his hands golden images of Brahmā and Dharmarāja and hold his head for five breaths between his knees ( to simulate the position of the foetus in the mother's womb ). The guru then repeats on the golden vessel the mantras of garbhādhāna, puṃsavana and sīmantonnayāna (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 music. Then the remaining twelve saṃskāras are ⁶⁵ performed symbolically on the donor, who repeats the mantra to Hiraṇyagarbha 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, seated on a golden seat, is bathed with the mantra 'devasya tvā' ( vide above note 653a ) and he distributes the golden vessel among the guru and other priestṣ

Brahmāṇḍa :-(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 aṅgas, of the eight lokapālas and of brahmā in the middle of them, of Śiva, Viṣṇu, the sun on their top, of Umā and Lakṣmī, of Vasus, Ādityas 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 theṃ Then in the eight quarters from the east golden images of Anantaśayana (Viṣṇu lying on the snake), Pradyumna, Prakṛti, Saṃkarṣaṇa, the four vedas, Aniruddha, Agni, Vāsudeva should be respectively arrangeḍ 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 Brahmāṇḍa) should be addressed in paurāṇika 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).

Kalpapādapa or Kalpavṛkṣa :-(Matsya 277, Liṅga II. chap. 33). A golden tree is to be manufactured with several fruits hanging down from it and with many ornaments and clotheṣ The gold may be from three palas to a thousand according to one's meanṣ 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, Santāna, Mandāra, Pārijātaka and Haricandana are to be made each from ¼ of the one half of the gold taken and planted respectively in the east, south, west and north. Under the Kalpavṛkṣa, figures (golden) of Kāmādeva (the god of love) and his four wives are to be placeḍ Eight jars filled with water and covered with silk cloth and surrounded by lamps, chowries, umbrellas are to be arranged and 18 dhānyas⁶⁵ also; prayers are to be offered to the Kalpavṛkṣa to ferry the donor over the ocean of saṁsāra; then the kalpavṛkṣa is to be donated to the guru and the other four trees⁶⁷ to four priestṣ Aparārka (p. 326) quotes Bhaviṣyottara to the effect that a sonless man or woman should make this mahādāna.

Gosahasra :—(Matsya 278, Liṅga II. 38). The donor should subsist for three days or one day on milk alone and then the preliminary procedure of invoking lokapālas, puṇyāhavā- cana, homa etc. 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 selecteḍ 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 paṇḍal and honoureḍ 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 cowṣ The donor should bathe in water that is medicated with the herbs called sarvauṣadhi⁶⁸ and with flowers in his folded hands invoke the cows with mantras expressing the greatness of cows and address the image of Nandikeśvara as Dharma and should bestow the golden image of Nandi on the guru and two cows and donate one cow each to eight priests and to other brāhmaṇas five or ten cows 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 pitṛs and maternal grand-father and other maternal ancestorṣ

Kāmadhenu :—(Matsya 279, Liṅga II. 35). The figures of a cow and a calf should be made from very pure gold, either one thousand or 500 or 250 palas in weight and one without much wealth may make them from even three palas of golḍ The skin of a black antelope should be spread over the altar, thereon a 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 neck ornaments &c. The donor should invoke the cow with paurāṇika mantras and then make a gift of the cow and calf to the guru. Hemādri (dānakhaṇḍa, pp. 265–274) quotes passages from the Matsya, Agni, and Liṅga purāṇas and from the Kāmika and other workṣ

Hiraṇyātva:—(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 (dānakhaṇḍa p. 278) adds that the horse figure is to have silver welded on in five places,⁶⁹ viz. the four feet and the mouth.

Hiraṇyāśvaratha:—(Matsya 281). A golden chariot should be made with figures of seven or four horses, four wheels, a golden flagstaff surmounted by a sapphire jar. There are to be four auspicious jarṣ Then this is donated along with chowries, an umbrella, silken garments and cows according to one's meanṣ

Hemahastīratha:—(Matsya 282). A golden chariot resembling a toy-cart should be made with four wheels, having figures of eight lokapālas, Brahmā, Śiva, the Sun, with Nārāyaṇa, Lakṣmī and Puṣṭi 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 elephantṣ Then it is to be invoked and donateḍ

Pañcāīngalaka :—(Matsya 283). Five ploughshares should be made of some strong wood (teak, sandal &c.) and five of gold, ten fine oxen 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 kharvaṭa, kṣetra⁷⁰ or village or 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, wristletṣ

Dharādāna or Haimadharādāna :—( Matsya 284 ). A golden figure of the earth resembling Jambudvīpa 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 meanṣ Then it is to be invoked with many verses and half or ¼ of it is to be donated to the guru and the rest to the other priestṣ

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 meanṣ On the first nave there should be the figure of Viṣṇu in yoga posture, with the conch and cakra near him and the figures of eight goddesseṣ On the second nave the sages Atri, Bhṛgu, Vasiṣṭha, Brahmā, Kāśyapa and the ten avatāras of Viṣṇu should be carved, on the third Gaurī and the mother-goddesses, on the 4th the twelve Ādityas and four Vedas, on the fifth the five bhūtas ( elements, earth &c. ) and the eleven Rudras, on the sixth the eight lokapālas and the eight elephants of the quarters, on the seventh eight⁷¹ missiles and ( eight ) auspicious things and on the 8th the gods at intervalṣ Then the donor should invoke this wheel and donate it.

Mahākalpalatā :—( Matsya 286 ). Ten kalpalatās 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. Brāhmī, Anantāśakti, Āgneyī, Vāruṇī and others and above all there should be a canopy. Two of the kalpalatās 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 jarṣ Two should be bestowed on the guru and the remaining eight on eight priestṣ Saptasāgaraka :--( Matsya 287 ). Seven vessels ( kundaś ) with a diagonal of either 10½ aṅgulas ( prādeśa ) or 21 aṅgulas should be made from gold weighing from 7 palas to a thousand palas according to one's meanṣ The seven vessels should be respectively filled with salt, milk, clarified butter, jaggery, curds, sugar, holy water. In the several kundaś golden images of Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva, the Sun, Indra, Lakṣmī and Pārvati should be dipped and all jewels should be thrown in them and all dhānyas should be arranged round theṃ A homa to Varuṇa should be performed and then the donor should invoke the seven oceans ( symbolized by the seven kundaś ) and then they should be donateḍ

Ratnadhenu :--( Matsya 288 ). The figure of a cow is to be made of precious stoneṣ 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 ¼ of what is required for the cow and then both are donateḍ

Mahābhūtaghaṭa :--( Matsya 289 ). A golden jar is to be set with precious stones with a diagonal of from 10½ aṅgulas to 100 aṅgulaṣ 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 Kalpavṛkṣa, and the figures of the earth raised by the great boar, of Varuṇa on his conveyance of Makara, of Agni on a ram, of Vāyu (on a deer), of Gaṇeśa on a rat should be kept in the jar together with the figures of Ṛgveda having a rosary, Yajurveda holding a lotus, Sāmaveda holding a lute, Atharvaveda holding sruc and sruva ladles and Purāṇas (the fifth veda) holding a rosary and water jar. The golden jar then should be donateḍ

Most of the smṛtis highly extol the gift of a cow or cowṣ Manu IV. 231 states that the donor of a cow reaches the world of the Suṇ Yāj. (I. 204-205), Agnipurāṇa 210. 30 prescribe 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 temper and be accompanied with a money payment and that whoever makes such a gift stays in heaven for as many years as there are hair on the cow's body. Vide Samvarta verses 71, 74-75 also. In the Anuśāsana-parva ⁷² (51. 26-34 and chapters 77, 78 and 81) there are frequent eulogies of cowṣ Anuśāsana 57. 28-29 are just like Yāj. I. 204-205. Anuśāsana (83. 17-18) explains that the cow is a 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 cowṣ Among cows kapilā is the best for gift (Anuśāsana 73. 42 and 77. 8). Anuśāsana (77. 10 ff) explains why the dark-brown cow (kapilā) is the best. Yāj. I. 205 states that if the cow donated is kapilā 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 cowṣ The Varāhapurāṇa chap. 111 deals with the gift of a kapilā cow. The method of giving a cow is briefly as follows ⁷³ (Hemādri, Dānakhaṇḍa p. 451 ff, Dānamayūkha 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 donee sits facing the north. The donor holds in his hand a vessel containing 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 donee with the hair turned towards the east and also water, sesame and kuśa grass are placed in the donee's right hanḍ The donor holds in his hand a vessel full of water from which he sprinkles water with paurāṇika mantras, gives dakṣiṇā and then the cow starts with the donee and the donor follows them a few steps and repeats certain verses eulogizing cowṣ 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 Vaitaraṇī (and hence the cow is also called Vaitaraṇī).

Yāj. I. 206-207 (206 = Agnipurāṇa 210. 33), Viṣṇu Dh. S. 88. 1-4, Vanaparva 200. 69-71, Atri 333, Varāhapurāṇa 112 ⁷⁴ 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- yatomukhī’) and the donor is said to stay in heaven as many years as the hair on the body of the cow and her calf. Aparārka (pp. 299-301) quotes a 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 Ṛg. IV. 19. 6. Then taking hold of the cow with the formula ‘ka idaṁ kasmā adāt’ ( Atharvaveda III. 29. 7, Āśv. Śr. 5. 13, Āp. Śr. 14. 11. 2 ), the donor takes down the calf and recites in a loud voice Ṛg. 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. Ṛg. 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 propitiate the Earth with mantras (addressed to the Earth) viz. Ṛg. 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 their benedictions 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, sandal-wood, releases a man from the sins of eating or drinking forbidden food, brāhmaṇa murder, incest &c.

In imitation of the gift of the cow gifts of certain articles were made and they are also described as dhenuṣ The Matsyapurāṇa (chap. 82. 17-22) speaks of ten dhenus viz. of guḍa (jaggery), ghṛta (ghee), tila (sesame), japa (water), kṣīra (milk), madhu (honey), śarkarā (sugar), dadhi (curds), rasa (other liquids) and godhenu (cow itself). It gives (chap. 82) a detailed description of guḍadhenu 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 suvarṇadhenu, navanīta-dhenu (cow of butter) and ratnadhenu (cow of jewels). The Agnipurāṇa (210. 11-12) enumerates the same ten dhenuṣ In the Anuśāsana-parva 71. 39-41 the three dhenus of ghṛta, tila and japa are mentioneḍ The Varāhapurāṇa (chap. 99-110) describes in detail twelve dhenus, viz. all mentioned in the Matsya (except ghṛta and godhenu) and navanīta, lavaṇa (salt), kārppāsa (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 guḍa-dhenu it is made of 2 or 4 bhāras ⁷⁷ and the calf is made with one fourth of that for the cow. Various articles such as conch shells, sugarcane pieces, pearls, chowries, coral &c. are placed on the skin, to represent the various limbs of the cow, which is worshipped with dhūpa (incense) and lamps and invoked with paurāṇika mantraṣ Then the articles are donated to a brāhmaṇa. Hemādri (Dāna, p. 401) notes that according to the Padmapurāṇa a single jar of liquids and one droṇa of solids constitute these dhenus, while The Dānaviveka establishes that kumbha⁷⁸ is equal to 1000 palas and others hold that kumbha contains 512 palaṣ These several dhenus may be donated on eclipses, on the full moon days of Kārtika 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 donateḍ Aparārka pp. 303-313, Hemādri (Dāna.) pp. 397-466, Dānamayūkha 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 associated with the gift of cows, donors sometimes passed old and weak cows on to doneeṣ The Kathopaniṣad I. 1. 3 appears to contain a condemnation of such practiceṣ⁷⁹ "He who makes gifts of cows that simply drink water and eat grass, but yield no milk and do not possess strength (to conceive and produce calves) reaches those worlds called 'anandāḥ' (without delights)." The Mahābhārata (Anuśāsana 77. 5-6) echoes the very words of the Kāṭhopaniṣaḍ In the Anuśāsana-parva 66. 53 ⁸⁰ it is said that one should not bestow on a brāhmaṇa a cow which is lean or is without her calf, which is barren and diseased, which is wanting in a limb or is exhausteḍ Hemādri (Dāna, pp. 448-449) quotes this and other passages of similar import that state that 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 parvatadānas or merudānas, viz. of dhānya (corn), lavaṇa (salt), guḍa (jaggery), hema (gold), tila (sesame), kārpāsa (cotton), ghṛta (ghee), ratna (precious stones), rajata (silver), śarkarā (sugar). The Agnipurāṇa (210. 6–10) enume- rates these teṇ 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 dānas were called parvata, śaila or acala because the substances were heaped up like hillṣ The procedure in all of them is the same. A square platform inclined towards the north-east or east was to be prepared, smeared with cowdung and strewn with kuśa grasṣ 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 mountaiṇ In the case of the mountain of dhānya, it is to be made with 1000 or 500 or 300 droṇa measures of corṇ 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 puṣparāga, 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 and four priests are to be chosen for homa and 13 āhutis are to be offered to each of the godṣ In the gift of salt, from 1 to 16 droṇas 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 droṇas, 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 ½ of the pearls, of cotton from 20 palas to 10 thousand, of sugar from half a bhāra to 8 bhāraṣ

The smṛtis, 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 constructing in the month of Caitra 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 brāhmaṇa was to be engaged for wages to distribute water and this was to be continued for four months or at least three fortnights, Another important gift is that of manuscripts of the epios, dharmaśāstras and purāṇaṣ Aparārka (pp. 389-403) and Hemādri (Dāna, pp. 526-540) quote from the Bhaviṣyottara, ⁸¹ 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 purāṇaṣ The Agnipurāṇa also in speaking of the gifts of Msṣ of purāṇas states the number of verses in each (chap. 272). The Bhaviṣya-purāṇa states that books may be placed in a maṭha 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 golḍ E. I. vol. 18 p. 340 records a gift to a 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 Siddhāntaṣ

In medieval and modern times gifts were and are made with a view to propitiate the planetṣ And this sentiment can be traced back to the days of the sūtraṣ Gaut. ⁸² 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 riteṣ The Āśv. gr. (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 a sacrifice; that the nine planets are the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rāhu and Ketu; that images of the planets are to be made respectively of copper, crystal, red sandal-wood, gold (for both Mercury and Jupiter), silver, iron, lead 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. 2, Vāj. S. 9. 40, Rg. VIII. 44. 16, Vāj. S. 15. 54, Rg. II. 23. 15, Vāj. S. 19. 75, Rg. X. 9. 4, Vāj. S. 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, śamī, dūrvā and kuśa grasṣ 108 or 28 samidhs of each of these should be thrown 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 colourṣ The fee (dakṣiṇā) to be paid should respectively be a milch cow, conch, a 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 ⁸³ in chap. 93 contains a detailed procedure of grahaśānti and chapter 94. (1-9) describes how the images of the nine planets are to be representeḍ Vide Vaik. IV. 13 and also Bauḍ gr. śeṣa-sūtra I. 16 for a similar treatment. In modern times the dānas (articles donated) to propitiate the nine planets are those stated in the Dharmasindhu ⁸⁴ quoted below. The S. R. M. (pp. 123-164) contains a long-drawn procedure of Grahamakha, a rite to propitiate the planetṣ A Grahamakha is either nitya (on Viṣuva day, ayana day, birth nakṣatra), naimittika (to be performed on such occasions as upanayana) and kāmya (for removal of adversity &c.).

Aparārka (pp. 365-366 on Yaj. I. 209) quotes a long passage from the Nandipurāṇa about the founding of hospitals (ārogyaśālā ) where medicines were supplied free to patientṣ ‘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 appointeḍ Hemādri (dāna, pp. 893-95) quotes the same passage and another from the Skandapurāṇa to the same effect.

The smṛtis prescribe that when a man accepts as a gift what he should not accept, he incurs sin from which he becomes free by giving up the thing, by reciting certain vedic mantras, (like the Gāyatrī) and by tapas (prāyaścitta ). Vide Manu XI. 193 (= Viṣṇu Dh. S. 54. 28 ). This sin is said to be due to ‘asat-pratigrāha ’ which may arise either from the caste or actions of the donor (e. g. the donor may be a cāṇḍāla or patita ) or from the time or place (e. g. taking a gift in Kurukṣetra 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 ‘ubhayatomukhī’ ). Yaj. III. 289 and Manu XI. 194 (= Viṣṇu Dh. S. 54. 24) prescribe for asat-pratigraha the penance of staying in a cow-stable for one month subsisting on milk alone, observing complete celibacy, repeating the Gāyatrī mantra 3000 times every day. The donor, in the above cases, may incur no sin, but the donee doeṣ The Dānakriyākaumudī ( 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 and seats used by the dead, black deer-skin, the cow called ubhayatomukhi. The Dānacandrikā⁸⁵ quotes the Padmapurāṇa to the effect that a brāhmaṇa who is in great difficulty to maintain 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 siṇ

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

A gift once completed by acceptance is irrevocable. Yāj. II. 176 prescribes 'what is promised should be given and what has been donated should not be taken back'. Nārada⁸⁶ (Dattā-pradānika, verse 8) declares that the price of goods (delivered), wages, what is paid for pleasure (derived from dancers &c.), a 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 caseṣ 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 states⁸⁷ that if a man of his own free will promises a gift to a brāhmaṇa, but does not carry out that promise, he becomes a debtor (to that brāhmaṇa) in this world and the next. This means that a gift promised to a brāhmaṇa, though not completed by acceptance and delivery, could 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 a lunatic may be revoked by them and in doing so they incur no sin or blame. Nārada ⁸⁸ (Dattapradānika, 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 resile from the promise. Aparārka p. 782 quotes verses from Bṛhaspati similar to Nārada'ṣ Manu VIII. 165 declares that a 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 ⁸⁹ 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 made to carry out that gift. This verse contains the germ of the idea of wills, since the mere declaration of the intention of a man to make a gift for religious purposes is here 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 deceaseḍ

In modern times a 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 Boṃ 24, 14 Boṃ 482, 17 Boṃ 351, 23 Boṃ 725, 735 (P. C.). But this is opposed, as pointed out in 30 Maḍ 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 ‘iṣṭa’ and ‘pūrta’ gifts according to Manu IV. 227. It appears that in 23 Boṃ 725 their Lordships of the Privy Council 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 Veṣ 399 and 10 Veṣ 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 doctrine of cy-prèṣ⁹⁰