happen to be dumb, blind, or deaf, care should be taken to employ them along with Brahmanas conversant with the Vedas.  O Yudhishthira, listen now unto whom thou shouldst give.  He that knoweth all the Vedas should give only to that able Brahmana who is competent to rescue both the giver and himself, for he, indeed, is to be regarded as able who can rescue both the giver and himself.  O son of Pritha, the sacred fires do not receive such gratification from libations of clarified butter, from offerings of flowers and sandal and other perfumed pastes as from the entertainment of guests.  Therefore, do thou strive to entertain guests, O son of Pandu!  O king, they that give unto guests water to wash their feet, butter to rub over their (tired) legs, light during the hours of darkness, food, and shelter, have not to go before Yama.  The removal (after worship) of the flowery offerings unto the gods, the removal of the remnants of a Brahmana’s feast, waiting (upon a Brahmana) with perfumed pastes, and the massaging of a Brahmana’s limbs, are, each of them, O foremost of kings, productive of greater merit than the gift of kine.  A person, without doubt, rescueth himself by the gift of a Kapila cow.  Therefore, should one give away a Kapila cow decked with ornaments unto Brahmanas.  O thou of the Bharata race, one should give unto a person of good lineage and conversant with the Vedas; unto a person that is poor; unto one leading a domestic mode of life but burdened with wife and children; unto one that daily adoreth the sacred fire; and unto one that hath done thee no service.  Thou shouldst always give unto such persons but not to them that are in affluence.  What merit is there, O thou foremost of the Bharata race, by giving unto one that is affluent?  One cow must be given unto one Brahmana.  A single cow must not be given unto many.  For if the cow so given away (unto many) be sold, the giver’s family is lost for three generations.  Such a gift would not assuredly rescue the giver nor the Brahmana that takes it.  He who giveth eighty Ratis of pure gold, earneth the merit of giving away a hundred pieces of gold for ever.  He that giveth away a strong bull capable also of drawing the plough, is certainly rescued from all difficulties and finally goeth to heaven.  He that giveth away land unto a learned Brahmana, hath all his desires fulfilled.  The tired traveller, with weakened limbs and feet besmeared with dust, asks for the name of him that may give him food.  There are men who answer him by telling him the name.  That wise man who informs these toil-worn ones of the name of the person who may give them food, is, without doubt, regarded as equal in merit unto the giver himself of food.  Therefore, abstaining from other kinds of gift, give thou food.  There is no merit (arising out of gifts) that is so great as that of giving food.  The man that according to the measure of his might gives well-cooked and pure food unto the Brahmanas, acquires, by that act