succeeds in acquiring auspicious knowledge.  The man who gives a thousand kine with horns adorned with gold, succeeds in acquiring heaven.  Even this has been said by the very deities in a conclave in heaven.  One who gives away a Kapila cow with her calf, with a brazen pot of milking with horns adorned with gold, and possessed of diverse other accomplishments, obtains the fruition of all his wishes from that cow.  Such a person, in consequence of that act of gift, resides in heaven for as many years as there are hairs on the body of the cow and rescues in the next world (from the misery of hell) his sons and grandsons and all his race to the seventh degree.[314] The regions of the Vasus become attainable to that man who gives away a cow with horns beautifully decorated with gold, accompanied with a brazen jar for milking, along with a piece of cloth embroidered with gold, a measure of sesame and a sum of money as Dakshina.  A gift of kine rescues the giver in the next world then he finds himself falling into the deep darkness of hell and restrained by his own acts in this world, like a boat with sails that have caught the air rescuing a person from being drowned in the sea.  He who bestows a daughter according to the Brahma form upon an eligible person, or who makes a gift of land unto a Brahmana, or who gives food (to a Brahmana) according to due rites, succeeds in attaining to the region of Purandara.  That man who makes a gift of a house, equipped with every kind of furniture, unto a Brahmana given to Vedic studies and possessed of every accomplishment and good behaviour, acquires residence in the country of the Uttara-Kurus.  By making gifts of draft bullocks, a person acquires the region of the Vasus.  Gifts of gold lead to heaven.  Gifts of pure gold lead to greater merit still.  By making a gift of an umbrella one acquires a palatial mansion.  By making a gift of a pair of sandals or shoes one acquires good vehicles.  The reward attached to a gift of cloths is personal beauty, and by making gifts of scents one becomes a fragrant person in one’s next life.  One who gives flowers and fruits and plants and trees unto a Brahmana, acquires, without any labour, palatial mansion equipped with beautiful women and full of plenty of wealth.  The giver of food and drink of different tastes and of other articles of enjoyment succeeds in acquiring a copious supply of such articles.  The giver, again, of houses and cloths gets articles of a similar kind.  There is no doubt about it.  That person who makes gifts of garlands and incense and scents and unguents and the articles needed by men after a bath, and floral wreaths, unto Brahmanas, becomes freed from every disease and possessed of personal beauty, sports in joy in the region reserved for great kings.  The man, O king, who makes unto a Brahmana the gift of a house that is stored with grain, furnished with beds full of much wealth, auspicious, and delightful, acquires a palatial residence.  He who gives unto a Brahmana a good bed perfumed with fragrant scents, overlaid with an excellent sheet, and equipped with pillows, wins without any effort on his part a beautiful wife, belonging to a high family and of agreeable manners.  The man who takes to a hero’s bed on the field of battle becomes the equal of the Grandsire Brahman himself.  There is no end higher than this.  Even this is what the great Rishis have declared.’