who having promised to make a gift of earth does not
actually make it, or who having made a gift takes
it back, has to pass a long time, in great misery
in consequence of being tied with the noose of Varuna
at the command of Death. Those men have never
to go to Yama who honour and worship those foremost
of Brahmanas that pour libations every day on their
domestic fire, that are always engaged in the performance
of sacrifices, that have scanty means of livelihood,
and that receive with hospitality every guest seeking
shelter in their abodes The king, O Purandara, should
free himself from the debt he owes to the Brahmanas
and protect the helpless and the weak belonging to
the other orders. The king should never resume,
O chief of the deities, earth that has been given
away by another unto a Brahmana, O ruler of the celestials,
that is destitute of the means of life.[332] The tears
that would fall from the eyes of such cheerless and
destitute Brahmanas in consequence of their lands
being taken back are capable of destroying the ancestors
and descendants to the third generation of the resumer.
That man who succeeds by his endeavours in re-establishing
a king driven away from his kingdom, obtains residence
in heaven and is much honoured by the denizens thereof.
That king who succeeds in making gifts of earth with
such crops standing thereon as sugar-cane or barley
or wheat, or with kine and horses and other draft
cattle,—earth that has been won with the
might of the giver’s arms,—that has
mineral wealth in its bowels and that is covered with
every kind of wealth of the surface, wins inexhaustible
regions of felicity in the next world, and such a
king it is that is said to perform the earth-sacrifice.
That king who makes a gift of earth becomes washed
of every sin and is, therefore, pure and approved of
the righteous. In this world he is highly honoured
and applauded by all righteous men. The merit
that attaches to a gift of earth increases every time
the earth given away bears crops for the benefit of
the owner, even as a drop of oil, falling upon water,
is seen to extend on every side, and cover the watery
surface. Those heroic kings and ornaments of assemblies
who cast off their lives in battle with faces towards
the foe, attain, O Sakra, to the region of Brahman.
Beautiful damsels skilled in music and dancing and
adorned with garlands of celestial flowers, approach,
O chief of the deities, the giver of earth as he comes
to heaven departing from the earth. That king
who makes gifts of earth with due rites unto persons
of the regenerate order, sports in bliss in the celestial
regions, adorned all the while by the deities and
Gandharvas. A century of Apsaras, adorned with
celestial garlands, approach, O chief of the deities,
the giver of earth as he ascends to the region of
Brahman. Flowers of excellent perfumes, an excellent
conch and excellent seat, an umbrella and excellent
steeds with excellent vehicles, are always ready for
the person how makes gifts of earth. By making