Let them betake themselves to me as a mother takes
to her offspring. Let all other blessings also
be mine that have not been named in the Mantras I
have uttered! In the alleviation or cure of phthisis
and other wasting diseases, and in the matter of achieving
freedom from the body, if a person takes the help of
the five products of the cow, kine become inclined
to confer blessings upon the person like the river
Saraswati—Ye kine, ye are always conveyers
of all kinds of merit! Gratified with me, do
ye appoint a desirable end for me! I have today
become what ye are! By giving you away, I really
give myself away. (After these words have been
uttered by giver, the receiver should say),—Ye
are no longer owned by him who gives you away!
Ye have now become mine. Possessed of the nature
of both Sutya and Soma, do ye cause both the giver
and the receiver to blaze forth with all kinds of
prosperity!—(As already indicated), the
giver should duly utter the words occurring in the
first part of the above verse. The regenerate
recipient, conversant with the ritual that regulates
the gift of kine, should, when receiving the kine
in gift, utter (as already) said the words occurring
in the latter half of the above verse. The man
who, instead of a cow, gives away the usual value
thereof or cloths or gold, comes to be regarded as
the giver of a cow The giver, when giving away the
usual value of a cow (as the substitute of a cow) should
utter the words,—This cow with face upturned
is being given away. Do thou accept her!—The
man who gives away cloths (as the substitute of a cow)
should utter the words,—Bhavitavya—(meaning
that the gift should be regarded as representing a
cow). The man who gives away gold (as the substitute
of a cow) should utter the word,—Vaishnavi
(meaning, this gold that I give away is of the form
and nature of a cow).—Even these are the
words that should be uttered in the order of the kind
of gift mentioned above. The reward that is reaped
by making such vicarious gifts of kine is residence
in Heaven for six and thirty thousand years, eight
thousand years, and twenty thousand years respectively.
Even these are the merits, respectively, of gifts
of things as substitute of kine. While as regards
him who gives an actual cow all the merits that attach
to vicarious gifts of kine become his at only the
eight step (homewards) of the recipient.[368] He that
gives an actual cow becomes endued with righteous
behaviour in this world. He that gives the value
of a cow becomes freed from every kind of fear.
He that gives a cow (as a substitute in way for a
real cow) never meet with sorrow. All the three,
as also they that regularly go through their ablutions
and other acts at early dawn, and he that is well-conversant
with the Mahabharata, it is well-known, attain to
the regions of Vishnu and Soma. Having given away
a cow, the giver should, for three nights, adopt the
vaccine vow, and pass one night with kine. Commencing
again from that lunation, numbering the eight, which