Skanda Purana
by G. V. Tagare | 1950 | 2,545,880 words
This page describes Brahmanas Eligible for Dana which is chapter 208 of the English translation of the Skanda Purana, the largest of the eighteen Mahapuranas, preserving the ancient Indian society and Hindu traditions in an encyclopedic format, detailling on topics such as dharma (virtous lifestyle), cosmogony (creation of the universe), mythology (itihasa), genealogy (vamsha) etc. This is the two hundred eighth chapter of the Prabhasa-kshetra-mahatmya of the Prabhasa Khanda of the Skanda Purana.
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Chapter 208 - Brāhmaṇas Eligible for Dāna
[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]
Note: The topic is discussed in details in HD. II, ii, Ch XXV, 837-888.
The Devī said:
1-4. Śruti says: “This should be given. This should be gifted”. I wish to know exactly the details of this Dāna (religious gifts) and Ādāna (acceptance).
What are the Dānas specially recommended. To whom what should be given? O Lord, tell me everything, including the proper time, place and deserving person.
Īśvara said:
There are four Vṛthā Janmas (futile births) and sixteen Vṛthā Dānas (futile gifts). Sujanmas (excellent births) are four and Mahādānas (great gifts) are sixteen.
The Devī said:
O Lord of Devas, O Lord of the universe, do tell me this in detail.
Īśvara said:
5-6. Know from me what the four Vṛthā Janmas are:
(1) Birth of bad sons; (2) of those who are excluded from virtuous society; (3) of those who are in exile and are always enamoured of other men’s wives; and (4) of those who eat what is cooked by others and are attached to other men’s wives is futile. That which cannot be refused is Vṛthā Dāna. O my beloved, what is faulty is also Vṛthā Dāna.
7. A gift to an Ārūḍhapatita (a Sannyāsin who has reverted to the Gṛhastha stage), (Dāna of) property acquired by illegal means, Dāna unto a Brāhmaṇa-slayer is futile, that to a (socially) fallen person and a robber is also futile.
8. A gift to one who causes displeasure to the preceptor, that to an ungrateful person, to a person who acts as the Yājaka of the entire village, what is given to a Brahmabandhu (a Brāhmaṇa in name only) and what is given to a Vṛṣalīpati. (husband of a Śūdra woman) is futile.
9. What is given to a person selling the Veda, to one in whose house there is another husband (i.e. paramour) and what is given to one subdued by a woman (henpecked)—these are the sixteen Vṛthā Dānas (Evidently a few words are missing in the text.)
10. Sujanmas are: (1) the birth of good sons; (2) of men who are engaged in piety; (3) of those who do not go in exile and (4) of those who are averse to other men’s wives.
11-12. O great goddess, these are the sixteen Mahādānas[1]: Cows, gold, silver, jewels, Sarasvatī (i.e. learning), gingelly seeds, a virgin, an elephant, a horse, a bed, a garment, earth (a plot of land), grain, milk, an umbrella, and a house fully furnished.
13-14. What is given out of pride or fear or anger, one reaps the result thereof even while one is in the womb. So is the case when something is given with sorrow or offence or for the sake of monetary gain or hypocrisy—he suffers while he is a boy.
15. If anyone makes a gift at the proper time and place, to a deserving person with pure mind, if one gives what is legitimately earned, one enjoys the fruit thereof in one’s youth.
16. If anyone makes a gift of an article or wealth illegally got, to a non-deserving person, with mental distress and without caring for the injunctions, he reaps the consequence during old age.
17. Hence a man should make a gift of what is acquired legally, at the proper time and place, to a deserving person, observing the injunction. He must have perfect faith and he should not have Śāṭhya (bad intention).
18. They say that a person as this is a deserving person: He should be master in the studies of the Veda and practise Yoga; he should be quiescent; he should be conversant with Purāṇas; he should be afraid of sins; he should be liberal; he should be virtuous; he should be polite to women; he should be one offering refuge to cattle; he should be an observer of Vratas.
19. The following are the characteristics of a deserving person: Truthfulness, mental control, penance, purity, contentment, absence of jealousy, frankness, wisdom, control of sense-organs and compassion.
20-22. If a devotee gives a splendid cow as a gift to such a deserving person, he will be honoured in Rudraloka. The cow should be Kapilā (tawny-coloured) with all good qualities. She should be accompanied by her calf. There should be silver covering to the legs (hooves) and gold (tops) adorning the horns.
One who has ten cows should make the gift of one cow. One who has a hundred cows shall make the gift of ten cows. One who has a thousand cows shall make the gift of a hundred cows. All are remembered as attaining equal merit.[2]
The cow shall be timid and well-behaved. She should have Soma (the fragrance in the month due to the grass and fodder she is accustomed to eat). She should be a milch cow of youthful features accompanied by her calf. Such a cow acquired by fair means should be given to a Brāhmaṇa.
23. A cow as this should never be given: a barren one, a sickly one, one deficient in limbs, a wicked cow of wild temper, an old cow, a cow whose calf is dead, one acquired illegally and one stationed (tethered) far away.
24. O great goddess, a man who gives such a cow with a deity in view meets with downfall and undergoes sufferings.
25. A cow which is angry (nasty-natured), distressed, feeble and sickly should not be given. Nor should a cow the price of which has not been paid (to the owner) be gifted. If someone gives a cow to Brāhmaṇas that involves them in troubles all the worlds of the donor become futile.
26. Even if a single (cow) is gifted to a suffering Brāhmaṇa who maintains the sacred fire, to a guest who is a calm and quiescent Brāhmaṇa, a master in the Vedas, it shall become beneficial many times.
27. O goddess, if a Brāhmaṇa of poor wisdom sells the cow, he is not considered a deserving person. In fact, he is not (to be) reckoned as a Brāhmaṇa.
28. Cows, horses, women etc., should not be gifted to several ones (at a time). Divided Dakṣiṇā (monetary and other gifts) does not give merit to a donor.
29. Those who gift cows go to the region where palaces are golden, beds are resplendent with jewels and where excellent celestial damsels live.
30. There is no gift on a par with that of a plot of land; there is no river on a par with Gaṅgā. There is no greater virtue than truthfulness; there is no god greater than Maheśvara.
31. A plot of land as this should not be gifted: where there are big boulders and rocks; that which is not level; which is arid (or even in case it is level, an arid land should not be gifted); or a land of no stable shape on the banks of a river.
32. A person gifting a land dwells in heaven for sixty thousand years. One who seizes the land so gifted, one who abets such act, falls into hell and remains there as many (i.e. 60,000) years.
33. If a person who is in straitened circumstances commits a sin, he can become pure by offering a plot of land even if it be of the width of a cow’s hide.
34. Śiva’s world is remembered as the fruit of the gift of these: an umbrella, a bed, a seat, a couch, an elephant, a horse, chowries, virgins and a plot of land.
35. A householder who has a grandson should not observe fast on Sundays, on days of the transit of the Sun, solar and lunar eclipses, at the time of a gift of a cow, and when the Pāraṇā (breaking of the fast) has to be performed.
36. If a person has already observed fast for a hundred Ekādaśī days and wishes for a steady line of progeny, he should not observe fast on Indukṣaya (New-Moon days) and on Saṅkrānti days (transit of the Sun).
37. It does not make any difference whether Ekādaśī is in the bright half or dark half. Yet there is always an increase of Dharma (virtue, piety) if it falls in the bright half.
38. If the Daśamī (tenth day) is overlapped with Ekādaśī and there is Kṣaya (deficiency) in Dvādaśī (12th day) the devotee should take Nakta (nocturnal) food and shall not observe fast.
39. If anyone observes fast on the eleventh day but takes Pāraṇā on the thirteenth day, he shall forfeit the benefit of twelve Dvādaśīs.
40. One shall not use tooth-pick twigs on the fast days and on Śrāddha days. If the twig comes into contact with the teeth, seven generations of the family shall become affected.
41. A person who does not duly observe the anniversary of father’s death, Darśa (New-Moon day) and Paurṇamāsa (Full-Moon day) with due overlapping of the previous (lunar day) will fall into Naraka.
42. Loss of (and to) the progeny also has been mentioned; he shall become unfortunate too.
Now I shall describe the procedure for Śrāddha exactly if there is lack of Dravya (money, material).
43-45. One shall perform the Śrāddha of six Piṇḍas (rice-balls) by inviting a single Brāhmaṇa (Priest). Six Arghyas should be offered to them (six ancestors) duly. Father present in the hand of the Brāhmaṇa takes food from there; grandfather from the mouth. Great-grandfather is present in the palate. Maternal grandfather is remembered as present in the throat. Pra-Mātāmaha (the maternal great-grandfather) is present in the heart and the Vṛddha (the great-great-grandfather) is present in the navel.
O my beloved, if no Brāhmaṇa is available, Darbha grass should be made the representative of a Brāhmaṇa. This is being stated after taking the essential from all Purāṇas.
46. This should not be imparted to an atheist, a calumniator or to one who censures the Veda. Everyday in the morning, this has to be listened to after worshipping Maheśvara.
47. One should honour and make the gift of an umbrella to one who propounds this ritualistic procedure, who is of noble birth and who is conversant with all the scriptures as though he is Lord Maheśvara himself.
48. One who listens to even one Śloka (verse) from an unworthy Vācaka (reciter or expounder) does not attain merit. He is remembered as Śāstracaura (scripture-thief).
49. Hence, by all means a wise man should honour the Vācaka (the reader or expounder). Otherwise his listening to the text shall be futile.
50. If thus a rare scriptural text is present in the house of anyone, O goddess, Śiva shall be present there himself along with the Tīrthas.
51-52. Of what avail is much talk? He shall be the deserving recipient of salvation. This should not be offered to an atheist nor to a hypocrite. This should be offered to a tranquil Śaiva Brāhmaṇa of good mental and physical control.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
There is another text of Mahādānas in Agni Purāṇa 209. 23-24.
[2]:
Cf. Agni Purāṇa 211.1.