"Vaisampayana said, 'King Yudhishthira endued with humility, once again
questioned the royal son of Santanu on the subject of gifts of kine in
detail.'
"'The king said, "Do thou, O Bharata, once more discourse to me in detail
on the merits of giving away kine. Verily, O hero, I have not been
satiated with hearing thy nectar-like words!"'
"Vaisampayana continued, 'Thus addressed by king Yudhishthira the just,
Santanu's son began to discourse to him once again, in detail on the
merits attaching to the gift of kine.'
"'Bhishma said, "By giving unto a Brahmana a cow possessed of a calf,
endued with docility and other virtues, young in years, and wrapped round
with a piece of cloth, one becomes cleansed of all one's sins. There are
many regions (in Hell) which are sunless. One who makes the gift of a cow
has not to go thither. That man, however, who gives unto a Brahmana a cow
that is incapable of drinking or eating, that has her milk dried up, that
is endued with senses all of which have been weakened, and that is
diseased and overcome with decrepitude, and that may, therefore, be
likened to a tank whose water has been dried up,--indeed, the man who
gives such a cow unto a Brahmana and thereby inflicts only pain and
disappointment upon him, has certainly to enter into dark Hell. That cow
which is wrathful and vicious, or diseased, or weak or which has been
purchased without the price agreed upon having been paid,--or which would
only afflict the regenerate recipient with distress and disappointment,
should never be given. The regions such a man may acquire (as the rewards
of other acts of righteousness performed by him) would fail to give him
any happiness or impart to him any energy. Only such kine as are strong,
endued with good behaviour, young in years, and possessed of fragrance,
are applauded by all (in the matter of gift). Verily, as Ganga is the
foremost of all rivers, even so is a Kapila cow the foremost of all kine."
"'Yudhishthira said, "Why, O grandsire, do the righteous applaud the gift
of a Kapila cow (as more meritorious) when all good kine that are given
away should be regarded as equal? O thou of great puissance, I wish to
hear what the distinction is that attaches to a Kapila cow. Thou art,
verily, competent to discourse to me on this topic!"[371]
"'Bhishma said, "I have, O son, heard old men recite this history
respecting the circumstances under which the Kapila cow was created. I
shall recite that old history to thee! In days of yore, the Self-born
Brahman commanded the Rishi Daksha, saying,--'Do thou create living
creatures!' From desire of doing good to creatures, Daksha, in the first
instance, created food. Even as the deities exist, depending upon nectar,
all living creatures, O puissant one, live depending upon the sustenance
assigned by Daksha. Among all objects mobile and immobile, the mobile are
superior. Among mobile creatures Brahmanas are superior. The sacrifices
are all established upon them. It is by sacrifice that Soma (nectar) is
got. Sacrifice has been established upon kine.[372] The gods become
gratified through sacrifices. As regards the Creation then, the means of
support came first, creatures came next. As soon as creatures were born,
they began to cry aloud for food. All of them then approached their
creator who was to give them food like children approaching their father
or mother. Knowing the intention which moved all his creatures, the holy
lord of all creatures, viz., Daksha, for the sake of the beings he had
created, himself drank a quantity of nectar. He became gratified with the
nectar he quaffed and thereupon an eructation came out, diffusing an
excellent perfume all around. As the result of that eructation, Daksha
saw that it gave birth to a cow which he named Surabhi. This Surabhi was
thus a daughter of his, that had sprung from his mouth. The cow called
Surabhi brought forth a number of daughters who came to be regarded as
the mothers of the world. Their complexion was like that of gold, and
they were all Kapilas. They were the means of sustenance for all
creatures. As those kine, whose complexion resembled that of Amrita,
began to pour milk, the froth of that milk arose and began to spread on
every side, even as when the waves of a running stream dashing against
one another, copious froth is produced that spreads on every side. Some
of that froth fell, from the mouths of the calves that were sucking, upon
the head of Mahadeva who was then sitting on the Earth. The puissant
Mahadeva thereupon, filled with wrath, cast his eyes upon those kine.
With that third eye of his which adorns his forehead, he seemed to burn
those kine as he looked at them. Like the Sun tingeing masses of clouds
with diverse colours the energy that issued from the third eye of
Mahadeva produced, O monarch, diverse complexion in those kine. Those
amongst them, however, which succeeded in escaping from the glance of
Mahadeva by entering the region of Soma, remained of the same colour with
which they were born, for no change was produced in their complexion.
Seeing that Mahadeva had become exceedingly angry, Daksha, the lord of
all creatures, addressed him, saying--'Thou hast, O great deity, been
drenched with nectar. The milk or the froth that escapes from the mouths
of calves sucking their dams is never regarded as impure remnant.[373]
Chandramas, after drinking the nectar, pours it once more. It is not,
however, on that account, looked upon as impure. After the same manner,
the milk that these kine yield, being born of nectar, should not be
regarded as impure (even though the udders have been touched by the
calves with their mouths). The wind can never become impure. Fire can
never become impure. Gold can never become impure. The Ocean can never
become impure. The Nectar, even when drunk by the deities, can never
become impure. Similarly, the milk of a cow, even when her udders are
sucked by her calf, can never become impure. These kine will support all
these worlds with the milk they will yield and the ghee that will be
manufactured therefrom. All creatures wish to enjoy the auspicious
wealth, identifiable with nectar, that kine possess!'--Having said these
words, the lord of creatures, Daksha, made a present unto Mahadeva of a
bull with certain kine. Daksha gratified the heart of Rudra, O Bharata,
with that present. Mahadeva, thus gratified, made that bull his vehicle.
And it was after the form of that bull that Mahadeva adopted the device
on the standard floating on his battle-car. For this reason it is that
Rudra came to be known as the bull-bannered deity. It was on that
occasion also that the celestials, uniting together, made Mahadeva the
lord of animals. Indeed, the great Rudra became the Master of kine and is
named as the bull-signed deity. Hence, O king, in the matter of giving
away kine, the gift is regarded as primarily desirable of Kapila kine
which are endued with great energy and possessed of colour unchanged
(from white). Thus are kine, the foremost of all creatures in the world.
It is from them that the means have flowed of the sustenance of all the
worlds. They have Rudra for their master. They yield Soma (nectar) in the
form of milk. They are auspicious and sacred, and grantors of every wish
and givers of life. A person by making a gift of a cow come to be
regarded as making a gift of every article that is desired to be enjoyed
by men. That man who, desiring to attain to prosperity, reads with a pure
heart and body these verses on the origin of kine, becomes cleansed of
all his sins and attains to prosperity and children and wealth and
animals. He who makes a gift of a cow, O king, always succeeds in
acquiring the merits that attach to gifts of Havya and Kavya, to the
offer of oblations of water unto the Pitris, to other religious acts
whose performance brings peace and happiness, to the gift of vehicles and
cloths, and to the cherishing of children and the old."'
"Vaisampayana continued, 'Hearing these words of his grandsire, Pritha's
son, viz., the royal Yudhishthira of Ajamida's race, uniting with his
brothers, began to make gifts of both bulls and kine of different colours
unto foremost of Brahmanas. Verily, for the purpose of subduing regions
of felicity in the next, and winning great fame, king Yudhishthira
performed many sacrifices and, as sacrificial presents, gave away
hundreds of thousands of kine unto such Brahmanas.'"