Shloka 44
गोप्रदानगुणाः तथा कपिलागोविधानम्
Merits of Cow-Gift and the Origin-Account of Kapilā Cows
दत्त्वा धेनुं सुव्रतां साधुदोहां कल्याणवत्सामपलायिनीं च । यावन्ति रोमाणि भवन्ति तस्या- स्तावन्ति वर्षाणि भवन्त्यमुत्र
dattvā dhenuṃ suvratāṃ sādhudohāṃ kalyāṇavatsām apalāyinīṃ ca | yāvanti romāṇi bhavanti tasyās tāvanti varṣāṇi bhavanty amutra ||
Bhīṣma sprach: „Wer in Wohltätigkeit eine Kuh von guter Zucht hingibt—sanft, leicht und gut zu melken, mit einem schönen Kalb, und die nicht ausreißt, indem sie ihre Fessel sprengt—der genießt im Jenseits so viele Jahre Glück, wie Haare auf ihrem Leib sind.“
पितामह उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the dharmic value of dāna: gifting a well-kept, useful, and non-troublesome cow is praised as a highly meritorious act, yielding prolonged happiness in the afterlife proportional to the cow’s hairs.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction on dharma and gifts (dāna-dharma), he specifies the ideal qualities of a cow suitable for donation and states the spiritual reward that accrues to the donor in the next world.