Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 14
गोशकृन्माहात्म्य-प्रश्नः (On the Merit of Cow-Dung and the Abode of Śrī) / Inquiry into the Sanctity of Cow-Dung
महर्षि वशिष्ठका राजा सौदाससे गौओंका माहात्म्य-कथन युवानमिन्द्रियोपेतं शतेन शतयूथपम् । गवेन्द्रं ब्राह्मणेन्द्राय भूरिशंगमलड्कृतम्
yuvānam indriyopetaṁ śatena śatayūthapam | gavendraṁ brāhmaṇendrāya bhūriśaṅgam alaṅkṛtam ||
Bhīṣma said: “O king who scorches his enemies, those who adorn and gift to a learned, Veda-knowing śrotriya brāhmaṇa a lordly bull—young, sound in all its faculties, the leader of a hundred herds, and bearing great horns—together with a hundred cows, attain great prosperity. Whenever they are born again in this world, they repeatedly become sharers in abundant lordship and wealth.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
That properly performed dāna—especially gifting valuable cattle (a prime bull with cows) to a worthy, Veda-learned brāhmaṇa—produces lasting puṇya, manifesting as prosperity and high status repeatedly across future births.
Bhīṣma is instructing the king on the greatness of go-dāna (cow-gifting). He describes the ideal gift (a young, fully sound, decorated herd-leading bull along with a hundred cows) and states the karmic result: recurring worldly prosperity whenever the donor is reborn.