Shloka 128
अग्नेरपत्यं प्रथम सुवर्ण भूर्वैष्णवी सूर्यसुताश्च॒ गाव: । लोकास्त्रयस्तेन भवन्ति दत्ता यः काज्चनं गाश्न महीं च दद्यात्
agner apatyaṃ prathama suvarṇaṃ bhūr vaiṣṇavī sūryasutāś ca gāvaḥ | lokās trayas tena bhavanti dattā yaḥ kāñcanaṃ gāś ca mahīṃ ca dadyāt ||
Mārkaṇḍeya said: “Gold is first declared to be the offspring of Fire; the Earth is Vaiṣṇavī, belonging to Viṣṇu; and the cows are said to be the daughters of the Sun. Therefore, whoever gives gold, cows, and land is, as it were, bestowing the three worlds.”
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse elevates dāna (charitable giving) by linking gold, cows, and land to divine origins; giving these is portrayed as supremely meritorious—symbolically equivalent to granting the welfare of the three worlds.
Mārkaṇḍeya is instructing his listener on the religious-ethical value of gifts, using mythic genealogy (gold from Agni, earth as Vaiṣṇavī, cows as Sūrya’s daughters) to justify why donating these items is considered extraordinarily powerful.