Shloka 11
गवां लोकवर्णनं तथा गोप्रदानफलश्रुतिः
Description of the ‘World of Cows’ and the Stated Fruits of Cow-Gift
पितृसझानि सततं देवतायतनानि च । पूयन्ते शकृता यासां पूतं किमधिकं ततः:,जिनके गोबरसे लीपनेपर देवताओंके मन्दिर और पितरोंके श्राद्धस्थान पवित्र होते हैं, उनसे बढ़कर पावन और क्या हो सकता है?
pitṛsaṃjñāni satataṃ devatāyatanāni ca | pūyante śakṛtā yāsāṃ pūtaṃ kim adhikaṃ tataḥ ||
ビーシュマは言った。「その糞によって祖霊の祭所と神々の寺院が常に清められる牛たち——それ以上に浄めの力あるものが、いったい何であろうか。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the cow is supremely purifying because her dung is used to sanctify spaces central to dharma—temples for divine worship and places connected with ancestral rites—thereby supporting both devotion to the gods and obligations to the ancestors.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma is instructing on dharma and meritorious conduct. Here he extols the cow’s sanctity by pointing to a practical ritual fact: cow-dung cleansing is traditionally used to purify sacred spaces, so nothing is considered more purifying than the cow.