Varaha Purana 108.4: Adhyaya 108, Shloka 4
The Eulogy and Procedure of Donating the ‘Salt-Cow’
Lavaṇadhenu
Uttara Bhāga · Dāna-mahātmya (Ritual Philanthropy and Merit Traditions)
मुखं गुडमयं तस्या दन्ताः फलमया नृप ॥ जिह्वां शर्करया राजन् घ्राणं गन्धमयं तथा ॥ नेत्रे रत्नमये कुर्यात् कर्णौ पत्रमयौ तथा ॥ श्रीखण्डमयकोष्ठौ च नवनीतमयाः स्तनाः ॥
mukhaṃ guḍamayaṃ tasyā dantāḥ phalamayā nṛpa || jihvāṃ śarkarayā rājan ghrāṇaṃ gandhamayaṃ tathā || netre ratnamaye kuryāt karṇau patramayau tathā || śrīkhaṇḍamayakoṣṭhau ca navanītamayāḥ stanāḥ ||
mukhaM guDamayaM tasyA dantAH phalamayA nRRipa || jihvAM sharkarayA rAjanghrANaM gandhamayaM tathA || netre ratnamaye kuryAtkarNau patramayau tathA || shrIkhaNDamayakoShThau cha navanItamayAH stanAH
ഹേ നൃപാ, അതിന്റെ വായ് ശർക്കരക്കട്ട (ഗുഡം) കൊണ്ടാകണം; പല്ലുകൾ ഫലങ്ങളാൽ. ഹേ രാജൻ, നാവ് പഞ്ചസാരകൊണ്ടും മൂക്ക് സുഗന്ധദ്രവ്യങ്ങളാലും ആക്കണം. കണ്ണുകൾ രത്നമയമാക്കുക; ചെവികൾ ഇലകളാൽ. പാർശ്വങ്ങൾ ശ്രീഖണ്ഡം (ചന്ദനം) കൊണ്ടും, മുലകൾ നവനീതം (വെണ്ണ) കൊണ്ടും ആക്കണം.
Sandhi Notes
- गुडमयं = गुड + मयम्
- फलमया = फल + मयाः
- गन्धमयं = गन्ध + मयम्
- रत्नमये = रत्न + मये
- पत्रमयौ = पत्र + मयौ
- श्रीखण्डमयकोष्ठौ = श्रीखण्ड + मय + कोष्ठौ
Hotṛ
Dharma refines the senses: sweetness (guda/śarkarā), fragrance (gandha), and beauty (ratna) are not for indulgence but for consecrated offering.
Convert sensory enjoyments into offerings—allocate valued items (food, fragrance, adornments) for charity/ritual to cultivate non-possessiveness.
The composite cow made of sweet, fragrant, and precious substances functions as a microcosmic ‘auspicious body’ (śubha-śarīra) offered in dāna—mapping sensory plenitude (rasa-gandha-rūpa) to dharmic merit.
By offering a constructed ‘body’ of valued qualities, the giver ritually externalizes attachment and reorients it toward yajña-like surrender (tyāga), a practical step toward inner purification.
Specify the lavanadhenu’s anatomical materials: jaggery mouth, fruit teeth, sugar tongue, fragrant nose, jewel eyes, leaf ears, sandalwood flanks, butter udders.
Correctly embodying auspicious substances is treated as enhancing the gift’s sanctity and merit; careless substitution is a ritual defect reducing efficacy.
Varāha Purāṇa 108.3 (major parts); Varāha Purāṇa 108.5 (tail/back/hair and vessels)
FAQs
It catalogues a ritual-material taxonomy (sweeteners, fragrance, jewels, leaves, sandalwood), useful for reconstructing premodern Indian gift economies and symbolic aesthetics.
No geographic location is specified.
The passage frames generosity as an intentional offering of sustenance and valued goods, encoded in a detailed, rule-based form.
Ask anything about this verse
Answers come straight from the texts, with the shlokas they draw on. Ask in your own words.
A free sign-in with Google or Apple keeps your chat saved across web and the app.
Read Varaha Purana in the Vedapath app
Scan the QR code to open this directly in the app, with word-by-word meanings, Sanskrit recitation where available, and more.
