The Life of Ballālasena 2.15

Vyāsa said: / Asceticism is declared supreme in the Kṛtayuga, knowledge in the Tretā, / sacrificial rite in the Dvāpara, [and] gift alone in the Kaliyuga.

There is no higher duty for living beings here than the duty of giving gifts. / For one desiring heaven, long life, and prosperity, [a gift] should be given for the pacification of sin.

Nothing greater than a gift is seen in the three worlds. / Heaven is attained by giving; fortune is obtained only by giving.

By giving, one conquers an enemy; disease is destroyed by giving; / by giving, learning is obtained; by giving, young women [are won].

By giving, one attains pleasures; and by giving, one finds long life. / It is declared the supreme means for duty, wealth, pleasure, and liberation.

Facing east, one should give a gift; facing north, one should receive it. / The lifespan of the giver increases; that of the receiver is not diminished.

A gift to a mother is said to bear a hundredfold fruit; to a father, a thousandfold; / a gift to a daughter is endless; that given to a uterine brother is imperishable.

A gift to an inhumane person has ordinary fruit; to a sinner, it should be known to have great fruit; / to a person of mixed caste, twofold; a gift to a Śūdra has fourfold [fruit].

Eightfold [fruit is declared] for a Vaiśya, sixteenfold for a Kṣatriya, [thirty-twofold] for a nominal twice-born,
hundredfold for one who studies the Veda, and infinite for one who teaches the Veda.

A gift to a guru, a household priest, and the like is said to be inexhaustible;
that which is given to the destitute [yields endless fruit], and it is infinite when given to a sacrificer.

[The gift of] safety belongs to all deities; land has Viṣṇu as its deity;
a maiden, male slaves, and female slaves are proclaimed to belong to Prajāpati.

An elephant is said to belong to Prajāpati; a horse has Yama as its deity;
and likewise all single-hoofed animals, and the buffalo belongs to Yama.

The camel belongs to Nirṛti; the cow to Rudra; the goat to Agni;
the sheep belongs to the Waters; the boar to Hari; and wild beasts belong to Vāyu.

A reservoir of water belongs to Varuṇa, [as do] water pots, jars, and the like;
gems born of the ocean [belong to Varuṇa]; and gold and iron belong to Agni.

Grains belong to Prajāpati; cooked food belongs to the earth, O kings;
they say perfume belongs to the Gandharvas; cloth is traditionally taught to belong to Bṛhaspati.

All birds belong to Vāyu; knowledge belongs to Brahmā, as do the Vedic limbs;
manuscripts and the like belong to Sarasvatī; and Viśvakarman presides over craftsmanship.

The lord of the forest belongs to trees and the like; Hari's body is the deity of objects.
An umbrella, a black antelope skin, a bed, a chariot, a seat,

shoes, and a carriage—these eight are proclaimed to belong to Aṅgiras;
chariot equipment, weapons, banners, and the like belong to all deities.

A house belongs to all deities; Viṣṇu is the deity of all things,
or Śiva, since no object exists separate from him.

Listen, I shall proclaim the sixteen great gifts:

First is the balance-scale gift of a man's weight, then the gift of the golden embryo,
the universe, the wishing tree, and fifth, a thousand cows;

the golden wish-fulfilling cow, the golden horse as the seventh,
likewise the golden chariot with horses, and the golden elephant chariot;

likewise the gift of five plows, the gift of land of great fruit,
twelfth the wheel of Viṣṇu, then that consisting of the wishing creeper;

the gift of the seven oceans, and likewise the jewel cow,
and likewise the jar of the great elements—one should offer [each such] gift on an auspicious day.

Having invoked the deities in a pavilion or ritual circle, one should offer the gift to a Brahmin;
one should mention the name of the object and say, 'I give.'

Then one should place water in [his] hand; this is remembered as the rule for giving.
Directing one's mind toward the recipient, one should pour water onto the ground.

An end to the ocean can be found, but no end can be found to giving.

'To [the recipient] of such name, of the same gotra, of such pravara,
endowed with the Veda and the Vedāṅgas, a worthy recipient, a great soul,

for the increase of religious merit and fame of my parents and myself,
for the pacification of all sins, for heaven, and for enjoyment and liberation,

this great object of such name, whose deities are Viṣṇu, Rudra, and others,
I have given to you; may Hari and Śiva be pleased with me.'

'To consecrate this gift, I give gold as a priestly fee.'
With this formula of giving, one should indeed make all gifts.

When gold is being given, silver is desired as the priestly fee;
for other gifts, gold is remembered as the priestly fee.

Gold, silver, copper, husked rice, grain,
the daily śrāddha, and worship of the gods—all these require no priestly fee.

Silver is the priestly fee in ancestral rites, accomplishing virtue, desire, and wealth.
Gold, silver, copper, gems, pearls, and riches—

one who gives land gives all of this, O very wise one;
and he gratifies the ancestors dwelling in the world of the ancestors, and the deities in the realm of the gods,

the tranquil soul who gives the earth—
whether a market town, an agricultural settlement, or a village rich in grain,

or a hundred nivartanas, or half of that, or a house and so forth,
even the measure of an āḍhāvāpa—giving land, one becomes a sharer in the fruit.

He who gives land covered with sugar cane, rich in barley and wheat,
to one learned in the Veda, is never born again.

Having given land plowed by the plowshare, with trees and rich in grain,
one is glorified in heaven for as long as the rays of the sun provide light.

If one gives to a Brahmin endowed with virtues,
engaged in austerities, who has mastered his senses,
for as long as the earth bounded by the ocean endures,
his fruit shall be endless.

Just as seeds scattered on the surface of the earth sprout,
so desires acquired through the gift of land spring up.

Just as a drop of oil fallen into water immediately spreads,
so a gift made of land flourishes in grain and crop.

Givers of food are always happy, and a giver of clothing is handsome;
that man is a giver of everything, O kings, who gives the earth.

Just as a milch cow nurtures her calf by releasing her milk,
so the earth, O rulers of the earth, when given, nurtures the giver of land.

The Sun, Varuṇa, Viṣṇu, Brahmā, Soma, Agni,
and the trident-bearing Lord Śiva applaud the giver of land.

Fathers clap their arms in joy, and grandfathers exclaim:
'A giver of land is born in our family; he will be our saviour!'

The earth has been given by many kings, Sagara and others;
whosoever owns the land at any time, to him belongs the fruit at that time.

Both he who accepts land and he who gives land
are performers of meritorious deeds and are destined to go to heaven.

The ruler of the earth should give land or create a permanent endowment and have a charter drawn up,
so that future noble kings may recognize it.

On cloth or on a copper plate, marked above with his own seal,
the king, having recorded his lineages and himself,

with a description of the boundaries of the grant and the nature of the gift,
complete with his own signature and the date, should make a permanent royal edict.

The gift of gold, the gift of a cow, and the gift of land, O kings—
he who bestows these is freed from all sins.

Gold is the first offspring of Agni;
the earth belongs to Viṣṇu, and cows are the daughters of the Sun;
he who gives gold, a cow, and land
has given the three worlds.

He who constructs a new tank or excavates an old one,
having rescued his entire family, is exalted in the heavenly world.

Even having performed sinful deeds, one who gives food to a suppliant,
especially to a Brahmin, is not tainted by sin.

Having rescued twenty-one generations of his family, the giver of a maiden attains the world of Brahmā;
by causing a temple and an image to be made, one attains all things.

One who gives a female slave to the best of Brahmins attains the world of the apsarases;
O kings, fire never burns his male organ.

Siṃhagiri said:
Having repeatedly given to the best of Brahmins female slaves, / adorned well with garments, ornaments, perfumes, and flowers, delightful to enjoy with lovely bodies in their youth, / the illustrious king Ādiśūra takes his pleasure with apsarases.

Thus ends the fifteenth chapter in the Vyāsapurāṇa of the Vallālacarita, entitled "The Proclamation of the Greatness of Gifts and Other Matters."

Now the sixteenth chapter.