History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c43.106

v3.c43.106

Gifts of certain kinds are called Mahādānas. According to the Agnipurāṇa²⁰³⁷ (209. 23-24) the Mahādānas were ten, viz. gifts of gold, horses, sesame, elephants, maids, chariots, land, house, a bride, and a dark-brown (*kapilā*) cow. The Mahādānas are, however, usually enumerated as 16 in the purāṇas (vide Matsya, chap. 274-289, Agni, chap. 210, Liṅgapurāṇa II, chap. 28 ff). The sixteen mahādānas are: Tulāpuruṣa (weighing a person against gold or silver which is then distributed among brāhmaṇas), Hiraṇyagarbha, Brahmāṇḍa, Kalpavṛkṣa, Gosahasra, Kāmadhenu (or Hiraṇyakāmadhenu), Hiraṇyāśva, Hiraṇyāśvaratha (or simply Aśvaratha), Hemahastiratha (or simply Hastiratha), Pañcalāṅgala, Dharādāna (or Haimadharādāna), Viśvacakra, Kalpalatā (or Mahākalpa-), Saptasāgara, Ratnadhenu, Mahābhūtaghaṭa. In the Liṅgapurāṇa (Uttarārdha, chap. 28 ff) the names are somewhat different. The names of these Mahādānas (of some at least) go back to centuries preceding the Christian Era. The word 'Mahādānāni' occurs in the Mahābhārata (Āśramavāsi-parva 3. 31, 13. 15). In the Hathigumpha Inscription of Khāravela (2nd century B. C.) Kalpavṛkṣa appears to be mentioned (E. I. vol. XX. p. 79). Bāṇa often refers to Mahādānas in general and Gosahasra in particular.²⁰³⁸ It has already been shown (on p. 856) how Uṣavadāta made extensive gifts some of which fall under mahādānas. The Tulāpuruṣa is very frequently spoken of in the Epigraphic records. The Cambay plates of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Govinda IV (dated *śake* 852) state that the king was weighed against gold (E. I. vol. VII. p. 26). Vide also E. I. vol. XI p. 112 (in Dantivarma Ins. of *śake* 675), E. I. vol. IX, p. 24 (Rāṣṭrakūṭa Indrarāja III weighed against gold in *śake* 836), E. I. vol. XI, p. 20 at p. 23 (Hematulā of Govindacandra mentioned in *saṁ.* 1186), E. I. vol. XIV, p. 197 (dated *saṁ.* 1156, when 32 villages were given as dakṣiṇā after the two mahādānas of tulāpuruṣa and gosahasra); E. I. vol. VII, p. 17 (refers to tulāpuruṣa of Kṛṣṇarāya of Vijayanagara in *śake* 1437). The tulādāna is mentioned in the ancient Tamil work Śilappadikāram (vide p. 311 of Prof. Dikshitar's translation). In E. I. vol. XII, at p. 10 it is stated that king Lakṣamaṇasena of Bengal granted a village as dakṣiṇā when he performed the Mahādāna called Hemāśvaratha. The Sanjan plates of Amoghavarṣa (dated *śake* 793) speak of the Hiraṇyagarbha mahādāna performed by Danti-durga at Ujjayinī (E. I. vol. XVIII, pp. 235, 238). In the Śrīraṅgam plates of Devarāya II of Vijayanagara dated *śake* 1350 it is stated that the prince gave a dinner to one lakh of brāhmaṇas at the holy place or Prayāga (modern Allahabad) and on a lunar eclipse performed the Pañca-lāṅgala vrata (J. B. B. R. A. S. vol. XIII, p. 1 at p. 3).