History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c43.117

v3.c43.117

*Kalpapādapa* or *Kalpavṛkṣa* :—(Matsya 277, Liṅga II. chap. 33). A golden tree is to be manufactured with several fruits hanging down from it and with many ornaments and clothes. The gold may be from three palas to a thousand according to one's means. From half of the gold the Kalpapādapa is to be prepared and placed on a heap (prastha is a measure of 32 palas) of jaggery, with images of Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva and the sun and five branches and the other four trees, Santāna, Mandāra, Pārijātaka and Haricandana are to be made each from 1/4 of the one half of the gold taken and planted respectively in the east, south, west and north. Under the Kalpavṛkṣa, figures (golden) of Kāmadeva (the god of love) and his four wives are to be placed. Eight jars filled with water and covered with silk cloth and surrounded by lamps, chowries, umbrellas are to be arranged and 18 *dhānyas* ²⁰⁴³ also; prayers are to be offered to the Kalpavṛkṣa to ferry the donor over the ocean of *saṁsāra*; then the kalpavṛkṣa is to be donated to the guru and the other four trees ²⁰⁴⁴ to four priests. Aparārka (p. 326) quotes Bhaviṣyottara to the effect that a sonless man or woman should make this mahādāna.