History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c43.43

v3.c43.43

Among *deya* things, some are the best, some middling, some inferior. Food,²⁰⁰¹ curds, honey, protection, cow, land, gold, horse and elephant — gifts of these nine are said to be the best; learning, house for shelter, domestic paraphernalia (like cots), medicine — these four are said to be middling; shoes, swings, carts, umbrellas, vessels, seats, lamps, wood, fruits and whatever is old and worn out and all other unspecified objects are inferior. Yāj. (I. 210-211) appears to have this difference in view when he says that a man, making a gift of land (capable of yielding a crop or fruits), lamp, wood, garment, water (water-reservoir), sesame, ghee, house for travellers, money for settling a person as a married man (or bringing about his marriage by finding a girl for him), gold, draught ox, is honoured in the heavenly world, while one who makes a gift of a house, corn (of various kinds), protection from danger, shoes, umbrella, flowers, unguents, conveyance (chariot &c.), tree, a desired thing, a cot secures endless happiness. Gifts of three things are said to be superior to the gift of anything else and are styled²⁰⁰² *atidāna*, viz. of cows, land and Sarasvatī (*vidyā*) according to Vas. Dh. S. 29. 19 and Bṛhaspati 18. Vas. Dh. S. 29. 19, Manu 4. 233, Atri, 340, Yāj. I. 212 say that the gift of *vidyā* is the best of all gifts such as those of water, food, cows, land, garments, sesame, gold and clarified butter. On the other hand Anuśāsana-parva (62. 2) and the Viṣṇudharmottara (quoted by Aparārka p. 369) say that the gift of land surpasses all other gifts. The Viṣṇu Dh. S. 92. 1 says that the gift of protection from danger (abhayadāna) is the highest. The gifts of certain objects were called *mahādānas*. These and a few other dānas will be dealt with in some detail later on.