History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c43.65

v3.c43.65

The places (*deśa*) where gifts are to be made are also specified in the smṛtis, purāṇas and digests. Gifts²⁰¹² made in the house yield ten times as much merit (as when made elsewhere), a hundred times when made in a cowpen, a thousand times when made in sacred places (*tīrthas*) and an infinite number of times when made near an image (or liṅga) of Śiva. The Skandapurāṇa²⁰¹³ quoted by Hemādri (*dāna* p. 83) states that Benares, Kurukṣetra, Prayāga, Puṣkara (Ajmer), the banks of the Ganges and of the ocean, Naimiṣa forest, Amara-kaṇṭaka, Śrīparvata, Mahākāla (at Ujjayinī), Gokarṇa, Veda-parvata—these and the like are declared to be holy places resorted to by gods and *siddhas*; all mountains, all rivers and the ocean are holy; the habitations of cows, siddhas and sages are also holy; whatever is donated in these sacred places confers infinite reward.