water and other drinks, one acquires eternal fame in consequence of high achievements. By making gifts of food one acquires diverse articles of enjoyment. One who gives peace unto all creatures (by refraining from doing them any injury), becomes freed from every region. By serving the deities one obtains a kingdom and celestial beauty. By presenting lights at places which are dark and frequented by men, one acquires a good vision. By giving away good and beautiful objects one acquires a good memory and understanding. By giving away scents and garlands, one acquires fame that spreads over a large area. Those who abstain from shaving off their hair and beards succeed in obtaining excellent children. By observing fasts and Diksha and baths, O Bharata, for twelve years (according to the ordinance), one acquires a region that is superior to that attainable by unreturning heroes. By bestowing one's daughter on an eligible bridegroom according to the Brahma form, one obtains, O best of men, male and female slaves and ornaments and fields and houses. By performing sacrifices and observing fasts, one ascends to Heaven, O Bharata. The man who gives away fruits and flowers succeeds in acquiring auspicious knowledge. The man who gives a thousand kine with horns adorned with gold, succeeds in acquiring heaven. Even this has been said by the very deities in a conclave in heaven. One who gives away a Kapila cow with her calf, with a brazen pot of milking with horns adorned with gold, and possessed of diverse other accomplishments, obtains the fruition of all his wishes from that cow. Such a person, in consequence of that act of gift, resides in heaven for as many years as there are hairs on the body of the cow and rescues in the next world (from the misery of hell) his sons and grandsons and all his race to the seventh degree.[314] The regions of the Vasus become attainable to that man who gives away a cow with horns beautifully decorated with gold, accompanied with a brazen jar for milking, along with a piece of cloth embroidered with gold, a measure of sesame and a sum of money as Dakshina. A gift of kine rescues the giver in the next world when he finds himself falling into the deep darkness of hell and restrained by his own acts in this world, like a boat with sails that have caught the air rescuing a person from being drowned in the sea. He who bestows a daughter according to the Brahma form upon an eligible person, or who makes a gift of land unto a Brahmana, or who gives food (to a Brahmana) according to due rites, succeeds in attaining to the region of Purandara. That man who makes a gift of a house, equipped with every kind of furniture, unto a Brahmana given to Vedic studies and possessed of every accomplishment and good behaviour, acquires residence in the country of the Uttara-Kurus. By making gifts of draft bullocks, a person acquires the region of the Vasus. Gifts of gold lead to heaven. Gifts of pure gold lead to greater merit still.