ed 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. By making a gift of an umbrella one acquires a palatial
mansion. By making a gift of a pair of sandals or shoes one acquires good
vehicles. The reward attached to a gift of cloths is personal beauty, and
by making gifts of scents one becomes a fragrant person in one's next
life. One who gives flowers and fruits and plants and trees unto a
Brahmana, acquires, without any labour, palatial mansion equipped with
beautiful women and full of plenty of wealth. The giver of food and drink
of different tastes and of other articles of enjoyment succeeds in
acquiring a copious supply of such articles. The giver, again, of houses
and cloths gets articles of a similar kind. There is no doubt about it.
That person who makes gifts of garlands and incense and scents and
unguents and the articles needed by men after a bath, and floral wreaths,
unto Brahmanas, becomes freed from every disease and possessed of
personal beauty, sports in joy in the region reserved for great kings.
The man, O king, who makes unto a Brahmana the gift of a house that is
stored with grain, furnished with beds full of much wealth, auspicious,
and delightful, acquires a palatial residence. He who gives unto a
Brahmana a good bed perfumed with fragrant scents, overlaid with an
excellent sheet, and equipped with pillows, wins without any effort on
his part a beautiful wife, belonging to a high family and of agreeable
manners. The man who takes to a hero's bed on the field of battle becomes
the equal of the Grandsire Brahman himself. There is no end higher than
this. Even this is what the great Rishis have declared."'

"Vaisampayana continued, 'Hearing these words of his grandfather,
Yudhishthira, the delighter of the Kurus, became