proper rites, of a cow yielding copious milk.  Hence, one, with singleness of devotion, observant of truth and engaged in humbly serving one’s preceptor, should always make gifts of kine.[360] Hear, O Sakra, what the merit is of that person, who, duly studying the Vedas, shows reverence for kine, who always becomes glad at sight of kine, and who, since his birth has always bowed his head unto kine.  The merit that becomes one’s by performing the Rajasuya sacrifice, the merit that becomes one’s by making gifts of heaps of gold, that high merit is acquired by a person who shows such reverence for kine.  Righteous Rishis and high-souled persons crowned with success have said so.  Devoted to truth, possessed of a tranquil soul, free from cupidity, always truthful in speech, and behaving with reverence towards kine with the steadiness of a vow, the man, who, for a whole year before himself taking any food, regularly presents some food to kine, wins the merit, by such an act, of the gift of a thousand kine.  That man, who takes only one meal a day and who gives away the entire quantity of his other meal unto kine.—­verily, that man, who thus reverences kine with the steadiness of a vow and shows such compassion towards them,—­enjoys for ten years’ unlimited felicity.  That man, who confines himself to only one meal a day and ’with the other meal saved for some time purchases a cow and makes a gift of it (unto a Brahmana), earns, through that gift, O thou of a hundred sacrifices, the eternal merit that attaches to the gift of as many kine as there are hairs on the body of that single cow so given away.  These are declarations in respect of the merit that Brahmanas acquire by making gifts of kine.  Listen now to the merits that Kshatriyas may win.  It has been said that a Kshatriya, by purchasing a cow in this manner and making a gift of it unto a Brahmana, acquires great felicity for five years.  A Vaisya, by such conduct, acquires only half the merit of a Kshatriya, and a Sudra, by such conduct, earns half the merit that a Vaisya does.  That man, who sells himself and with the proceeds thereof purchases kine and gives them away unto Brahmanas, enjoy felicity in heaven for as long a period as kine are seen on earth.  It has been said, O highly blessed one, that in every hair of such kite as are purchased with the proceeds obtained by selling oneself, there is a region of inexhaustible felicity.  That man, who having acquired kine by battle makes gifts of them (unto Brahmanas), acquires as much merit as he, who makes gifts of kine after having purchased the same with the proceeds of selling oneself.  That man, who, in the absence of kine, makes a gift of a cow made of sesame seeds, restraining his senses the while, is rescued by such a cow from every kind of calamity or distress.  Such a man sports in great felicity.  The mere gift of kine is not fraught with merit.  The considerations of deserving recipients, of time, of the kind of kine, and of the ritual to be observed, should be attended to.