Gocarma
Gocarma · go-carma, “the hide of a cow”
Grammar: neuter noun; a compound of go (the cow) and carma (hide): “a cow’s hide”.
Meaning: a measure of space and of land.
In the scriptures: the Bhavishya Purāṇa says that the pāpa done day by day perishes by cleaning, day by day, a space the size of a gocarma in the temple (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 64). Whatever pāpa a man incurs for the sake of his livelihood is removed by giving land of the measure of a gocarma. That gift gains the fruit stated for the gift of a thousand gold coins and the puṇya of giving thousands of kapilā cows. A footnote verse reckons a gocarma as thirty daṇḍas, by the span of a man of middle stature (Uttara Parva, Chapter 164).
Related terms: Bhūmi-dāna · Daṇḍa · Dāna
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 64; Uttara Parva, Chapter 164