Go-dāna
Go-dāna · go-dāna, “the gift of cows”
Grammar: neuter noun; a compound of go (cow) and dāna (gift, from the root dā, to give): “the gift of a cow”.
Meaning: the dāna of cows, usually adorned and with their calves, to brāhmaṇas learned in the Veda; one of the chief dānas, given at births and festivals and as daily dharma.
In the scriptures: the Bhāgavata Purāṇa tells of go-dāna at the birth of Śrī Kṛshṇa, in his daily life at Dvārakā, and in the account of King Nṛga.
At the birth of Śrī Kṛshṇa. Śuka tells Parīkshit that when Śrī Kṛshṇa was born in the prison, Vasudeva made a saṅkalpa to give ten thousand cows in dāna to brāhmaṇas learned in the Veda (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 3). In Gokula, at the festival of the birth, Nanda gave two lakh well-adorned cows to the knowers of the Veda, and gave garments, ornaments, cows and wealth to the gopīs and gopālakas, the paurāṇikas and the singers (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 5).
Cows as a root of dharma. Kaṃsa‘s ministers told him that Vishṇu is the root of the devas, and that the Veda, cows, the knowers of the Veda, tapas and yajñas with dakshiṇā are the roots of the eternal dharma in which Vishṇu dwells. So, they said, they would destroy the knowers of the Veda, the tapasvins, and the cows that give milk, the wealth of the homa (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 4).
King Nṛga. Śuka tells Parīkshit that the young Yādavas found a chameleon as big as a mountain in a dry well, and Śrī Kṛshṇa lifted it out. It was King Nṛga, who told him: “As many as the grains of sand on the earth, the stars in the sky and the drops of rain, so many cows I gave in dāna: young, milk-giving kapilā cows with their calves, gained by just means, of good breed, with gold on their horns, given to excellent young brāhmaṇas of good character whose families were poor.” But a cow of one brāhmaṇa strayed into his herd, and not knowing it he gave it to another. Both brāhmaṇas claimed it; Nṛga offered a lakh of fine cows in its place, but neither would take them. When his life ended, Yama‘s servants took him to Yamaloka, and for that fault he fell and took the form of a chameleon (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 64).
Śrī Kṛshṇa’s daily gift. When Nārada went through the palaces of Dvārakā, in one place he saw Śrī Kṛshṇa adorning cows and giving them in dāna to the best of brāhmaṇas (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 69). Śuka tells that every day Śrī Kṛshṇa adorned the knowers of the Veda and gave them a mandā (the text glosses it “about 13 thousand”) of gentle first-calving cows with their calves, giving much milk, their horns sheathed in gold and the tips of their hooves in silver, with fine cloths and pearl necklaces laid over them, and with them silk cloths, black-buck skins and sesame. Then he bowed to the cows, the knowers of the Veda, the elders and his mother and father, who are his own vibhūtis (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 70).
Related terms: Go · Dāna · Kapilā · Dakshiṇā · Brāhmaṇa · Pūrta
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapters 3–5, 64, 69–70