Vṛshabha Dāna Mantra

Vṛshabha Dāna Mantra · vṛshabha-dāna-mantra, “the mantra of the gift of a bull”

The Vṛshabha dāna mantra is the verse said when a bull is given to a brāhmaṇa. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa teaches it to Yudhishṭhira in the Uttara Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa, when Yudhishṭhira, recalling that the bull, lord of cows, is of the form of Govinda, asks the fruit of its gift.

The setting

The gift of a bull is the purest of the pure and the best of gifts; one healthy, sturdy bull gives more fruit than ten milch cows. The bull should be well-fed, young, handsome, gentle, well-formed, humped and of auspicious marks; by giving even one such bull all the kulas of the giver are uplifted. On a puṇya-parva day silver is put on its tail, it is adorned, and it is given with dakshiṇā to a brāhmaṇa with this mantra.

The mantra

धर्मस्त्वं वृषरूपेण जगदानन्दकारकः।
अष्टमूर्तेरधिष्ठानमतः पाहि सनातन॥

dharmastvaṃ vṛsharūpeṇa jagadānandakārakaḥ |
ashṭamūrteradhishṭhānamataḥ pāhi sanātana ||

You are Dharma in the form of the vṛsha, the giver of delight to the world, the seat of the Ashṭamūrti; therefore protect me, O eternal one.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 160

The phala

The pāpas of seven past births of one who gives a bull by this rule are destroyed at that moment. At the end he goes to svarga in a divine vimāna yoked with bulls that moves at will, and for as many thousand years as there are hairs on the bull he is honoured in Goloka. Then he is born in the home of a brāhmaṇa of high kula, a performer of yajñas, of great tejas, honoured by all.

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 160