FROM BENARES. 451 



thing above and below, free (from all claims) in every direction, as far as 

 the boundary Hues extend, 



(Here follows a mantra which appears to instigate the bestowing of gifts 

 according to the individual's ability. I however am unable to explain it.) 

 On the subject of the mantra are the following couplets: 



1st. He who accepts land and he who gives it are both performers of a 

 virtuous 28 deed, they both assuredly obtain heaven. 



2nd. Oh Purandara,* 9 the conch, a throne, an umbrella, noble steeds, 

 and fine elephants are the signs of having bestowed land, they are the re- 

 ward. 



Srd. Rama Chandra thus solicits all those monarchs who may reign JO in 

 future (that is, after him,) "Bestowing of land is the common road to virtue 

 amongst princes; do ye all practise it accordingly during your reigns." 



4th. " When my race may become extinct, let whoever may be the mo- 

 narch, to him do I join my hands requesting he will not set aside this grant." 



5th. "This earth has been enjoyed by Sagara 31 and numerous other mo- 

 narchs to whomsoever the soil at any time belongs, to him at that time be- 

 long the fruits of it." 



6th. " He who forcibly seizes a single cow, a single swarna, or even a 

 " single finger's breadth of land given in a present, dwells in the infernal re- 

 "gions for a period of fourteen Indras." 32 



7th. " A depriver of land besloived in gift cannot expiate his offence by 

 digging one thousand tanks, or by the virtue which results from the per- 

 formance of an aswamedha; 33 not even by presenting ten millions of cows," 



E co2 



