Ebook: Exchange, gifting, and sacrificing: Premodern Indian perspectives

In both the Vedic and Classical periods there was a special elite of people called Brahmins. Roughly speaking, one could say that their material well-being depended on dakṣiṇā in the Vedic period and on dāna in the classical period.

Broadening the perspective beyond dakṣiṇā and dāna, this book addresses all types of giving in the context of premodern India, using Vedic, Sanskrit, Buddhist, and, to a much lesser extent, Roman and Christian sources. The Brahminical theory of gift-giving (i.e., the theory of dutiful gift-giving, dharmadāna) is an important focus and motivation for this study.