Dakshina

(“preceptor’s fee”) Gifts or fees given to
one’s teacher in return for the services
rendered. The paradigm for this goes
back to the dharma literature, or the
texts on religious duty (dharma), which
propose an idealized doctrine for the
four stages (ashramas) of a man’s life.
The first of these stages is as a celibate
student (brahmacharin), in which the
young man will live in his teacher’s
household and commence studying the
Vedas, the oldest Hindu religious texts.
At the conclusion of his studies, the student will give his teacher dakshina as a
sign of appreciation. In modern times
this pattern has been extended to other
contexts, particularly the arts, and it has
become customary for students to
give gifts to their teachers on various
occasions, particularly on the full moon
known as Guru Purnima, which usually
falls in June or July. Dakshina is always
given in exchange for services, and is
thus essentially payment that is “owed”
for these services. In this aspect it is a
very different mode of exchange from
dana (charitable giving). Dana generates religious merit, but the donor
receives nothing tangible in return.