Dana

(“giving”) Charitable giving. This is a
common religious practice, for it is
believed to be a pious act that generates
religious merit. Dana is especially prevalent at pilgrimage places and other
sacred sites (tirthas), since the sacredness of these places is believed to magnify the consequences of any act,
whether good or bad. Dana is one of the
traditional paradigms for exchange, the
other being dakshina (preceptor’s fee).
The difference between them is that
dakshina is a fee for services, whereas
dana is given freely and brings one no
tangible benefits. Aside from the intangible religious merit generated by
dana, it is also a common way to get rid
of any inauspiciousness or ill fortune,
which is transferred to the receiver
along with the gift. This assumption
makes receiving dana karmically risky,
whereas there are no such stigmas
associated with dakshina. People who
live solely by receiving gifts, such as
beggars at pilgrimage sites, are thus in
an unenviable position, since they are
commonly described as “vessels”
(patras) for the depositing of ill fortune. Yet this transfer of inauspiciousness is a pervasive pattern in regular
society, and even within the family there
are means to transfer inauspiciousness
through well-established gift-giving patterns, particularly the kanyadan, or gift
of a bride in marriage. For further information on dana and gift-giving patterns,
see Gloria Goodwin Raheja, The Poison
in the Gift, 1988.