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.
Author(s): Harald Wiese
Publisher: Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 276
City: Heidelberg
Tags: Indian studies; Cultural studies; Religion; Hinduism
Cover
Title
Imprint
Contents
Part 1: Preliminaries
I Abbreviations, symbols, figures, and tables
A Texts
B Mathematical Symbols
C Other abbreviations
D List of Figures
E List of Tables
II Introduction
A What this book is (not) about
B Definitions: Reciprocity, gifts, and altruism
C Modern perspectives
D Comparison as a method
III Setting the stage
A Trivarga and mokṣa
B Old Indian Texts
C Mīmāṃsā concepts
D The four ages
E The four classes
F The āśrama system
G Grounds for litigation
H Property, giving, sacrificing, and gifting
Part 2: Indian (and other emic) perspectives on giving and taking
IV Vedic perspectives
A Reciprocity in Vedic sacrifices
B Singing and sacrificing for a fee
C Teaching sons in Vedic and post-Vedic times
D Rituals, Vedic and post-Vedic
E Contract-keeping and truth-telling
F Hospitality
V The king
A Rājadharma and five monarchical theories of state
B Praising the king
C Teaching the king
D Engaging in competition in front of the king
E The patron king
F The king’s duties
G Bali for the king and the contest between the vital functions
H Taxes
VI Dharmadāna (Brahmanical theories of the gift)
A Causes, bases, components, etc. of giving
B The first cause: śraddhā
C The second cause: śakti
D Six bases (motivations) of giving
E The components of giving
F The effects of giving (in particular the worthy recipient) and the means of destruction
G The kinds of gifts and the types of gifts
H Special cases of gifts
I A difficult passage on reciprocity
VII Diverse transactions
A Women as economic actors
B Services (śuśrūṣā)
C Unsuccessful transactions
D Partition of inheritance (dāyavibhāga)
E Debts (ṛṇa)
F Void and voidable givings (adatta versus adeya)
VIII Buddhist perspectives
A Orientation
B Going for refuge and gifting
C Stories
D A simile for the giving triad
E Giving in the context of the bases of pure actions
F Less-idealised viewpoints on householders
G Taking what is not given
H Grounds for evil actions
IX Seneca on beneficium and fellowship
A Preliminary definition of beneficium
B Giving with a friendly face
C Giving in line with one’s means
D The worthy recipient
E Beneficium without the expectation of reciprocity
F Virtue and advantage in fellowship
X Christian perspectives
A Giving charity without boasting
B Giving in line with one’s means
C Umbra excusatiunculae non excusans
D Two-step donations
E Fac locus Christo cum filiis tuis
Part 3: Modern (etic) perspectives on Indian (and other) perspectives
XI The toolbox
A Models and theoretical predictions
B Person-to-person (Edgeworthian) exchange
C Impersonal (Walrasian) exchange
D Noncooperative game theory
E Shapley value
XII Structuring the modern perspectives
A Patterns of giving
B Overview of the third part
XIII Arthadāna and dānagrahaṇa in the private realm
A Egoism
B Auctions
C … but exchange may go wrong
D Differing interest rates
XIV Kanyādāna
A Five traits of kanyādāna
B Trautmann’s classification of marriage
C Lévi-Strauss' universal form of marriage versus Parry’s observation
D Matching grooms and brides in the cases of polygamy and hypergamy
XV Marketing and competition
A Marketing
B Marketing for ācāras
C Marketing for prospective pātras
D Competition between Brahmins or churches
E Modern marketing theory from the dānadharma perspective
XVI The king’s givings and takings
A Presumptive taxation
B The king’s compensation for theft
C Import and export duties
D Bali as a balancing mechanism in the contest between the vital functions
E The king’s fear of disloyal subjects or officials
F Juridical aside: Varuṇa rule
G Juridical aside: judicial wagers
XVII Yajña
A Actors and stages of sacrifices
B Premodern Indian criticism of Vedic ritualism
C Bloomfield’s “critical” views
D The dakṣiṇā as a hybrid form of payment
E Hubert and Mauss on the function of sacrifices
XVIII Thisworldly social effects of gifting and of not taking
A Anonymous giving in a homogeneous model
B A simple probabilistic model of beneficium reciprocity
C Common knowledge and rituals
D Outwitting and principal-agent theory
E Trustworthiness resulting from giving
XIX Dharmadāna (and Buddhist) perspectives
A The balanced gift
B The difficulty of giving in equlibrium
C A first attack on śraddhā and śakti
D Giving with transference of sin (pāpa)
E Trusted fruits versus discounted gifts
F Economic and moral feasibility (śakti, adeya)
G Gift-fruit technology
H Proactive giving
I Merit transfer
J Gifting without cost to the giver
K Altruistic conflict
Part 4: Retrospection
XX Conclusion: leftovers and wrapping up
A Diverse distribution rules
B The roles of Brahmins
C Greedy Brahmins?
D A secularisation process?
E The perfect gift
F Monetisation and the development of monism
G Revisiting Freiberger’s classifications
Part 5: Appendices and Indices
XXI Appendices
A Pure altruism
B Matching grooms and brides in the cases of polygamy and hypergamy
C Anonymous giving in a homogeneous model with productive receivers
D A simple probabilistic model of beneficium reciprocity
E Proactive giving
F Egoistic and altruistic conflicts
Publication bibliography
Index
