dāna
“merit of gift-giving”
idea · 5 works · 6 mentions · 12 anchored passages
gift · Dharma of giving · dowry gifts · gift of cows · gift-giving · giving · invalid gift · meritorious gift · the dān · the gift
spoken of as
3 expressionsGift-giving“dāna”2 mentions
Manusmṛti (Sanskrit) · Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa (Sanskrit)
A giver of land obtains land;
in the texts
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa
The doctrine that charitable giving yields great merit, and its absence brings suffering.
"For the gift of something already given is said to yield very great fruit;
"'"You made not even the smallest gift in that forest inhabited by living creatures;
The father of the brides gave unsurpassed female and male attendants, as well as silver, gold, pearls, and coral.
Atharvaveda (Paippalāda)
The ritual gift whose bestowal frees one from darkness.
Without the gift of the dān, one is not freed from darkness.
Bṛhaspati Smṛti
The act of giving property, classified into valid, invalid, and void categories with graded religious merit depending on recipient.
14 Invalid and Valid Gifts
A gift to a Shudra is of equal merit;
what is other than this would be invalid to give.
Manusmṛti
The practice and duty of charitable giving, with specific gifts yielding specific cosmological rewards.
A giver of land obtains land;
and a gift perishes through boasting.
A giver of water obtains satisfaction;
Slokantara
The practice of giving, whose spiritual reward varies by timing, recipient, and the giver's inner state.
[Slo_01j§4] So it is with *dharma*.
This is how a virtuous person should perform a meritorious gift.
The *kṛṣṇa-brahmacārī* is defined as one who marries four times at the very most.