ABSTRACT
Indian systems of learning have extensively theorized the gift (dāna) as a means of investigating moral practices and virtues. The Sanskrit word dāna, translated as gift, generosity, gift-giving, alms, and hospitality, describes a key religious practice of making merit as well as a central social value of hospitality widely affirmed in South Asian religions. Dāna attracted considerable interest in premodern traditions of Indic thought among Dharmaśāstra, Jain, and Buddhist scholars. In these traditions, dāna was treated as part of a branch of knowledge called ācāra, that is, the systematic investigation of moral and religious custom or practice.
