The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c16.17

c16.17

In this connection, the distinction between sharing and exchange seems to be relevant. Sharing food and other goods among brothers is essentially different from exchange. The difference will be immediately evident when we consider that brothers do not as a rule exchange sisters and daughters (though they may share the same wife, as the Pāṇḍava brothers did). In sharing, nothing is passed from one partner to the other. Every sharer knows the dish, his part in it and when to dip in; there are no uncertainties and no further arrangements are necessary once the rules have been agreed upon.