The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c19.s3.58

c19.s3.58

59. This would seem to be reason why the *Mīmāṃsā*, after discussing the point, decides that the dakṣiṇā is not a gift but a salary for services rendered (see Charles Malamoud, “Terminer le sacrifice,” in *Le Sacrifice dans l’Inde ancienne*, ed. Madeline Biardeau and Charles Malamoud [Paris, 1976], 155–204, esp. 179–82). This view, which makes the service and its payment an incidental transaction, “desacralizes” the dakṣiṇā and thereby neutralizes the danger the gift holds for the brahmin’s purity and independence.