[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930) › v2.c20.43 # History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c20.43 History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c20.43 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c20.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c20.43) 28 say that a gift given to a brāhmaṇa (who is only so by caste, but is not learned), to a śrotriya (or ācārya) and to one who has completely mastered all the Vedas (with their subsidiary lores) respectively confers merit which is twice, a hundred thousand times or an infinite number of times more than the merit conferred by a gift to a non-brāhmaṇa. Gautama²⁴⁷ (V. 19-20) and Baudhāyana II. 3. 24 further make it obligatory to give outside the sacrificial altar according to one's ability a portion of one's wealth to a brāhmaṇa, \*śrotriya\* and \*veda-pāraga\* when they seek help for giving a dakṣiṇā to their teacher (at the end of the period of studenthood), for their own marriage, for medicine, for their own maintenance (that day), for a sacrifice, for their own study or journey, and when everything has been given in a Viśvajit sacrifice and that one must give cooked food to all others who beg for it (except brāhmaṇa, śrotriya and vedapāraga). Manu (XI. 1-3) gives practically the same rule. In the Vaiśvadeva the householder was enjoined to give food to every one including even dogs and cāṇḍālas, as we shall see later on (under²⁴⁸ Vaiśvadeva). Medhātithi on Manu IV. 5 says that when a person makes a gift through compassion it is not the \*dāna\* and \*pratigraha\* spoken of by the śāstra; just as when a man gives instruction as to what is beneficial he does not care to see what the caste of the person to be benefitted by the advice is, so a gift made through compassion is made irrespective of caste; and that when non-brāhmaṇas reduced to a helpless condition take what is given by others, it cannot be said that they are assuming to themselves the livelihood by \*pratigraha\* which is a peculiar means of livelihood for brāhmaṇas.²⁴⁹ - [Previous: v2.c20.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c20.42) - [Next: v2.c20.44](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c20.44) - [Up: v2.c20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c20) ## Cites (4) - [Mānava Dharmaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.manu.11.1) — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit - [Gautamadharmasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.kalpa.dharma.gautama.5.19) — Gautama (dharmasūtrakāra), Sanskrit - [Baudhāyanadharmasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.kalpa.dharma.baudhayana) — Baudhāyana, Sanskrit - [Āpastambadharmasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.kalpa.dharma.apastamba) — Āpastamba, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c20.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c20.43) · Pramāṇa