Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s18.10

v1.c3.s18.10

Dakṣiṇā appears repeatedly in the Rigveda¹ and later² as the designation of the gift presented to priests at the sacrifice, apparently because a cow—a prolific (dakṣiṇā) one—was the usual ‘fee’³ on such an occasion.⁴ The later Dāna-stutis, or ‘Praises of Gifts,’ in the Rigveda immensely exaggerate these donations, and the exaggeration grows in the Brāhmaṇas. It is important to notice that these enumerations of gifts in the main include nothing but articles of personal property, such as kine, horses, buffaloes, or camels (uṣtra), ornaments, and so forth, but not land.⁵ Reference is, however, made in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa⁶ to land as a Dakṣiṇā, but with disapproval, probably because the land came to be regarded as inalienable without the consent of the clansmen.⁷