Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s2.354

v2.c4.s2.354

2. Gifts to Brahmins.—The Dānastuti (‘Praise of gifts’) is a recognized feature of the Rigveda, and the greed of the poets for Dakṣiṇās, or sacrificial fees, is notorious. Vedic texts²² themselves recognize that the literature thence resulting (Nārā- śamsī) was often false to please the donors. It was, however, a rule²³ that Brahmins should not accept what had been refused by others; this indicates a keen sense of the danger of cheapening their wares. So exclusively theirs was the right to receive gifts that the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa²⁴ has to explain how Taranta and Purumiḷha became able to accept gifts by composing a Rigvedic hymn.²⁵ The exaggerations in the celebration of the gifts bestowed on the priests has the curious result of giving us a series of numerals of some interest (Daśan). In some passages²⁶ certain gifts—those of a horse or sheep—are forbidden, but this rule was not, it is clear, generally observed.