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Besides its gigantic size and encyclopaedic and eclectic nature of its content the Puranic corpus stands apart from the earlier Brahmanical literature in many significant ways; not the least of them being the fact that whereas the Vedas and the Dharmasastras had been meant for self-study and were for the exclusive religious edification of the members of the upper stratum, the Puranas were required to be recited in popular gatherings and were generally projected ...
The present book is the first major work dealing exhaustively with the unique institution of dana. What exactly is comprehended by the terms dana and daksina at different points of time? Why and how did the institution acquire its rigid formalised character? How far was its development linked with changes in material culture? What was its relevance to ancient society? What role did it play in exchange and redistribution? Did it affect the social and economic ...