The term dāna carries wide significance in South Asian cultures and religions. It refers generally to a charitable gift, offering, or alms. Any charitable donation can be considered a dāna, as can a grant or endowment, particularly to a charity or religious institution. In the specifically ritual domain, it commonly denotes gifting to venerated religious figures, human or divine, but this is only a part of a picture that also includes ritualized gifting in cer…