gifts for Sanskrit teachers

[Claude Setzer]

From: Edwin Bryant <ebryant at FAS.HARVARD.EDU>

> settled on a wool chAdar. This is a fairly standard gift.  But it was of
> the best quality available. People who wear such things, such as
> traditional Sanskrit teachers, are well aware of the differences in
> quality between chAdars ( or different types of dhotis, etc).  He seemed
> well satisfied.  Edwin Bryant

Dhoti, shawl, chAdar are the "standard" or even "obligatory" type of ritual
gift for many types of "Vedic" and ritual situations. It also seems that a
more"personal" gift suited to the specific situation might be very much
appreciated in addition to the "expected" type of formal gift. I once
brought an exquisite and very expensive shawl on behalf of someone else and
a luscious Mango on behalf of myself. The teacher was away from India and
had not had a good mango for along time. It happened that he was extremely
excited about the mango and pretty indifferent about the shawl.


Claude Setzer
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