“Gift” in Gāndhārī epigraphical sources. A comparative analysis of G. <i>dana-, danamuha</i> - and <i>deyadhaṃma-</i>

Abstract This article examines the lexicon for “gift” in the Gāndhārī epigraphical corpus, focusing on three key word-forms: G. dana-, danamuha - and deyadhaṃma -. These terms, which denote the meaning of “gift”, appear 36, 111 and 14 times respectively (both as single words and as compound constituents) in Gāndhārī inscriptions currently recorded in the CKI. Despite their frequent appearance, existing scholarship has primarily restricted itself to identifying their synonymous functions or analysing their grammatical construction in the case of the two compounds. No comprehensive study has yet catalogued all occurrences of these word-forms, traced their semantic development or examined the reasons behind their changing usage over time. This article addresses this gap by providing a complete inventory of the occurrences of these word-forms in the Gāndhārī epigraphical corpus and examining their use in non-Gāndhārī sources. It also presents a semantic analysis, exploring their synchronic and diachronic relationships within Gāndhārī inscriptions.