dákṣiṇā [diś] is the Sanskrit name of the Deccan plateau

Deccan Plateau

The Deccan Plateau is a large plateau in India, making up the majority of the southern part of the country. It rises a hundred meters high in the north, rising further to more than a kilometers high in the south, forming a raised triangle nested within the familiar downward-pointing triangle of...

. See Bharattherium

Bharattherium

Bharattherium is a mammal that lived in India during the Maastrichtian . The genus has a single species, Bharattherium bonapartei. It is part of the gondwanathere family Sudamericidae, which is also found in Madagascar and South America during the latest Cretaceous...

for the gondwanathere mammal, of which Dakshina is a junior synonym.

Dakshina in the historical Vedic religion

Historical Vedic religion

The religion of the Vedic period is a historical predecessor of Hinduism. Its liturgy is reflected in the mantra portion of the four Vedas, which are compiled in Sanskrit. The religious practices centered on a clergy administering rites...

 is the term for the recompense paid by the sacrificer for the services of a priest

Vedic priesthood

Priests of the Vedic religion were officiants of the yajna service. As persons trained for the ritual and proficient in its practice, they were called '...

, originally consisting of a cow

Sacred cow

Cattle are considered sacred in various world religions, most notably Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism as well as the religions of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome. In some regions, especially India, the slaughter of cattle may be prohibited and their meat may be...

 (according to Kātyāyana Śrautasūtra  15, Lāṭyāyana Śrautasūtra 8.1.2). The term itself is derived from this, the feminine being a term for a cow able to calve and give milk (a prolific cow, milch-cow) in the Rigveda

Rigveda

The Rigveda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns...

.

Dakshina is personified as a goddess along with Brahmanaspati, Indra

Indra

' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...

 and Soma

Soma

Soma , or Haoma , from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Vedic and greater Persian cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, whose Soma Mandala contains 114 hymns, many praising its energizing qualities...

 in RV 1.18.5 and RV 10.103.8, and is the reputed authoress of RV 10.107 according to the Anukramani

Anukramani

The Anukramanis are the systematic indices of Vedic hymns recording poetic meter, content, and traditions of authorship.-Anukramanis of the Rigveda:...

.
In later literature, in the Manusmrti and in the Ramayana

Ramayana

The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...

, the term acquires a more general meaning of "thanks" or "a gift".

Gurudakshina

Gurudakshina refers to the tradition of repaying one's teacher or guru

Guru

A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...

after a period of study or the completion of formal education. This tradition is one of acknowledgment, respect, and thanks. It is a form of reciprocity and exchange between student and teacher. The repayment is not exclusively monetary and may be a special task the teacher wants the student to accomplish.