In the article, “Prasada, the Gracious Gift, in Contemporary and Classical South Asia”, Andrea Marion Pinkney explores the meaning of prasada. She says that the term parsada have many meanings “from blessed pilgrims’ souvenirs such as flowers and vegetarian comestibles, to a mood of “happiness” or “favor” (Pinkney, Prasada, The Gracious Gift, in Contemporary and Classical South Asia, 735). In Hinduism, during the worship (puja), “devotees make some kind of offering to the deity (Pinkney, 746)”, typically consisting of food. It is believed that the deity partakes of and then returns the offering, thereby consecrating the gift. The offering is then distributed and eaten by the worshippers. Basically, food can be seen as a divine gift because
