This article considers the gift as a medium of politics in two parallel domains, namely the electoral and the ritual. Juxtaposing the material transactions during a rural election campaign and the distribution of meat after a sacrifice in a vernacular polity, it traces the continuing interpenetrations between philanthropy and politics in lubricating political associations. The properties of the political gift and the proprieties of its giving are what create political value. The right to govern is premised upon the prerogative to give. The right to give, however, is premised on the obligation to receive. The coercive gift—which one is not allowed to reciprocate but more importantly does not want and is forced to receive—is the animus of a politics that is premised upon caste and class hierarchies that also reverberate through democratic governance. What compels the political gift’s receiving, and deliberately negates its reciprocity—its spirit or force—is the implicit threat of violence that it harbours.

中文翻译：

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强制性礼物：泰米尔纳德邦村庄的仪式和选举交易以及政治价值1

本文将礼物视为两个平行领域中的政治媒介，即选举和仪式。将农村竞选期间的物质交易与白话政体中牺牲后的肉类分配并列，追溯了慈善与政治之间在润滑政治协会方面的持续相互渗透。政治礼物的属性及其给予的礼节是创造政治价值的因素。治理权以给予的特权为前提。然而，给予的权利是以接受的义务为前提的。强制性礼物——不允许回报，但更重要的是不想要并被迫接受——是一种以种姓和阶级等级为前提的政治的敌意，这种政治也通过民主治理产生反响。