From the very beginning the Buddhist order was dependent on donations, which were attractive for laypeople because of the merit thus accumulated. Therefore, names of donors were carefully documented in both, inscriptions, and, as soon as manuscripts are extant, also in colophons. Sometimes joint donations were made by families, whose members are named, under lucky circumstances even with an indication of their mutual relation such as parents, brothers, sisters etc. as participating in the merit made. This allows occasionally glimpses of the composition of average families and estimating their approximate seize in the ancient Indian cultural area. Hardly anything is known otherwise about this facet of Indian social history.

从一开始，佛教徒就依靠捐款，由于积累的功劳，捐款对外行很有吸引力。因此，在铭文中以及在手稿上一经存在的口香糖中，都仔细地记录了捐赠者的姓名。有时，在有幸的情况下，由其成员被命名的家庭共同捐赠，甚至表明父母，兄弟，姐妹等彼此之间的相互关系也代表了他们的功绩。这样一来，偶尔就能瞥见普通家庭的构成，并估计他们在古代印度文化地区的大概占有率。关于印度社会历史的这一方面，几乎没有其他任何人知道。