the giving of food
Annadaanअन्नदान
Feeding someone who is hungry — the daan that answers a need which cannot wait.
Annadaan is the giving of food, and across Indian tradition it is treated as the most immediate form of daan because hunger is the one need that cannot be postponed. A person who is hungry cannot be helped later.
It is the daan performed at temple kitchens and gurudwara langars, at shraddha rites for ancestors, and at festivals across every community. The langar tradition in Sikhism institutionalised it most visibly: a free kitchen where anyone, of any caste or faith, sits in the same row and eats the same meal.
In its modern form annadaan is community kitchens, school midday meals, food banks, and the rescue of surplus food that would otherwise be thrown away while people nearby go without.
When it is given
Commonly given on Amavasya, during Pitru Paksha in the name of ancestors, at Akshaya Tritiya, and on birthdays and death anniversaries.
