The act of gift making is never one sided and always has something in store for the donor. A gift could be given out of fear, out of pity, for gaining profits, for atonement of sins, for personal gain and welfare etc.
When dealing with the donors as a class, one can see an exceptionally large group of people. This can vary from the King himself, to his close relatives, to the ministers and royal officers, to nobles, merchants, artisans and peasants. When dealing with the case study of Early Medieval Rajasthan, there was one class of donors which emerged extremely powerful, which was the class of Merchants. The slowly growing commercial activity in Western India, especially after the tenth century led to the emergence of a prosperous and powerful class which eventually went on to dominate the politics, society and economy of this region. .
The merchant class evolved from the status of Vaishya and gained a status as high as that of Brahmans in learning and politics, and as that of a Kshatriya in war. However, certain records from the Pre-Pratihara and Pratihara period (generally from 8th to 11th century) also talk about the emergence of a new class which intermingled with the existing mercantile patterns and laid the base for strong mercantile activity in the post-tenth century era. "These records seem to suggest the presence of old settlement areas and centres of merchant activities where merchants are seen as undertaking works of religion benefactions and having 'prashastis' composed in honour of their family and caste." .
Through activities concerning trade, agriculture and cattle rearing are considered to be the traits of the Vaishyas, this period saw the people from all sections and strata of society taking up trade. This suggests that trade in western India was not restricted to a particular caste and anybody with skill will and enterprise could take to mercantile activity. Trade had become an important activity and despite people having roles and occupation assigned to them according to their Varnas, trade was followed by all segments of the society.