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^*^^*^ ori^ *\^ ^y°n ^*"y that the sacrifice as su f*^' I*d ^ ^''^^"'^* ^^"' tive an institution ^s ^^ >^as n ? ^^^ ^^^ ^ ^^ the hymns owe their J!'^*'^*^ l>oL? ^.""^^ ^^ P''^"'^' or domestic holy.dayg ^^n to ""^ '**^^^- ^°^* ^^ a much more simply n„t- *** th ***^'*^^°e8. to public monial. When the fatK ^^ <^liai?!t ^^^^fices were of poet, and ki"& in one *" of *]® ^^er Vedic cere- ^^**Son * ^^niily ^as priest, ' *here was no thought PUROHITAS. 485 as yet of distributing the ceremonial duties among sixteen priests, each performing his own peculiar office, or of measuring the length of every log that should be put on the fire, and determining the shape of every vessel in which the libations should be offered. It was only after a long succession of sacrifices that the spontaneous acts and observances of former generations would be treasured up, and established as generally binding. It was only after the true meaning of the sacrifice was lost, that un- meaning ceremonies could gain that importance which they have in the eyes of priests. If a hjrmn addressed to the gods had been heard, if a famine had ceased after a prayer, an illness been cured with a charm, an enemy been vanquished with war songs ; not only would these songs, however poor, be lept and handed down in a family as the most precious heir- loom, but the position in which the poet recited them, the time of the day, the most minute circumstances of every act, would be' superstitiously preserved, in order to insure the future efficiency of the prayer. This was the origin of a ceremonial so complicated as that of the Brahmans. Now, we find in some of the hymns allusions which refer, not to a naturally grow- ing, but to an artificial and a decaying ceremonial. The most ancient name for a priest by profession was Purohita^ which only means prcepositus or prcBses. The Purohita, however, was more than a priest. He was the friend and counsellor of a chief, the minister of a king, and his companion in peace and war. Yasishtha and Yi^v^mitra, who with their families have both been the Purohitas of King Sud&s, did more for the king than chaunting h3anns to im- plore the aid of their gods. Yasishtha was with the I I 3 MgQ PUB0HIT-A8. ^„ of" SudlLs when that king conquered the ten Vn<^ -^vho had crossed the Parushnl (Hydraotis, Hawi ) ; VifivAmitra, when Sud4s himself crossed the Vipa^^ (Hyphasis, 6ejah) and the iSatadru (Hesudrus, Sutler )-^ The importance of their office is best vqw^^o l>y *^® violent contest which these two families o \\xG Vasishthas and Yi^v&mitras carried on, in order to secure for themselves the hereditary dig- nity ^^ Purohita. There was a similar contest be- tween the priests at the Court of Asam&ti, a de- scendant of IkshvAku. He, not satisfied with his four Purohitas, Bandhu, Subandhu, iSrutabandhu, and Viprahandhu, who were brothers and belonged to the family of the Gaup4yanas, dismissed them, and appointed two new priests (mfty4vinau). These new Purohitas, seeing that the Gaup&yanas used incanta- tions against the life of King Asam4ti, retaliated, and caused, by their charms, the death of one of them, Subandhu. Thereupon the other three bro- thers composed a song to appease the wrath of the two priests, and to save their own lives. This song and some others connected with the same contest, fornn part ol the 8th Ashtaka of the Rig-veda. Tiie very fact of the office of Purohita being here- ditary flbows that it partook of a political character- It seeiais to have been so at an early time. In a hymn of the Rig-veda, i. 94. 6, where Agni is invoked under several priestly names, he is called, JanushA Purohita or rurohita by birth, Cf. i. 102. 8. And we find several instances where priests, if once employed by a T*oyal family, claim to be employed always. When Janaejaya PArikshita ventured to perform a sacrifice 1 See Prof. Roth's excellent essay on Vasishtha and Viivamitra, in l^^^ work, " Zur Literaturund Geschichte desVeda," published as early as 1846. n P I tl t] h tl a i: h 1: r c t ** Tbe king before who, *i, well established in his o V*®^^ "^^^ a priest, lives yields for ever, and b^'* ^se ; to Wm the earth of their own accord. ®*<>re him the people bow * Unopposed he "cona enemies and his friends l?-*** *'*easures, those of his presents to a Brahman •' .f*"*lf a king, who makes This shows that the ^ ^"^^ P'-otect him." at the courts of the Ksha.^^^^^'^^^ of the Brahmans ential than that of mere''^'^*" kings was more influ- before the king, and conai^'' *P^*"8. They walked to him. In later timea "^^ themselves superior of the ceremom^ ^^ lonJe.^^^^ *^ performance "f^u ^'^r^.P^^^t, 4S^^ *^ place of the so- the whole, though h** i>- ^^^ Waa ♦k„ „. <? in it. Thus at the ''^If W A.t ^^f^' 1 scribed in the AiUr^^^^fice ^ h ^k*"^^' ^ acts as Udgatri, Jamad^^^^^'^ana ^^H^^^^f^^/"- as Hotri, and VasSk^lT^i ^s Xdh^'' ^^-J^ ^^^^^ rohita of the Ikshvlw -.^ ^**o Ts t y"' ^^^"^''"*'' Taittinya-sanhita n^ V^^^ty^ a 1?''^ ^ *^® ^"" born, having a Vasiehft' ^>> S^^r '?^™""- I'^*^^ fore a Vasishtha is [^^^^ fb^ I>u^- "^° ^^ the Aitareya-brfthman,. ^^osen ^^ ^**' ^^^ *^®'*' tified with BrihaspaS ^^^^*^ tL*S ^'"al^man." In pura-etri of the gods. ' ^^^ ^^^ ^Jahman is iden- The original instituf Purohita, or spiritual adviser of a j?.** ^f' a r be regarded as the sifi^**^^ oj. ^"^^hita, as the archical system. Xh© ^^ a / ^^^^^* need not must have been a pecul?^®^*ion . advanced hier- very beginning. They ^^^ o^e • *^ Brahmans as a class of men of hig^^t>eai. f^"^ ^^^ia from the ^tual po^er than EARLIEST INDICATIONS OF THE CEREMONIAL, 489 the rest of the Aryan colonists; and their general position, if at all recognised, could hardly have been diflFerent from that of Vasishtha in the camp of Sudd.s. The hymns, therefore, which only allude to a Purohita, or priests in general, need not be ascribed to a late age. But when Ave meet in certain hymns, not only with these, but with various grades of priests, we may be sure that such hymns belong to the Mantra period, and not to the age of primitive Vedic poetry. This is a question of degree. If we find such verses as ^^ the singers sing thee, the chaunters chaunt thee ^," where the singers are called not by their tech- nical name of Udgfi,tri, but Gd.yatrins, and the chaun- ters not by their technical name of Hotri, but Arkins, all we can^aay is that the later division of the sacrifice between Hotri and Udgfi,tri priests is here found in its first elements. It does not follow that there existed at that time two recognised classes of priests, still less that the Udg&tris wjere then in possession of their own Sanhitfi,. But in Rv. v. 44. 14. we read : " The Rich verses long for the god who watches ; the S&man verses go to him who watches ; this Soma libation calls for him that watches : I, 0 Agni, am at home in thy friendship." ^ Here it is clear that the distinction between Rich verses, that were recited, and Saman verses, that were 1 Rv. i. 10. iiiejfJl m THsrf^wtS'fBnf^lf^: I 2 ^ ^RTT ^i^: *yMM^ ^ ^f^nx rig mmU ^i ^ BRIT ^T^ ^^ ^wr^ d^i'Ciff^ ^ ^^Vqrr: ii Rv. viii. 3. 22. ^4^miiirtii 4^0 EARLIEST INDICATIONS OP THE CEBBMOm^i. su§r, ^J* ^^^%^ established, though again we nee<3- ^t g^ o for as to maintain the Actual exis^ ence of a prayer-book for the UdgAtri nriests performed the principal acts of the sacrificJare like- wise aUuded to m the hymns. We r^l^lZ Z 10 z " Accept, O Indra, what is offeZTfu V 1 hand of the Adhvaryu op thVL -1 *^^^ ^™ *^® of the Hotri." ^"' '''^ ^^'^ ^"fie of the libatioD There are several hvmna t.,,;v. fore, where we only meet ^1 n '• ^^^S^^ *^'^- of^e moon, and tCtcTr^ ' """? '^^'P^^^ heart to render ti^^^^^^^^^t s^pe^ to 4be hunmn ^the changes of nat fenown Powers that SfeT prove by no means?^* thf J*'^."^*"^" ^^ ^"f ^'^ ^^pose, that at the time^/ ^L '^''" commentators the lunar ceremonies ^^^ft^e ancient Vedic poete complicated nature as in w!,***^ "^Z ^^^^^p*"^? 194.-4: " Let us bring f!*?'*"^^' ^^ '^' ^.^ ^• remembering thee at efch ' ?* "' prepare oblations ''"^^n conjunction of the moon.*^ I I translate parva by coni ia ased for the fuU and new i^ '**^**°' ^anw parva^ the dual, Mr.