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Priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...
s of the Vedic religion are officiants of the ''
yajna Yajna ( sa, यज्ञ, yajña, translit-std=IAST, sacrifice, devotion, worship, offering) refers in Hinduism to any ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras.SG Nigal (1986), Axiological Approach to the Vedas, Northern Boo ...
'' service. Yajna is an important part of Hinduism, especially the Vedas. Persons trained for the ritual and proficient in its practice were called ( ' regularly-
sacrificing Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exis ...
'). As members of a social class, they were generically known as 'sage' or 'seer'. Specialization of roles attended the elaboration and development of the ritual corpus over time. Eventually a full complement of sixteen 's became the custom for major ceremonies. The sixteen consisted of four chief priests and their assistants.


Chief priests

The older references uniformly indicate the Writtiks and Purohits then ' as the presiding priest, with perhaps only the ''adhvaryu'' as his assistant in the earliest times. The phrase "seven hotars" is found more than once in the
Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts ('' śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only on ...
. Hymn 2.1.2 of Rigveda states it as follows, The above hymn enumerate the priests as the ', ', ', ''agnīdh'', ' (meaning the ''maitrāvaruna'') and ''adhvaryu''. *The was the reciter of invocations and litanies. These could consist of single verses ('), strophes (triples called ' or pairs called ''pragātha''), or entire hymns (''sukta''), drawn from the '. As each phase of the ritual required an invocation, the ' had a leading or presiding role. *The adhvaryu was in charge of the physical details of the sacrifice (in particular the ''adhvara'', a term for the Somayajna). According to
Monier-Williams Sir Monier Monier-Williams (; né Williams; 12 November 1819 – 11 April 1899) was a British scholar who was the second Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University, England. He studied, documented and taught Asian languages, especially ...
, the ''adhvaryu'' "had to measure the ground, to build the altar, to prepare the sacrificial vessels, to fetch wood and water, to light the fire, to bring the animal and immolate it," among other duties. Each action was accompanied by supplicative or benedictive formulas (''yajus''), drawn from the ''
yajurveda The ''Yajurveda'' ( sa, यजुर्वेद, ', from ' meaning "worship", and ''veda'' meaning "knowledge") is the Veda primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals.Michael Witzel (2003), "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in ''The Blackwell C ...
''. Over time, the role of the ''adhvaryu'' grew in importance, and many verses of the ' were incorporated, either intact or adapted, into the texts of the ''yajurveda''. *The was a chanter of hymns set to melodies (''sāman'') drawn from the ''sāmaveda''. This was a specialized role in the major
soma Soma may refer to: Businesses and brands * SOMA (architects), a New York–based firm of architects * Soma (company), a company that designs eco-friendly water filtration systems * SOMA Fabrications, a builder of bicycle frames and other bicycle ...
sacrifices: a characteristic function of the ' was to sing hymns in praise of the invigorating properties of ''soma pavamāna'', the freshly pressed juice of the soma plant. *The was the reciter of hymns from the ' who was largely silent and observes the procedures and uses Atharvaveda mantras to 'heal' it when mistakes have been made. The term
Brahman In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' ( sa, ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part X ...
in the above hymn 2.1.2 refers to deity
Agni Agni (English: , sa, अग्नि, translit=Agni) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction and is typically found in southeast corners of Hi ...
of hymn 2.1.1. The rgvedic
Brahmanas The Brahmanas (; Sanskrit: , ''Brāhmaṇam'') are Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas. They are a secondary layer or classification of Sanskrit texts embedded within ...
, Aitareya and Kausitaki, specify seven ''hotraka''s to recite ''shastra''s (litanies): ', ''brāhmanācchamsin'', ''maitrāvaruna'', ', ', ''agnīdh'' and ''acchāvāka''. They also carry a legend to explain the origin of the offices of the ''subrahmanya'' and the ''grāvastut''.


Purohita

The requirements of the fully developed ritual were rigorous enough that only professional priests could perform them adequately. Thus, whereas in the earliest times, the true sacrificer, or intended beneficiary of the rite, might have been a direct participant, in Vedic times he was only a sponsor, the ''yajamāna'', with the ' or ''brahman'' taking his stead in the ritual. In this seconding lay the origins of the growing importance of the ''
purohita Purohita ( sa, पुरोहित), in the Hindu context, means ''chaplain'' or ''family priest'' within the Vedic priesthood. In Thailand and Cambodia, it refers to the royal chaplains. Etymology The word ''purohita'' derives from the ...
'' (literally, "one who is placed in front"). It was not unusual for a ''purohita'' to be the ' or ''brahman'' at a sacrifice for his master, besides conducting other more domestic ('' '') rituals for him also. In latter days, with the disappearance of Vedic ritual practice, ''purohita'' has become a generic term for "priest".


Assistants

In the systematic expositions of the ''
shrauta sutra Kalpa ( sa, कल्प) means "proper, fit" and is one of the six disciplines of the Vedānga, or ancillary science connected with the Vedas – the scriptures of Hinduism. This field of study is focused on the procedures and ceremonies assoc ...
s'', which date to the fifth or sixth century BCE, the assistants are classified into four groups associated with each of the four chief priests, although the classifications are artificial and in some cases incorrect: *With the ': **the maitrāvaruna **the acchāvāka **the grāvastut (praising the Soma stones) *With the ': **the (who chants the Prastâva) **the ("averter") **the subrahmanya *With the ''adhvaryu'': **the **the **the (who pours the Soma juice into the receptacles ) *With the ''brahman'': **the brāhmanācchamsin **the agnīdh (priest who kindles the sacred fire) **the ("purifier")


Philological comparisons

Comparison with the sacred texts of
Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...
, a distinct religion with the same origins, shows the antiquity of terms for priests such as ''*atharwan'' (
Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...
''
atharvan Atharvan ( '; an ''n''-stem with nominative singular ') is a legendary Vedic sage (rishi) of Hinduism, who along with Angiras, is supposed to have authored (" heard") the Atharvaveda. He is also said to have first instituted the fire-sacrif ...
''; cognate to
Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...
) and ''*zhautar'' (Ved. ''hotar''; Av. ) 'invoker, sacrificer'. While ''*zhautar'' is well understood, the original meaning of ''*atharwan'' is unknown. The word ''atharvan'' appears in the Rig Veda (e.g., in RV 6.16.13 where Agni is said to have been churned by Atharvan from the mind of every poet). In the Younger Avesta, appears in a context that suggests "missionary," perhaps by metathesis from Indo-Iranian ''*arthavan'' "possessing purpose." However, a recent theory indicates that Proto Indo-Iranian ''*atharwan'' likely represents a substrate word from the unknown language of the BMAC civilization of Central Asia. It can be analyzed as BMAC ''*athar-'' plus the Indo-Iranian possessive suffix ''*-wan'', in which case ''*atharwan'' would be "one who possesses ''*athar''". Though the meaning of ''*athar'' is unknown, Pinault speculates that it meant "superior force" and connects it to the Tocharian word for "hero". In the ''
Upanishads The Upanishads (; sa, उपनिषद् ) are late Vedic Sanskrit texts that supplied the basis of later Hindu philosophy.Wendy Doniger (1990), ''Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism'', 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, , ...
'', appears for example in , a compound of and , either two eponymous rishis or their family names. In present-day Indian Zoroastrian (
Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...
) tradition the word ''athornan'' is used to distinguish the priesthood from the laity (the ''behdin''). These subdivisions (in the historical Indian context, ''castes''), and the terms used to describe them, are relatively recent developments specific to Indian Zoroastrians and although the words themselves are old, the meaning that they came to have for the Parsis are influenced by their centuries-long coexistence with Hinduism. It appears then that the Indian Zoroastrian priests re-adopted the older (in preference to the traditional, and very well attested derivative ''āsron'') for its similarity to Hinduism's , which the Parsi priests then additionally assumed was derived from Avestan '' ātar'' 'fire'. This folk-etymology may "have been prompted by what is probably a mistaken assumption of the importance of fire in the ancient Indo-Iranian religion". The division of priestly functions among the Hotar, the Udgatar and the Adhvaryu has been compared to the
Celt The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...
ic priesthood as reported by
Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...
, with the
Druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...
s as high priests, the
Bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise ...
s doing the chanting and the Vates performing the actual sacrifice.


See also

* Agnihotra * Agnistoma *
Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests ( purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers ( ...
* Namboothiri *
Śrāddha Śrāddha ( sa, श्राद्ध) is a Sanskrit word which literally means anything or any act that is performed with all sincerity and absolute faith in it. In the Hindu religion, it is the ritual that one performs to pay homage to one's ' ...


References

{{reflist


External links


The Turning-Point in a Living Tradition
Rishis Hindu priests Vedic period