India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c11.s2.27

c11.s2.27

Of *Atharvaveda* priests, Pāṇini mentions Brahmā (V.1. 136), Agnīdh (VIII.2.92) and Potā (VI.4.11). Brahmā must have emerged as the general supervisor of the ritual, as is indicated by his duties (*karma*) designated by the special term *Brahmatva* (V.2.136). The epithet Mahā-Brahmā 'Chief of the Brāhmaṇas (V.4.105, in which Brahman=Brāhmaṇa) seems to have been derived from the priviledged position of the Brahman priest, who as early as the *Ṛigveda* (I. 162.5) was called *suvipra*, a sage or priest of profound knowledge acting as superintendent of the whole ceremony.