Hindu Administrative Institutions c8.s2.73

c8.s2.73

A categorical list of the calamities providential or otherwise which the *purohita* makes effort to avert is given. Fire, or thunder, rain or over-rains, epidemic, famine, pestilence to crops, relinquishment of men, prevalence of diseases, *bhūta*, *piśācha* and demons, fear of tiger, rats and snakes.² On this account Kālidāsa seems to have used the epithet *kṛtyavit* to the *purohita* Vasiṣṭha of King Daśaratha.³ In addition to these onerous functions, he was also according to the *jātakas* an administrator of justice⁴ and a guardian of king's treasures.⁵