The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c13.14

c13.14

This position as teacher made the *purohita* in many cases the fatherly friend and adviser of the king. What served to raise and consolidate the position of trust which the *purohita* held in the king's Court, was the circumstance that his office was ordinarily hereditary (I. 437; II. 47; III. 392, 455; *purohitakula*, IV. 200) and held by the same family for generations together. This circumstance further helped to bind the priest's family firmly with the ruling house. "For seven generations, the performance of elephant consecration (*hatthimangala*) has been hereditary in our family,"—so complains in the Susîma Jâtaka (II. 47) the mother of the young son of the *purohita* whose holding this lucrative post the Brâhmaṇas dispute on the ground of his youth and ignorance of the Vedas and of the elephant book (*hatthisutta*)—"the old custom will pass out of our hands and our wealth will disappear." Sometimes, in consequence of this hereditary character of the office of the *purohita*, friendly relations existed betwen the king and the latter from early youth. The son of the *purohita* born on the same day as the king's son grows up with the prince; they wear the same clothes and eat and drink together; when they are grown up, they go together for study to Takkasilâ (III. 31). This friendly relationship continues even after the prince is given the uparajja after his return from the University. They continue to share the same food, drink and bed, and a strong mutual trust subsists between them, and as the prince, after the death of his father, ascends the throne, he wishes to give the post of purohita to his friend. It is true that in this case the purohita's son prefers the homeless life, still it is narrated to us in the Susîma Jâtaka (III. 392) that directly on the commencement of the young prince's reign, the purohita's son steps into his father's office.