The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c13.19

c13.19

Still all *purohitas* were obviously not content with the occasional care of state affairs; greediness and love of power would often lead them to use the influence which they had over the decisions of a weak and superstitious king in securing worldly prosperity. If an ambitious priest was in possession of complete mastery over the king's will, it was quite in the nature of things that he gave his thoughts to the acquisition of the highest position of power in the Court, that he tried to become the leader of the king in worldly and spiritual matters (*atthadhammánusásaka*, V. 57) and as such, to take into his hands the whole direction of state affairs. If, as often happens, a minister or one of the remaining Brâhmaṇas has obtained that which is the highest aim of ambitious courtiers, in case the *purohita* is himself free from worldly cares, the latter is selected beforehand for the office of *atthadhammánusásaka*. Not content with this, many *purohitas* aimed at something higher and tried to combine in themselves the office of the house priest of several kingdoms. Examples of this nature are found very often in Sanskrit literature; thus, in the Śatapatha Brâhmaṇa (II. 4, 4, 5), it is said of Devabhâga Śrautarsha that he was the purohita of two kingdoms,¹ namely, those of the Kurus and the Sṛiñjayas. Such a purohita may have served as a model for the hard and cruel Piṅgiya mentioned in the Dhonasâkha Jâtaka. "I will"—so he thinks in his desire for fame—"make this king conquer all other kings in the whole of India; in this way he will become the sole king and I the sole house priest (ekapurohita, III. 159.)"