A History of Hindu Political Theories from the Earliest Times to the End of the First Quarter of the Seventeenth Century A.D. c7.85

c7.85

We may pause here to mention one important feature of the theories concerning the position of the priestly class in the State. In the passages quoted above from the Vedic Saṁhitās and the Brāhmaṇas it may be observed that the authority of the priest is never derived from his divine nature. In this respect the theories with which we are concerned present a marked contrast to the doctrine of the nature of the king’s office. The Vedic works indeed invest the Brāhmaṇas from the first with divine sanctity. In the Rigveda, where it is true the term signifies not merely a hereditary caste but also a seer as well as a specific order of priests, there are passages associating the Brāhmaṇas with the gods. Thus in one place the priest addresses the Brāhmaṇas along with the auspicious and sinless heaven and earth as well as the god Pūṣan (Sun) for protection from evil.∗ Another passage conveys the poet’s prayer to the god Soma who has entered into the Brāhmaṇas.∗ In the later literature where the notion of a hereditary priestly caste has crystallised into shape, the conception of the Brāhmaṇa’s sanctity is carried to a greater length. The Atharvaveda has a set of five hymns the burden of which is to teach the inviolability of the Brāhmaṇa’s person and property. In the course of this description we are introduced to the doctrine that the Brāhmaṇa enjoys the special protection of deities like Agni, Soma, Indra, and Varuṇa.† The Yajurveda and the Brāhmaṇas are distinguished by their open, not to say aggressive, assertion of the divinity of the Brāhmaṇas. A passage of the Taitt. Saṃ. distinguishes between two classes of gods, namely, the gods who receive offerings secretly and the Brāhmaṇas who receive them openly.‡ The Śat. Br. declares in two places that a Brāhmaṇa descended from a sage (ṛiṣi) represents all the deities,\* while other passages inculcating the merit of making gifts to Brāhmaṇas explicitly style them human gods.†