History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.277
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.277
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Next comes the *purohita*. In H. Dh. vol. II pp. 40 and 363 it has been already shown how purohitas existed from the most ancient period of the Ṛgveda, how the purohita was thought to be half the soul of the king and how the co-operation of the spiritual teacher and the secular head (the king) was deemed absolutely necessary for the prosperity of the kingdom, how Gautama (XI. 12-14) and Āp. Dh. S. II. 5. 10. 16 prescribed the qualities of the purohita. Our authorities show that the purohita was not a mere priest. The Ait. Br. (40. 2) calls the purohita 'rāṣṭragopa' (the saviour of the kingdom). The Śukranīti also, though a very late work, similarly describes the purohita (II. 74) as ‘rājarāṣṭrabhṛt’ (the supporter of the king and the kingdom). In the Ṛgveda III. 53. 12 we find the idea that the hymns and the spiritual power of the purohita Viśvāmitra protected the Bharata clan.¹⁵⁶ He made the king ready for battle and accompanied him in battle murmuring ‘where the arrows fly &c’. (Ṛg. VI. 75. 17) while the fight went on (vide Āśv. Gṛ. III. 12. 19 quoted below n. 308). The Viṣṇudharmasūtra III. 70, Yāj. I. 313, Kām. IV. 32 require that the purohita was to be well versed¹⁵⁷ in the vedas, itihāsa, dharmaśāstra or daṇḍanīti, in astrology and portents, in rites of propitiation contained in the Atharvaveda, of high family, endowed with all *vidyās* and good acts as stated in the śāstras and with austerities. Kauṭ. (I.
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9) states almost the same qualifications for the purohita, requires the king to honour his advice as a pupil honours his teacher or a son his father or a servant his master and says that royal power advanced by brāhmaṇas, enforced as with a spell by the consultations of mantrins and endowed as with a weapon by the observance of śāstric rules becomes invincible and secures success. Vide Ādi. 170. 74-75, 174. 14-15, Śānti. 72. 2-18 and chap. 73, Rājanītiprakāśa pp. 59-61 and 136-137, Rājadharmakaustubha pp. 255-257 for qualifications expected in the purohita. Kauṭilya (X. 3) states that while a battle is going on the (chief) minister and purohita should urge on and encourage the soldiers by exhorting them with verses from the Veda and classical Sanskrit, promising great rewards in the next world for those who fall in battle. The Śukranītisāra (II. 78-80) requires in the purohita among other qualities the study of dhanurveda, proficiency in arms and in formations of armies for battle and possession of so much religious merit as to be able to pronounce an effective curse. A purohita was to be distinguished from a *ṛtvij* (a sacrificial priest) as Manu VII. 78 and Yāj. I. 314 show. Vide Mānasollāsa II. 2. 60 (p. 34), Rājanītiratnākara pp. 16-17, Viṣṇudharmottara II. 5., Agni 239. 16-17 for further passages on purohita. Some authorities include the purohita among amātyas or mantrins (e. g. Vijñāneśvara on Yāj. I. 353, Śukra II. 69-70), while others like Yāj. I.
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312 regard him as distinct from mantrins. The purohita was often hereditary. Acc. to Kauṭilya quoted above he was to employ means declared in the Atharvaveda to remove calamities, divine and human. The great divine calamities acc. to Kauṭilya IV. 3 are fire, flood, disease, famine, rats, wild elephants, snakes and evil spirits.¹⁵⁸ According to Manu VII. 78 the purohita was concerned with the religious rites laid down in the śrauta and gṛhya sūtras and Āp. II. 5. 10. 14-17 show that the purohita had complete jurisdiction in matters of penance for offences. Vas. (19. 40-42) provides that if the king lets off an offender deserving to be punished the king had to fast for a day and the purohita for three days and to perform the heavy penance of Kṛcchra if the king punished the innocent. According to most authorities he played a role that was pre-eminently religious. He is not mentioned among the 10 limbs of the sabhā in the administration of justice. Kāt. 24 (quoted in S. V. p. 20) does not require him to be an expert in arthaśāstra, though Kāt. 56 quoted by the Mit. on Yāj. II. 2 and Sm. C. (II. p. 14) say that the king should enter the Hall of Justice with learned brāhmaṇas, the ministers, the chief justice, the purohita &c. Yāj. I. 312 and the Mit. on Yāj. I. 312-313 on the other hand prescribe that even after consulting all mantrins, the king was finally to consult the purohita in all secular and religious matters. The Nītivākyāmṛta (purohitasamuddeśa) p.
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160 states that the divine calamities are: shower of fire (fall of lightning?), excessive rainfall, epidemics, famine, damage or disease of crops, swarms of locusts and other vermin, diseases, goblins and female evil spirits, snakes, wild elephants, rats. The purohita is required to know ritual of five kinds,¹⁵⁹ viz. that dealing with the propitiation of Nakṣatras, that of śrauta sacrifices, that of the *saṁhitās* (of Tantra worship), that of Atharvaśiras and that of śāntis (such as grahaśānti &c.). Calamities, according to Kām. XIII. 20-21, are of two sorts, divine (daiva) and human: there are five kinds of the first viz. fire, flood, disease, famine and epidemic, all of which can be met by human effort and by propitiatory rites, while human calamities should be withstood by constant effort and by proper lines of policy. The same verses are Agnipurāṇa 241. 14-16.