History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.277.1

v4.c62.277.1

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.