History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.277.2

v4.c62.277.2

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.