Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c4.t4.10

c4.t4.10

The purohita is a Brāhmaṇa, *par excellence*.⁸ Once a king⁹ addresses his purohita as 'Brāhmaṇa'. The purohita headed the Brāhmaṇas on all ceremonious occasions as the Senāpati did the courtiers.¹⁰ He was the highly-respected leader of other Brāhmaṇas. When a purohita is about to renounce the world, he summons the Brāhmaṇas before him. He asks them, "What will you do?" They reply, "You are our teacher," and they follow him.¹ Even his wife, who must of course be a 'Brāhmaṇī'² was also a respected personality amongst the Brāhmaṇa ladies.³