[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Vedic Index of Names and Subjects](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912) › v1.c3.s6.102 # Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s6.102 Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s6.102 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c3.s6.102](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s6.102) Rṣi, ‘seer,’ is primarily a composer of hymns to the gods. In the Rigveda¹ reference is often made to previous singers and to contemporary poets. Old poems were inherited and refurbished by members of the composer’s family,² but the great aim of the singers was to produce new and approved hymns.³ It is not till the time of the Brāhmaṇas that the composition of hymns appears to have fallen into disuse,⁴ though poetry was still produced, for example, in the form of Gāthās, which the priests were required to compose themselves⁵ and sing to the accompaniment of the lute at the sacrifice. The Rṣi was the most exalted of Brāhmaṇas,⁶ and his skill, which is often compared with that of a carpenter,⁷ was regarded as heaven-sent.⁸ The Purohita, whether as Hotṛ or as Brahman (see Ṛtvij), was a singer.⁹ No doubt the Rṣis were normally¹⁰ attached to the houses of the great, the petty kings of Vedic times, or the nobles of the royal household. Nor need it be doubted that occasionally¹¹ the princes themselves essayed poetry: a Rājanyarṣi, the prototype of the later Rājarṣi or ‘royal seer,’ who appears in the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa,¹² though he must be mythical as Oldenberg¹³ points out, indicates that kings cultivated poetry¹⁴ just as later they engaged in philosophic disputations.¹⁵ Normally, however, the poetical function is Brahminical, Viśāmitra and others not being kings, but merely Brāhmaṇas, in the Rigveda. - [Previous: v1.c3.s6.101](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s6.101) - [Next: v1.c3.s6.103](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s6.103) - [Up: v1.c3.s6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s6) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s6.102](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s6.102) · Pramāṇa