Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s6.69

v1.c3.s6.69

Ṛtv-ij is the regular term for ‘sacrificial priest,’ covering all the different kinds of priests employed at the sacrifice. It appears certain that all the priests were Brāhmaṇas.¹ The number of priests officiating at a sacrifice with different functions was almost certainly seven. The oldest list, occurring in one passage of the Rigveda,² enumerates their names as Hotṛ, Potṛ, Neṣṭṛ, Agnidh, Praśāstṛ, Adhvaryu, Brahman, besides the institutor of the sacrifice. The number of seven probably explains the phrase ‘seven Hotṛs’ occurring so frequently in the Rigveda, and is most likely connected with that of the mythical ‘seven Ṛṣis.’ It may be compared with the eight of Iran.³ The chief of the seven priests was the Hotṛ, who was the singer of the hymns, and in the early times their composer also. The Adhvaryu performed the practical work of the sacrifice, and accompanied his performance with muttered formulas of prayer and deprecation of evil. His chief assistance was derived from the Agnidh, the two performing the smaller sacrifices without other help in practical matters. The Praśāstṛ, Upa-yaktṛ, or Maitrāvaruṇa, as he was variously called, appeared only in the greater sacrifices as giving instructions to the Hotṛ, and as entrusted with certain litanies. The Potṛ, Neṣṭṛ, and Brahman belonged to the ritual of the Soma sacrifice, the latter being later styled Brāhmaṇācchaṃsin to distinguish him from the priest who in the later ritual acted as supervisor. Other priests referred to in the Rigveda⁴ are the singers of Sāmans or chants, the Udgātṛ and his assistant the Prastotṛ, while the Pratihartṛ, another assistant, though not mentioned, may quite well have been known. Their functions undoubtedly represent a later stage of the ritual, the development of the elaborate series of sacrificial calls on the one hand, and on the other the use of long hymns addressed to the Soma plant. Other priests, such as the Achāvāka,⁵ the Grāvastut, the Unnetṛ, and the Subrahmanya, were known later in the developed ritual of the Brāhmaṇas, making in all sixteen priests, who were technically and artificially classed in four groups⁶: Hotṛ, Maitrāvaruṇa, Achāvāka, and Grāvastut; Udgātṛ, Prastotṛ, Pratihartṛ, and Subrahmanya; Adhvaryu, Pratisthātṛ, Neṣṭṛ, and Unnetṛ; Brahman, Brāhmaṇacchamsin, Agnīdhra, and Potṛ.