Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c5.s2.12

v1.c5.s2.12

The ideal ancient Brāhmaṇas as envisaged in the *Brāhmaṇa-dhammika-sutta* must have been the ancient seers to whom the authorship of the Ṛgvedic hymns is attributed. They were, however, not conversant with the sacrificial system which we notice in the Ṛgveda. They, it seems, were given to intellectual culture alone and depended for their necessaries of life on the charity of the village-folk and towns-people. They belonged to the ancient families of priests like Aṅgirasas, Atharvans and Bhṛgus, who, according to Weber, were Indo-Iranian priests, and were, as Macdonell says, accorded a place intermediate between men and gods.¹ These ancient priests are treated in the Ṛgveda as semi-divine beings and are spoken of as ṛṣis, the exact term by which they are referred to in the Sutta-Nipāta.² They practised self-control and performed sacrifices with honey only.³ According to the Ṛgvedic tradition, Manu was the first of sacrificers, and he was followed by Aṅgiras, Bhṛgu, Atharvan and others.