Purva-Mimamsa in its Sources c31.s8.6

c31.s8.6

and (2) all the priests are from among the ‘Sacrificers’ themselves (10.6.51—58), (3) for this same reason there is no ‘appointment’ of Priests (Sū. 10.2.35, Bhā. Trs. 1698); and the services of the Priests at the *Sattra* are not ‘bought’ or ‘exchanged’, for any promised ‘Fee’ (10.2.35—38); and the gift of ‘a mare or a slave-girl or a cow’, which is prescribed in connection with the *Sārasvata-Iṣṭi* (which forms part of the procedure of the *Sattra*) has been regarded as fulfilling a transcendental result, (10.2.44-45), and not the effect of ‘securing the services’ of the Priests.—which is the usual purpose served by Fees. (See 10.2.44). If one of the Sacrificers at the *Sattra* should happen to die during the performance, his bones have to be kept wrapped in deer-skin, and his place at the Sacrifice is to be taken up by a person nearly related to him, and at the end of the year, the Sacrificers should perform, for the sake of their dead partner, a special Sacrifice called the *Samvatsara-yāga* (Sū. 10.2.47-48) All the seventeen persons performing the *Sattra* should belong to the same *Brāhmaṇa* sub-sect; i.e., they should all be followers of the same *Kalpa-Sūtra* (Sū. 6.6.1—11). But at the *Kulāyayajña*, it is possible for the King and his Priest to belong to different *Kalpas* (Sū. 6.6.12—15). *Kṣatriyas* and *Vaiśyas* cannot perform *Sattras*, to which *Brāhmaṇas* alone are entitled; and of these also, only those who belong to the *Viśvāmitra-Gotra*; and of these last, only such as are guided by the same *Kalpa*, (Sū. 6.6.15—26). All persons performing the *Sattra* should be regular performers of the *Agnihotra* (6. 6.27—42). To the *Sāmidhenī* however all ‘Regenerate’ (*Dvija*) persons are equally entitled (Sū. 6.6.36—39). The *Juhū* and other Implements used at the *Sattra* should be kept common among all the Sacrificers, and nothing should belong exclusively to any one Sacrificer. The reason for this lies in the fact that if any implement belongs to any one person, in the event of his death, it would have to be burnt along with his body, and this would interfere with the performance. (Sū. 6.6.33—35.)