The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c27.s7.44

v1.c27.s7.44

These priests sufficed for the new- and full-moon offerings, but for the animal offering the Hotṛ required an assistant, the priest called variously Upavaktṛ, Praçāstṛ, and Maitrāvaruṇa. The first two names indicate his chief activity in the ritual, the giving of directions, called Praiṣas,¹ to the priests, and this function he already exercised in respect of the Hotṛ as early as the Rigveda. The ritual prescribes that he should give to the Hotṛ his Praiṣa for the recitation of the Yājyā, standing before him on the right hand of the Hotṛ’s seat, holding a staff, slightly bent forward. Moreover, at the animal sacrifice he shares the Hotṛ’s duties, often, when there are verses to be recited, taking the one and the Hotṛ the other.² In the case of the Soma sacrifice he has recitations of his own to perform, in large measure directed to Mitra and Varuṇa, from whom therefore he borrows his third name as ‘(The priest) connected with Mitra and Varuṇa’, and, as the root whence comes the name Praçāstṛ, ‘orderer’, is an appropriate term for the commands of these gods, the human priest may have borrowed this designation from the gods themselves, though this is rather conjectural.³ What is much more certain is that the two divine Hotṛs, of whom we hear in the Rigveda, are the heavenly representatives of the Hotṛ and the Maitrāvaruṇa.