Dhammapada

SR No.: 007674
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Max Muller
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1881
Total Pages: 2540
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 45 MB

Page 805

INTRODUCTION.
xxi
of Brahman, doubtless the latest of all, marks a new era in the development of the sacrificial system. While the other priests were only required to possess an accurate knowledge of their own special departments, the Brahman was to be the very embodiment of the sacrificial art and Vedic lore in general, so as to be able to advise the other priests on doubtful points and to rectify any mistakes that might be committed during the performance of sacrifices. Neither had the Hotri priest any special manual of his formulas assigned to him. He was rather expected to have acquired a thorough knowledge of the whole of the Rik-samhità, from which the sacrificial prayers recited by him were exclusively selected. It was probably out of this class-or the Bahvrikas, as the followers of the Rig-veda came to be called-more than from any other, that individual priests would fit themselves for the office of Brahman.
As regards the two remaining classes of priests, the Udgâtris and Adhvaryus—we have no means of determining in what form and to what extent the stock of chants and sacrificial formulas used by them may have existed from the time of the institution of their offices down to the formation of the collections that have been handed down, viz. the Sama-veda - samhita and the Yagur-veda. From the close connection that exists between the Saman and the eighth and ninth mandalas of the Rik, as well as from the fact that most of the hymns of these two mandalas are ascribed to authors whose family collections (including, in several instances, hymns of their own) are contained in earlier mandalas,--we may perhaps assume that already at the time when the first nine mandalas were collected the then existing hymns of the eighth and ninth mandalas were set apart for the purpose of being chanted at the Somasacrifice. In course of time-hand in hand with the fuller development of the Soma ritual and the gradual influx of new hymn material which was either incorporated with the old collections or formed into a new mandala-additional chants (or more suitable ones in the place of those hitherto
There are in the present ritual traces to be found, that the Hotar actually must have performed part of the duties of the Adhvaryu.' Ait. Br. I, p. 31.
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