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South Indian Inscriptions |
SOCIETY Brāhmanas of the other Vēdas, but they seem to have fallen out with them. They were, therefore, omitted in a later grant of the same village, which virtually cancelled the earlier grant. It is well known that the Atharvavēda was looked upon with disfavour in ancient times. The original places of habitation, from which the Brāhmanas had migrated, are generally stated in land-grants. Some of these places were well known in ancient times as the homes of particular śākhās. Thus, Kulāñchā in the Bogra District of North Bengal was famous as the home of the Brahmanas of the Śāndilya gōtra,1 most of whom belonged to the Sāmavēda. Similarly, Takari in Madhyadēśa, which is probably identical with the homonymous village in the Gayā District, was known as the home of the Brāhmanas of the Mādhyandina śākhā,2 though some Brahmanas of other śākhās also resided there. In some cases we find Brāhmanas migrating from far off places in search of royal patronage. Thus, the Kalachuri court in Ratanpur attracted Brāhmanas from such distant places as Sōnabhadra3 in Uttar Pradesh and Kumbhati4 in Madhya Bharat. Derivatives from place-names such as Mathura and Nagara, which later became family-names of the Brahmanas, are also noticed in one record.5 In the earlier period the Brāhmanas were distinguished from other castes by the prefix Brāhmana,6 Bhatta or Bhattika7 and the suffix svāvmin.8 Towards the close of the later period other prefixes such as Pandita, Thakkura, Rāuta and Gaintā became common.9 The names generally ended in śarman. The modern surnames Misra10 and Tripathi11 occur in very late records of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries A.C.
Many Brahmanas devoted themselves to the study of the Vēdas and Śāstras. Some
of them mastered more than one Vēda. This was indicated by the prefixes like Dvivēda
attached to their names,12 which in the earlier period had not become mere family surnames.
Those who had performed a sacrifice were known as Dikshita.13 In the earlier period,
the Brahmans generally maintained the sacred fire and performed the grihya rites like the
five great sacrifices regularly. It is interesting to read that Somesvara, the Brahmana
Prime Minister of Lakshmanarāja II, performed regularly the Darśapūrnamāsa and other
sacrifices.14 Some Brāhmanas officiated as priests (Purohitas). The Mahāpurōhita, who
was in charge of the Department of Religion, is mentioned with ministers and high State
functionaries in the later grants of the Kalachuris.15 Many members of the priestly caste
obtained proficiency in the Mīmāmsā, Sānkhya, Nyāya, Vēdānta and other darśanas and
even studied heterodox philosophical systems like the Chārvāka, Bauddha and Jaina.16
Some of them took part in literary competitions and philosophical disputations at the royal
courts. Some others became proficient in astronomy and mastered more than one 1 See below, p. 268, n. I.
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