Brahmins
group · 7 works · 24 mentions · 46 anchored passages
Brahmin · twice-born · brahmin · brahmins · the Brahmin · śrotriya · Brahmin caste · Brahminical lawyers · Brāhmaṇa · Veda-knower
spoken of as
1 expressionBrahmin7 mentions
Bṛhaspati Smṛti (Sanskrit) · Āṅgirasa Smṛti (Sanskrit) · Vīramitrodaya (Sanskrit) · Yama Smṛti (Sanskrit)
Having brought Brahmins learned in the Veda and its sciences, learned Brahmins, and maintainers of the sacred fire, he should settle them there and arrange for their livelihood.
in the texts
Lectures on the Early History of Institutions
The priestly caste of Hindu India whose jurisprudence and role in fasting rituals are compared to the Brehons.
but it cannot have had any such sacredness, and consequently any such authority, as the Brahminical jurisprudence.
indeed, he generally gives definiteness to it by retaining a Brahmin to starve himself vicariously, and no Hindoo doubts what would come of causing a Brahmin’s death.
One only of these castes really survives in India, that of the Brahmins, and it is strongly suspected that the whole literary theory of Caste, which is of Brahmin origin, is based on the existence of the Brahmin caste alone.
Bṛhaspati Smṛti
The priestly class, treated as the foundational and most authoritative social group, privileged in court appointments and legal administration.
He who is devoid of righteous conduct and duties, and destitute of the marks of a Brahmin, yet says, "I am a Brahmin," him they call a "so-called Brahmin" (*brāhmaṇabruva*).
The kingdom of a king who, setting aside Brahmins, examines legal cases with low-born men (*vṛṣala*), decays, and his army and treasury are destroyed.
The king, having risen in the morning and performed his purifications according to rule, [should honor] his preceptors, astrologers, physicians, the gods, Brahmins, and family priests, // Brh_1,1.
Vīramitrodaya
The class of ritual officiants and recipients of the śrāddha offering, whose availability and purity govern timing.
And so, in the fortnight-*śrāddha*, even if an agreement is made with the Brahmins only once for the sake of freedom from obstacles, if the Brahmins incur impurity (*āśauca*), they must be dismissed.
/ > And having obtained a worthy Brahmin, a *śrāddha* is enjoined immediately.
But after the impurity has passed, the Mahālaya *śrāddha* should be performed according to the rules by the single-performance option, etc.
Āṅgirasa Smṛti
The class of Vedic-initiated priests/twice-born who alone have the right to recite the Veda and whose permission and purity govern many rites.
During ritual impurity from birth (*sūtyāśauca*) and ritual impurity from death (*mṛtāśauca*), one shall not perform Vedic *karma*.
For the recitation of such a Veda, a Brahmin indeed has the right, // Ang_1.
With the permission of Brahmins, one may perform a rite, especially the rite for the ancestors and the rite for the deceased.
Atharvaveda (Paippalāda)
The class of priestly reciters and recipients of sacrificial gifts, central to reciprocity and authority passages.
O people, at the assembly a great brahman shall be proclaimed — one that is neither upon the earth nor in heaven, from which the plants draw breath.
When he gives, when he gives abundantly, when the brahmin receives his wealth — then let the foe know he has been struck down;
He who, pierced, gives wealth to a brahmin — for him, O Soma, extend long life.
Paramārthasāra
The priestly class invoked in a hypothetical extreme example of sin.
Though he perform [thousands of] horse-sacrifices, or [a hundred] thousand slayings of brahmins, the knower of {{paramārtha|supreme reality}}, [being] stainless, is touched neither by [their] merit nor by [their] sin.
Yama Smṛti
The priestly twice-born class, whose ritual duties, purity, and transgressions are extensively regulated in the text.
A Brahmin who casts his seed in Śūdra women, or who lusts after a Śūdra woman, / the king should confiscate all his property and brand his forehead with a vulva.
By the very act of intercourse with a Śūdra woman, a twice-born begets a child of her nature;
A Brahmin who cohabits with a Śūdra woman will see his ancestors look upon / the beautiful tooth of a dog, even of impure ones.