Rule Requiring Kings to Appoint a Family Priest

Rule Requiring Kings to Appoint a Family Priest makes the appointment of a Purohita a standing royal obligation, not a measure required only when a sacrifice is imminent. Its stated rationale connects the king’s household priest to whether offerings made by the king are accepted by the gods.

The Rule and Its Scope

The rule directs a king to appoint a Brahman to the office of house priest. Its scope is explicit: the king should make the appointment even when he does not intend to perform a sacrifice. The obligation therefore extends beyond preparation for a particular rite; the absence of an immediate ceremony does not remove the requirement.

Ritual Rationale

The explanation is that the gods do not eat food offered by a king who lacks a Purohita. The priest’s presence is thus presented as a condition relevant to the religious standing of royal offerings. The passage does not elaborate on the priest’s duties beyond this connection, but its reasoning makes clear that the appointment matters even outside an occasion when the king has already planned a sacrifice.

Narrative and Textual Context

The rule appears alongside a reference to ritual preparations by twice-born chiefs, while other supplied canto headings mark episodes concerned with a sacrifice begun, the promise of royal descendants, Ráma’s promise, and praise of truth. These headings place the rule within a work that also attends to royal ritual, lineage, and obligation. They do not, by themselves, establish that the named rule is enacted in each of those episodes. The explanatory note attributes its prescription to Haug’s Autareya Bráhmanam, Volume II, page 528.