Duties of the four priests

The house-holder who arranges the Yajña (sacrifice) in his house for his own welfare is called Yajamāna and the persons with the assistance of whom he performs the sacrifice are designated as Yāgnika or Ṛtvikas i.e. Yājakas. The system of the Śrauta-rituals are such only an Agnihotra yajamāna is himself entitled to offer oblation in the fire by chanting mantras, but in case of other sacrifices he has to take assistance of Ṛtvikas.

As a rule, four priests are necessary for performing a sacrifice, viz.

1. Hotṛ,
2. Adhvaryu,
3. Udgātṛ and
4. Brāhmaṇ.

The Ṛgvedic priest is called Hotṛ, who invokes the deities in a sacrifice reciting verses from the Ṛgveda. The Priest of the Yajurveda is termed Adhvaryu. He is entrusted with the work of preparing the altar. The Sāmavedic priest is called Udgātṛ, whose duty is to chant hymns from the Sāmaveda to praise and please gods. The fourth priest is the superintending priest of the sacrifice called Brāhmaṇ who is versed in all the three Vedas; Ṛk, Sāman, and Yajus. Brāhmaṇ is responsible for smooth conduction, safe completion and any flaw of the sacrifice. In course of time, sacrifices became more and more complicated, hence as it became impossible for four priests to perform all the rites, the number of priests swelled in number, three priests being given as assistants to each priest. Thus we find four Ṛgvedic priests, four Yajurvedic priests, four Sāmavedic priests and four Brāhmaṇas making sixteen in all.

The four Ṛgvedic priests consist of—

1. Hotṛ,
2. Maitrāvaruna,
3. Acchāvāka and
4. Grāvastut.

The group of Yajurveda priests comprises—

1. Adhvaryu,
2. Pratiprasthātṛ,
3. Neṣṭṛ, and
4. Unnetṛ.

The Sāmavedic Priests are:

1. Udgātṛ,
2. Praṣṭotṛ,
3. Pratihaṭṛ and
4. Subrahmanya.

While [the following] go to the composition of the group of three Vedas known as (Trivedi)—

1. Brāhmaṇ,
2. Brāhmaṇācchansi,
3. Agnidhra and
4. Potṛ.