BRAHMAN (Sanskrit Brahma, neuter, the universal or su preme Soul, the Absolute; and Brahma, masc., the Supreme God), a priest in the Rig-Veda, especially one who praises the gods : in the Atharva-Veda (as a neuter) the priestly, as opposed to the Kshatra or warrior class. The patronymic Brahmana (q.v.) is (I) "son of a priest," mostly in the later Vedas, and (2) in the later Vedic literature a book of "religious explanation." The term brahma seems originally to have meant magic or magical spell, a formula (mantra) which, used punctiliously, will constrain the gods to gratify the worshipper's wishes. In the Rig-Veda it ap pears as the religious property of a narrow circle, a mysterious power which can be evoked by texts, ceremonies or chants and sacrifices. In Vedic times a god, Brahmanaspati (or Brihaspati q.v.) was conceived of a "lord of prayer," brahma, the heavenly brajiman, prototype of the earth ly. But "prayer" here connotes nothing that is implied in its Christian use. It denoted a com pulsory, not a devotional attitude in the officiant. As priest, Brihas pati seems to have been the pro totype of Brahma, chief of the Hindu triad, just as brahma (n) developed into the Absolute of the Vedanta philosophy. When the brahma freed itself from the externals of ritual and, as early as the Upanishads, developed into the loftiest conception of 'Hinduism, the Brahman was also, as it were, promoted. From being in the Rig-Veda merely one of the seven classes of the Ritvij, "sacrificial priesthood," of whom the Hotri, composer and singer, was chief, while to the Brahman and two others was assigned the ritual of the Soma: (q.v.) sacri fice, the Brahman by acquiring the general supervision of the sacrifices became the leader of them. That function had formerly been exercised by the purohita ("appointed, set in front") who represented the king, and was usually a Hotri, Avestan Zaotar.
The precise means whereby the Brahman ousted the Hotri is not clear, but probably as song lost its foremost place in ritual, the Brahman was assigned the leading part, so that his skill as a spe cialist in magic might undo any errors committed in the rites.
A technical guide to magical prac tices was compiled for him in the Atharva-Veda, but he was ex pected to be acquainted with all the other Vedas as well, and was thus eligible to undertake any priestly duty according to his - . qualifications. The earliest claim ants to be Brahmans were the Vasishtas, and later the Atharvans. That the Brahmans were, even in the Rig-Veda, a priestly class distinct from the Kshatriya, seems clear, but it only appears as privileged and superior to the latter in later Vedic literature.