ense of "devotion, worship," and in the concrete sense of "devotional
rite, prayer, hymn." The spirit of Vedic worship is pervaded by a devout
belief in the efficacy of invocation and sacrificial offering. The
earnest and well-expressed prayer or hymn of praise cannot fail to draw
the divine power to the worshipper and make it yield to his
supplication; whilst offerings, so far from being mere acts of devotion
calculated to give pleasure to the god, constitute the very food and
drink which render him vigorous and capable of battling with the enemies
of his mortal friend. It is this intrinsic power of fervent invocation
and worship which found an early expression in the term _brahma_; and
its independent existence as an active moral principle in shaping the
destinies of man became recognized in the Vedic pantheon in the
conception of a god _Brihaspati_ or _Brahmanaspati_, "lord of prayer or
devotion," the divine priest and the guardian of the pious worshipper.
By a natural extension of the original meaning, the term _brahma_, in
the sense of sacred utterance, was subsequently likewise applied to the
whole body of sacred writ, the _tri-vidya_ or "triple lore" of the Veda;
whilst it also came to be commonly used as the abstract designation of
the priestly function and the Brahmanical order generally, in the same
way as the term _kshatra_, "sway, rule," came to denote the aggregate of
functions and individuals of the Kshatriyas or Rajanyas, the nobility or
military class.

The universal belief in the efficacy of invocation as an indispensable
adjunct to sacrifices and religious rites generally, could not fail to
engender and maintain in the minds of the people feelings of profound
esteem and reverence towards those who possessed the divine gift of
inspired utterance, as well as for those who had acquired an intimate
knowledge of the approved forms of ritual worship. A common designation
of the priest is brahman (nom. _brahma_), originally denoting, it would
seem, "one who prays, a worshipper," perhaps also "the composer of a
hymn" (_brahman_, n.); and the same term came subsequently to be used
not only for one of the sacerdotal order generally, but also, and more
commonly, as the designation of a special class of priests who
officiated as superintendents during sacrificial performances, the
complicated nature of which required the co-operation of a whole staff
of priests, and who accordingly were expected to possess a compet