The priestly caste is a social group responsible for officiating over sacrifices and leading prayers or other religious functions, particularly in nomadic and tribal societies.
Who was known as the priestly class?
The Hebrew Bible distinguishes among three groups: the kohanim, the top priestly class; the levites, who assisted the priests in the temple; and the general population, the Israelites.
What is a Pandit in Hindu?
Pandit, or more colloquially pundit, is one of those Indic words, like karma or mantra, that have found a home in the English language, in today’s parlance referring to someone who is either praised or mocked for delivering expert opinions on politics or current affairs.
Are Brahmins pure?
In fact, the four main castes are prohibited from mingling with each other and scholars even take them to have a different racial origin: These two tribes or castes of the Hindus, namely that of the Brahmins and that of the warriors, are considered pure descendants of the Caucasian lineage of the human species.
Who runs a Hindu temple?
Although Hindus primarily worship individually, some Hindu services are led by a pujari (trained priest) or a head of household The worship service, known as puja, is a ceremony where Hindus express devotion to a god or other divine being through prayer, rituals and music.
What is a female Pandit called?
panditain is the female gender of pandit.
Which is the highest caste of Brahmin?
At the top of the hierarchy were the Brahmins who were mainly teachers and intellectuals and are believed to have come from Brahma’s head. Then came the Kshatriyas, or the warriors and rulers, supposedly from his arms. The third slot went to the Vaishyas, or the traders, who were created from his thighs.
Can Hindu priests get married?
Marriage is encouraged for everyone. In Hinduism, priests can marry. At the same time, Hindu monks (sanyaasis), who are usually expected to withdraw from saṃsāra (‘the world’), usually practice celibacy. The idea is to keep the mind free from distraction caused by sex-life and use that focus in serving God.