Mahabrahman

(“Great Brahman”) In traditional Indian
society, a debased class of brahmins
who officiate at rites for the dead, especially at the rites performed immediately
after death. In many of these rites the
Mahabrahman is identified with the
deceased person and is fed and given
gifts that are intended to help satisfy the
soul of the deceased. These acts are seen
as transferring the inauspiciousness of
death from the family to the
Mahabrahman. Such constant association with death and its inauspicious
qualities is seen as a highly undesirable
way to make a living; Mahabrahmans
have extremely low social status, despite
being brahmins by birth. As compensation for taking on such inauspiciousness, Mahabrahmans usually demand
high payment from a family. For further
information see Jonathan Parry,
“Ghosts, Greed and Sin: The
Occupational Identity of the Benares
Funeral Priests,” in Man, Vol. 15, 1980.