BRAHMAN. In the Vedic hymns the neuter noun bráhman denotes the cosmic principle or power contained in the priestly or inspired utterance. As such, it came to be viewed as embodied in the Veda when the latter was fixed in a body of texts. The masculine form of the word, brahmán, denotes the priest who knows and speaks such utterances; in the later standardized Vedic ritual he is one of the four main priests who, mostly silently, oversees and rectifies errors in the sacrificial proceedings. The derivative term brāhmaṇa has two denotations. One indicates the Vedic prose texts that expound the śrauta ("solemn") ritual; these texts are also known in English as the Brāhmaṇa. The other indicates a person of the first of the four varṇas, or "castes"; in English this becomes brahman or brahmin. Finally, Brahman or Brahmā is...