Vedic priesthood

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Priests of the Vedic religion are officiants of the yajna service. Yajna is an important part of Hinduism, especially the Vedas.^[1] Persons trained for the ritual and proficient in its practice were called ṛtvij (ऋत्विज् 'regularly-sacrificing').^{[citation needed]} As members of a social class, they were generically known as vipra 'sage' or kavi 'seer'. Specialization of roles attended the elaboration and development of the ritual corpus over time. Eventually a full complement of sixteen ṛtvijas became the custom for major ceremonies. The sixteen consisted of four chief priests and their assistants.^{[citation needed]}