As the Upanishads were a development of the speculative side of the Brahma?as and constituted the textbooks of Vedic dogma, so the Çrauta Sutras form the continuation of their ritual side, though they are not, like the Upanishads, regarded as a part of revelation. A sacred character was never attributed to them, probably because they were felt to be treatises compiled, with the help of oral priestly tradition, from the contents of the Brahma?as solely to meet practical needs. The oldest of them seem to go back to about the time when Buddhism came into being. Indeed it is quite possible that the rise of the rival religion gave the first impetus to the composition of systematic manuals of Brahmanic worship. The Buddhists in their turn must have come to regard Sutras as the type of treatise best adapted for the expression of religious doctrine, for the earliest Pali texts are works of this character. The term Kalpa Sutra is used to designate the whole body of Sutras concerned with religion which belonged to a particular Vedic school. Where such a complete collection has been preserved, the Çrauta Sutra forms its first and most extensive portion.

To the Rigveda belong the Çrauta manuals of two Sutra schools (chara?as), the Çankhayanas and the AÇvalayanas, the former of whom were in later times settled in Northern Gujarat, the latter in the South between the Godavari and the K?ish?a. The ritual is described in much the same order by both, but the account of the great royal sacrifices is much more detailed in the Çankhayana Çrauta Sutra. The latter, which is closely connected with the Çankhayana Brahma?a, seems to be the older of the two, on the ground both of its matter and of its style, which in many parts resembles that of the Brahma?as. It consists of eighteen books, the last two of which were added later, and correspond to the first two books of the Kaushitaki Ara?yaka. The Çrauta Sutra of AÇvalayana, which consists of twelve books, is related to the Aitareya Brahma?a. AÇvalayana is also known as the author of the fourth book of the Aitareya Ara?yaka, and was according to tradition the pupil of Çaunaka.

Three Çrauta Sutras to the Samaveda have been preserved. The oldest, that of MaÇaka, also called Arsheya-kalpa, is nothing more than an enumeration of the prayers belonging to the various ceremonies of the Soma sacrifice in the order of the Panchavim?Ça Brahma?a. The Çrauta Sutra composed by La?yayana, became the accepted manual of the Kauthuma school. This Sutra, like that of MaÇaka, which it quotes, is closely connected with the Panchavim?Ça Brahma?a. The Çrauta Sutra of Drahyaya?a, which differs but little from that of La?yayana, belongs to the Ra?ayaniya branch of the Samaveda.

To the White Yajurveda belongs the Çrauta Sutra of Katyayana. This manual, which consists of twenty-six chapters, on the whole strictly follows the sacrificial order of the Çatapatha Brahma?a. Three of its chapters (xxii.–xxiv.), however, relate to the ceremonial of the Samaveda. Owing to the enigmatical character of its style, it appears to be one of the later productions of the Sutra period.

No less than six Çrauta Sutras belonging to the Black Yajurveda have been preserved, but only two of them have as yet been published. Four of these form a very closely connected group, being part of the Kalpa Sutras of four subdivisions of the Taittiriya Çakha, which represented the later sutra schools (chara?as) not claiming a special revelation of Veda or Brahma?a. The Çrauta Sutra of Apastamba forms the first twenty-four of the thirty chapters (praÇnas) into which his Kalpa Sutra is divided; and that of Hira?yakeÇin, an offshoot of the Apastambas, the first eighteen of the twenty-nine chapters of his Kalpa Sutra. The Sutra of Baudhayana, who is older than Apastamba, as well as that of Bharadvaja, has not yet been published.

Connected with the Maitraya?i Sam?hita is the Manava Çrauta Sutra. It belongs to the Manavas, who were a subdivision of the Maitraya?iyas, and to whom the law-book of Manu probably traces its origin. It seems to be one of the oldest. It has a descriptive character, resembling the Brahma?a parts of the Yajurveda, and differing from them only in simply describing the course of the sacrifice, to the exclusion of legends, speculations, or discussions of any kind. There is also a Vaikhanasa Çrauta Sutra attached to the Black Yajurveda, but it is known only in a few MSS.

The Çrauta Sutra of the Atharva-veda is the Vaitana Sutra. It is neither old nor original, but was undoubtedly compiled in order to supply the Atharva, like the other Vedas, with a Sutra of its own. It probably received its name from the word with which it begins, since the term vaitana (“relating to the three sacrificial fires”) is equally applicable to all Çrauta Sutras. It agrees to a considerable extent with the Gopatha Brahma?a, though it distinctly follows the Sutra of Katyayana to the White Yajurveda. One indication of its lateness is the fact that whereas in other cases a G?ihya regularly presupposes the Çrauta Sutra, the Vaitana is dependent on the domestic sutra of the Atharva-veda.

Though the Çrauta Sutras are indispensable for the right understanding of the sacrificial ritual, they are, from any other point of view, a most unattractive form of literature. It will, therefore, suffice to mention in briefest outline the ceremonies with which they deal. It is important to remember, in the first place, that these rites are never congregational, but are always performed on behalf of a single individual, the so-called Yajamana or sacrificer, who takes but little part in them. The officiators are Brahman priests, whose number varies from one to sixteen, according to the nature of the ceremony. In all these rites an important part is played by the three sacred fires which surround the vedi, a slightly excavated spot covered with a litter of grass for the reception of offerings to the gods. The first ceremony of all is the setting up of the sacred fires (agni-adheya), which are kindled by the sacrificer and his wife with the firesticks, and are thereafter to be regularly maintained.

The Çrauta rites, fourteen in number, are divided into the two main groups of seven oblation (havis) sacrifices and seven soma sacrifices. Different forms of the animal sacrifice are classed with each group. The havis sacrifices consist of offerings of milk, ghee, porridge, grain, cakes, and so forth. The commonest is the Agnihotra, the daily morning and evening oblation of milk to the three fires. The most important of the others are the new and full moon sacrifices (darÇapur?a-masa) and those offered at the beginning of the three seasons (chaturmasya). Besides some other recurrent sacrifices, there are very many which are to be offered on some particular occasion, or for the attainment of some special object.

The various kinds of Soma sacrifices were much more complicated. Even the simplest and fundamental form, the Agnish?oma (“praise of Agni”) required the ministrations of sixteen priests. This rite occupied only one day, with three pressings of soma, at morning, noon, and evening; but this day was preceded by very detailed preparatory ceremonies, one of which was the initiation (diksha) of the sacrificer and his wife. Other soma sacrifices lasted for several days up to twelve; while another class, called sattras or “sessions,” extended to a year or more.

A very sacred ceremony that can be connected with the soma sacrifice is the Agnichayana, or “Piling of the fire-altar,” which lasts for a year. It begins with a sacrifice of five animals. Then a long time is occupied in preparing the earthenware vessel, called ukha, in which fire is to be maintained for a year. Very elaborate rules are given both as to the ingredients, such as the hair of a black antelope, with which the clay is to be mixed, and as to how it is to be shaped, and finally burnt. Then the bricks, which have different and particular sizes, have to be built up in prescribed order. The lowest of the five strata must have 1950, all of them together, a total of 10,800 bricks. Many of these have their special name and significance. Thus the altar is gradually built up, as its bricks are placed in position, to the accompaniment of appropriate rites and verses, by a formidable array of priests. These are but some of the main points in the ceremony; but they will probably give some faint idea of the enormous complexity and the vast mass of detail, where the smallest of minutiÆ are of importance, in the Brahman ritual. No other religion has ever known its like.

As the domestic ritual is almost entirely excluded from the Brahma?as, the authors of the G?ihya Sutras had only the authority of popular tradition to rely on when they systematised the observances of daily life. As a type, the G?ihya manuals must be somewhat later than the Çrauta, for they regularly presuppose a knowledge of the latter.

To the Rigveda belongs in the first place the Çankhayana G?ihya Sutra. It consists of six books, but only the first four form the original portion of the work, and even these contain interpolations. Closely connected with this work is the Çambavya G?ihya, which also belongs to the school of the Kaushitakins, and is as yet known only in manuscript. Though borrowing largely from Çankhayana, it is not identical with that work. It knows nothing of the last two books, nor even a number of ceremonies described in the third and fourth, while having a book of its own concerning the sacrifice to the Manes. Connected with the Aitareya Brahma?a is the G?ihya Sutra of AÇvalayana, which its author in the first aphorism gives us to understand is a continuation of his Çrauta Sutra. It consists of four books, and, like the latter work, ends with the words “adoration to Çaunaka.”

The chief G?ihya Sutra of the Samaveda is that of Gobhila, which is one of the oldest, completest, and most interesting works of this class. Its seems to have been used by both the schools of its Veda. Besides the text of the Samaveda it presupposes the Mantra Brahma?a. The latter is a collection, in the ritual order, of the mantras (except those occurring in the Samaveda itself), which are quoted by Gobhila in an abbreviated form. The G?ihya Sutra of Khadira, belonging to the Drahyaya?a school and used by the Ra?ayaniya branch of the Samaveda, is little more than Gobhila remodelled in a more succinct form.

The G?ihya Sutra of the White Yajurveda is that of Paraskara, also called the Katiya or Vajasaneya G?ihya Sutra. It is so closely connected with the Çrauta Sutra of Katyayana, that it is often quoted under the name of that author. The later law-book of Yajnavalkya bears evidence of the influence of Paraskara’s work.

Of the seven G?ihya Sutras of the Black Yajurveda only three have as yet been published. The G?ihya of Apastamba forms two books (26–27) of his Kalpa Sutra. The first of these two books is the Mantrapa?ha, which is a collection of the formulas accompanying the ceremonies. The G?ihya Sutra, in the strict sense, is the second book, which presupposes the Mantrapa?ha. Books XIX. and XX. of Hira?yakeÇin’s Kalpa Sutra form his G?ihya Sutra. About Baudhayana’s G?ihya not much is known, still less about that of Bharadvaja. The Manava G?ihya Sutra is closely connected with the Çrauta, repeating many of the statements of the latter verbally. It is interesting as containing a ceremony unknown to other G?ihya Sutras, the worship of the Vinayakas. The passage reappears in a versified form in Yajnavalkya’s law-book, where the four Vinayakas are transformed into the one Vinayaka, the god Ga?eÇa. With the Manava is clearly connected the Ka?haka G?ihya Sutra, not only in the principle of its arrangement, but even in the wording of many passages. It is nearly related to the law-book of Vish?u. The Vaikhanasa G?ihya Sutra is an extensive work bearing traces of a late origin, and partly treating of subjects otherwise relegated to works of a supplementary character.

To the Atharva-veda belongs the important KauÇika Sutra. It is not a mere G?ihya Sutra, for besides giving the more important rules of the domestic ritual, it deals with the magical and other practices specially connected with its Veda. By its extensive references to these subjects it supplies much material unknown to other Vedic schools. It is a composite work, apparently made up of four or five different treatises. In combination with the Atharva-veda it supplies an almost complete picture of the ordinary life of the Vedic Indian.

The G?ihya Sutras give the rules for the numerous ceremonies applicable to the domestic life of a man and his family from birth to the grave. For the performance of their ritual only the domestic (avasathya or vaivahika) fire was required, as contrasted with the three sacrificial fires of the Çrauta Sutras. They describe forty consecrations or sacraments (sam?skaras) which are performed at various important epochs in the life of the individual. The first eighteen, extending from conception to marriage, are called “bodily sacraments.” The remaining twenty-two are sacrifices. Eight of these, the five daily sacrifices (mahayajna) and some other “baked offerings” (pakayajna), form part of the G?ihya ceremonies, the rest belonging to the Çrauta ritual.

The first of the sacraments is the pum?savana or ceremony aiming at the obtainment of a son. The most common expedient prescribed is the pounded shoot of a banyan tree placed in the wife’s right nostril. After the birth-rites (jata-karma), the ceremony of giving the child its names (nama-kara?a) takes place, generally on the tenth day after birth. Two are given, one being the “secret name,” known only to the parents, as a protection against witchcraft, the other for common use. Minute directions are given as to the quality of the name; for instance, that it should contain an even number of syllables, begin with a soft letter, and have a semi-vowel in the middle; that for a Brahman it should end in -Çarman, for a Kshatriya in -varman, and a VaiÇya in -gupta. Generally in the third year takes place the ceremony of tonsure (chu?a-kara?a), when the boy’s hair was cut, one or more tufts being left on the top, so that his hair might be worn after the fashion prevailing in his family. In the sixteenth year the rite of shaving the beard was performed. Its name, go-dana, or “gift of cows,” is due to the fee usually having been a couple of cattle.

By far the most important ceremony of boyhood was that of apprenticeship to a teacher or initiation (upanayana), which in the case of a Brahman may take place between the eighth and sixteenth year, but a few years later in the case of the Kshatriya and the VaiÇya. On this occasion the youth receives a staff, a garment, a girdle, and a cord worn over one shoulder and under the other arm. The first is made of different wood, the others of different materials according to caste. The sacred cord is the outward token of the Arya or member of one of the three highest castes, and by investiture with it he attains his second birth, being thenceforward a “twice-born” man (dvi-ja). The spiritual significance of this initiation is the right to study the Veda, and especially to recite the most sacred of prayers, the Savitri. In this ceremony the teacher (acharya) who initiates the young Brahman is regarded as his spiritual father, and the Savitri as his mother.

The rite of upanayana is still practised in India. It is based on a very old custom. The Avestan ceremony of investing the boy of fifteen with a sacred cord upon his admission into the Zoroastrian community shows that it goes back to Indo-Iranian times. The prevalence among primitive races all over the world of a rite of initiation, regarded as a second birth, upon the attainment of manhood, indicates that it was a still older custom, which in the Brahman system became transformed into a ceremony of admission to Vedic study.

Besides his studies, the course of which is regulated by detailed rules, the constant duties of the pupil are the collection of fuel, the performance of devotions at morning and evening twilight, begging food, sleeping on the ground, and obedience to his teacher.

At the conclusion of religious studentship (brahmacharya), which lasted for twelve years, or till the pupil had mastered his Veda, he performs the rite of return (samavartana), the principal part of which is a bath, with which he symbolically washes off his apprenticeship. He is now a snataka (“one who has bathed”), and soon proceeds to the most important sacrament of his life, marriage. The main elements of this ceremony doubtless go back to the Indo-European period, and belong rather to the sphere of witchcraft than of the sacrificial cult. The taking of her hand placed the bride in the power of her husband. The stone on which she stepped was to give her firmness. The seven steps which she took with her husband, and the sacrificial food which she shared with him, were to inaugurate friendship and community. Future abundance and male offspring were prognosticated when she had been conducted to her husband’s house, by seating her on the hide of a red bull and placing upon her lap the son of a woman who had only borne living male children. The god most closely connected with the rite was Agni; for the husband led his bride three times round the nuptial fire—whence the Sanskrit name for wedding, pari-?aya, “leading round”—and the newly kindled domestic fire was to accompany the couple throughout life. Offerings are made to it and Vedic formulas pronounced. After sunset the husband leads out his bride, and as he points to the pole-star and the star Arundhati, they exhort each other to be constant and undivided for ever. These wedding ceremonies, preserved much as they are described in the Sutras, are still widely prevalent in the India of to-day.

All the above-mentioned sacraments are exclusively meant for males, the only one in which girls had a share being marriage (vivaha). About twelve of these Sam?skaras are still practised in India, investiture being still the most important next to marriage. Some of the ceremonies only survive in a symbolical form, as those connected with religious studentship.

Among the most important duties of the new householder is the regular daily offering of the five great sacrifices (maha-yajna), which are the sacrifice to the Veda (brahma-yajna), or Vedic recitation; the offering to the gods (deva-yajna) of melted butter in fire (homa); the libation (tarpa?a) to the Manes (pit?i-yajna); offerings (called bali) deposited in various places on the ground to demons and all beings (bhuta-yajna); and the sacrifice to men (manushya-yajna), consisting in hospitality, especially to Brahman mendicants. The first is regarded as by far the highest; the recitation of the savitri, in particular, at morning and evening worship, is as meritorious as having studied the Veda. All these five daily sacrifices are still in partial use among orthodox Brahmans.

There are other sacrifices which occur periodically. Such are the new and full moon sacrifices, in which, according to the G?ihya ritual, a baked offering (paka-yajna) is made, while, according to the Çrauta ceremony, cakes (puro?aÇa) are offered. There is, further, at the beginning of the rains an offering made to serpents, when the use of a raised bed is enjoined, owing to the danger from snakes at that time. Various ceremonies are connected with the building and entering of a new house. Detailed rules are given about the site as well as the construction. A door on the west is, for instance, forbidden. On the completion of the house, which is built of wood and bamboo, an animal is sacrificed. Other ceremonies are concerned with cattle; for instance, the release of a young bull for the benefit of the community. Then there are agricultural ceremonies, such as the offering of the first-fruits and rites connected with ploughing. Mention is also made of offerings to monuments (chaityas) erected to the memory of teachers. There are, moreover, directions as to what is to be done in case of evil dreams, bad omens, and disease.

Finally, one of the most interesting subjects with which the G?ihya Sutras deal is that of funeral rites (antyesh?i) and the worship of the Manes. All but children under two years of age are to be cremated. The dead man’s hair and beard are cut off and his nails trimmed, the body being anointed with nard and a wreath being placed on the head. Before being burnt the corpse is laid on a black antelope skin. In the case of a Kshatriya, his bow (in that of a Brahman his staff, of a VaiÇya his goad) is taken from his hand, broken, and cast on the pyre, while a cow or a goat is burnt with the corpse. Afterwards a purifying ablution is performed by all relations to the seventh or tenth degree. They then sit down on a grassy spot and listen to old stories or a sermon on the transitoriness of life till the stars appear. At last, without looking round, they return in procession to their homes, where various observances are gone through. A death is followed by a period of impurity, generally lasting three days, during which the relatives are required, among other things, to sleep on the ground and refrain from eating flesh. On the night after the death a cake is offered to the deceased, and a libation of water is poured out; a vessel with milk and water is also placed in the open air, and the dead man is called upon to bathe in it. Generally after the tenth day the bones are collected and placed in an urn, which is buried to the accompaniment of the Rigvedic verse, “Approach thy mother earth” (x. 18, 10).

The soul is supposed to remain separated from the Manes for a time as a preta or “ghost.” A Çraddha, or “offering given with faith” (Çraddha), of which it is the special object (ekoddish?a), is presented to it in this state, the idea being that it would otherwise return and disquiet the relatives. Before the expiry of a year he is admitted to the circle of the Manes by a rite which makes him their sapi??a (“united by the funeral cake”). After the lapse of a year or more another elaborate ceremony (called pit?i-medha) takes place in connection with the erection of a monument, when the bones are taken out of the urn and buried in a suitable place. There are further various general offerings to the Manes, or Çraddhas, which take place at fixed periods, such as that on the day of new moon (parva?a Çraddha), while others are only occasional and optional. These rites still play an important part in India, well-to-do families in Bengal spending not less than 5000 to 6000 rupees on their first Çraddha.

From all these offerings of the G?ihya ritual are to be distinguished the two regular sacrifices of the Çrauta ritual, the one called Pi??a-pit?i-yajna immediately preceding the new-moon sacrifice, the other being connected with the third of the four-monthly sacrifices.

The ceremonial of ancestor-worship was especially elaborated, and developed a special literature of its own, extending from the Vedic period to the legal Compendia of the Middle Ages. The Çraddha-kalpa of Hemadri comprises upwards of 1700 pages in the edition of the Bibliotheca Indica.

The above is the briefest possible sketch of the abundant material of the G?ihya Sutras, illustrating the daily domestic life of ancient India. Perhaps, however, enough has been said to show that they have much human interest, and that they occupy an important place in the history of civilisation.

The second branch of the Sutra literature, based on tradition or Sm?iti, are the Dharma Sutras, which deal with the customs of everyday life (samayacharika). They are the earliest Indian works on law, treating fully of its religious, but only partially and briefly of its secular, aspect. The term Dharma Sutra is, strictly speaking, applied to those collections of legal aphorisms which form part of the body of Sutras belonging to a particular branch (Çakha) of the Veda. In this sense only three have been preserved, all of them attached to the Taittiriya division of the Black Yajurveda. But there is good reason to suppose that other works of the same kind which have been preserved, or are known to have existed, were originally also attached to individual Vedic schools. That Sutras on Dharma were composed at a very early period is shown by the fact that Yaska, who dates from near the beginning of the Sutra age, quotes legal rules in the Sutra style. Indeed, one or two of those extant must go back to about his time.

The Dharma Sutra which has been best preserved, and has remained free from the influence of sectarians or modern editors, is that of the Apastambas. It forms two (28–29) of the thirty sections of the great Apastamba Kalpa Sutra, or body of aphorisms concerning the performance of sacrifices and the duties of the three upper classes. It deals chiefly with the duties of the Vedic student and of the householder, with forbidden food, purifications, and penances, while, on the secular side, it touches upon the law of marriage, inheritance, and crime only. From the disapprobation which the author expresses for a certain practice of the people of the North, it may be inferred that he belonged to the South, where his school is known to have been settled in later times. Owing to the pre-Pa?inean character of its language and other criteria, BÜhler has assigned this Dharma Sutra to about 400 B.C.

Very closely connected with this work is the Dharma Sutra of Hira?yakeÇin; for the differences between the two do not go much beyond varieties of reading. In keeping with this relationship is the tradition that Hira?yakeÇin branched off from the Apastambas and founded a new school in the Konkan country on the south-west (about Goa). The lower limit for this separation from the Apastambas is about 500 A.D., when a Hira?yakeÇin Brahman is mentioned in an inscription. The main importance of this Sutra lies in its confirming, by the parallelism of its text, the genuineness of by far the greatest part of Apastamba’s work. It forms two (26–27) of the twenty-nine chapters of the Kalpa Sutra belonging to the school of Hira?yakeÇin.

The third Dharma Sutra, generally styled a dharmaÇastra in the MSS., is that of Baudhayana. Its position, however, within the Kalpa Sutra of its school is not so fixed as in the two previous cases. Its subject-matter, when compared with that of Apastamba’s Dharma Sutra, indicates that it is the older of the two, just as the more archaic and awkward style of Baudhayana’s G?ihya Sutra shows the latter to be earlier than the corresponding work of Apastamba. The Baudhayana school cannot be traced at the present day, but it appears to have belonged to Southern India, where the famous Vedic commentator Saya?a was a member of it in the fourteenth century. The subjects dealt with in their Dharma Sutra are multifarious, including the duties of the four religious orders, the mixed castes, various kinds of sacrifice, purification, penance, auspicious ceremonies, duties of kings, criminal justice, examination of witnesses, law of inheritance and marriage, the position of women. The fourth section, which is almost entirely composed in Çlokas, is probably a modern addition, and even the third is of somewhat doubtful age.

With the above works must be classed the well-preserved law-book of Gautama. Though it does not form part of a Kalpa Sutra, it must at one time have been connected with a Vedic school; for the Gautamas are mentioned as a subdivision of the Ra?ayaniya branch of the Samaveda, and Kumarila’s statement that Gautama’s treatise originally belonged to that Veda is confirmed by the fact that its twenty-sixth section is taken word for word from the Samavidhana Brahma?a. Though entitled a Dharma Çastra, it is in style and character a regular Dharma Sutra. It is composed entirely in prose aphorisms, without any admixture of verse, as in the other works of this class. Its varied contents resemble and are treated much in the same way as those of the Dharma Sutra of Baudhayana. The latter has indeed been shown to contain passages based on or borrowed from Gautama’s work, which is therefore the oldest Dharma Sutra that has been preserved, or at least published, and can hardly date from later than about 500 B.C.

Another work of the Sutra type, and belonging to the Vedic period, is the Dharma Çastra of Vasish?ha. It has survived only in inferior MSS., and without the preserving influence of a commentary. It contains thirty chapters (adhyayas), of which the last five appear to consist for the most part of late additions. Many of the Sutras, not only here, but even in the older portions, are hopelessly corrupt. The prose aphorisms of the work are intermingled with verse, the archaic trish?ubh metre being frequently employed instead of the later Çlokas of Manu and others. The contents, which bear the Dharma Sutra stamp, produce the impression of antiquity in various respects. Thus here, as in the Dharma Sutra of Apastamba, only six forms of marriage are recognised, instead of the orthodox eight. Kumarila states that in his time Vasish?ha’s law-book, while acknowledged to have general authority, was studied by followers of the Rigveda only. That he meant the present work and no other, is proved by the quotations from it which he gives, and which are found in the published text. As Vasish?ha, in citing Vedic Sam?hitas and Sutras, shows a predilection for works belonging to the North of India, it is to be inferred that he or his school belonged to that part. Vasish?ha gives a quotation from Gautama which appears to refer to a passage in the extant text of the latter. His various quotations from Manu are derived, not from the later famous law-book, but evidently from a legal Sutra related to our Manu. On the other hand, the extant text of Manu contains a quotation from Vasish?ha which actually occurs in the published edition of the latter. Hence Vasish?ha’s work must be later than that of Gautama, and earlier than that of Manu. It is further probable that the original part of the Sutra of a school connected with the Rigveda and belonging to the North dates from a period some centuries before our era.

Some Dharma Sutras are known from quotations only, the oldest being those mentioned in other Dharma Sutras. Particular interest attaches to one of these, the Sutra of Manu, or the Manavas, because of its relationship to the famous Manava dharma-Çastra. Of the numerous quotations from it in Vasish?ha, six are found unaltered or but slightly modified in our text of Manu. One passage cited in Vasish?ha is composed partly in prose and partly in verse, the latter portion recurring in Manu. The metrical quotations show a mixture of trish?ubh and Çloka verses, like other Dharma Sutras. These quoted fragments probably represent a Manava dharma-sutra which supplied the basis of our Manava dharma-Çastra or Code of Manu.

Fragments of a legal treatise in prose and verse, attributed to the brothers Çankha and Likhita, who became proverbial for justice, have been similarly preserved. This work, which must have been extensive, and dealt with all branches of law, is already quoted as authoritative by ParaÇara. The statement of Kumarila (700 A.D.) that it was connected with the Vajasaneyin school of the White Yajurveda is borne out by the quotations from it which have survived.

Sutras need not necessarily go back to the oldest period of Indian law, as this style of composition was never entirely superseded by the use of metre. Thus there is a Vaikhanasa dharma-sutra in four praÇnas, which, as internal evidence shows, cannot be earlier than the third century A.D. It refers to the cult of Naraya?a (Vish?u), and mentions Wednesday by the name of budha-vara, “day of Mercury.” It is not a regular Dharma Sutra, for it contains nothing connected with law in the strict sense, but is only a treatise on domestic law (g?ihya-dharma). It deals with the religious duties of the four orders (aÇramas), especially with those of the forest hermit. For it is with the latter order that the Vaikhanasas, or followers of Vikhanas, are specially connected. They seem to have been one of the youngest offshoots of the Taittiriya school.

Looking back on the vast mass of ritual and usage regulated by the Sutras, we are tempted to conclude that it was entirely the conscious work of an idle priesthood, invented to enslave and maintain in spiritual servitude the minds of the Hindu people. But the progress of research tends to show that the basis even of the sacerdotal ritual of the Brahmans was popular religious observances. Otherwise it would be hard to understand how Brahmanism acquired and retained such a hold on the population of India. The originality of the Brahmans consisted in elaborating and systematising observances which they already found in existence. This they certainly succeeded in doing to an extent unknown elsewhere.

Comparative studies have shown that many ritual practices go back to the period when the Indians and Persians were still one people. Thus the sacrifice was even then the centre of a developed ceremonial, and was tended by a priestly class. Many terms of the Vedic ritual already existed then, especially soma, which was pressed, purified through a sieve, mixed with milk, and offered as the main libation. Investiture with a sacred cord was, as we have seen, also known, and was in its turn based on the still older ceremony of the initiation of youths on entering manhood. The offering of gifts to the gods in fire is Indo-European, as is shown by the agreement of the Greeks, Romans, and Indians. Indo-European also is that part of the marriage ritual in which the newly wedded couple walk round the nuptial fire, the bridegroom presenting a burnt offering and the bride an offering of grain; for among the Romans also the young pair walked round the altar from left to right before offering bread (far) in the fire. Indo-European, too, must be the practice of scattering rice or grain (as a symbol of fertility) over the bride and bridegroom, as prescribed in the Sutras; for it is widely diffused among peoples who cannot have borrowed it. Still older is the Indian ceremony of producing the sacrificial fire by the friction of two pieces of wood. Similarly the practice in the construction of the Indian fire-altar of walling up in the lowest layer of bricks the heads of five different victims, including that of a man, goes back to an ancient belief that a building can only be firmly erected when a man or an animal is buried with its foundations.

Finally, we have as a division of the Sutras, concerned with religious practice, the Çulva Sutras. The thirtieth and last praÇna of the great Kalpa Sutra of Apastamba is a treatise of this class. These are practical manuals giving the measurements necessary for the construction of the vedi, of the altars, and so forth. They show quite an advanced knowledge of geometry, and constitute the oldest Indian mathematical works.

The whole body of Vedic works composed in the Sutra style, is according to the Indian traditional view, divided into six classes called Vedangas (“members of the Veda”). These are Çiksha or phonetics; chhandas, or metre; vyakara?a, or grammar; nirukta, or etymology; kalpa, or religious practice; and jyotisha, or astronomy. The first four were meant as aids to the correct reciting and understanding of the sacred texts; the last two deal with religious rites or duties, and their proper seasons. They all have their origin in the exigencies of religion, and the last four furnish the beginnings or (in one case) the full development of five branches of science that flourished in the post-Vedic period. In the fourth and sixth group the name of the class has been applied to designate a particular work representing it.

Of kalpa we have already treated at length above. No work representing astronomy has survived from the Vedic period; for the Vedic calendar, called jyotisha, the two recensions of which profess to belong to the Rigveda and Yajurveda respectively, dates from far on in the post-Vedic age.

The Taittiriya Ara?yaka (vii. 1) already mentions Çiksha, or phonetics, a subject which even then appears to have dealt with letters, accents, quantity, pronunciation, and euphonic rules. Several works bearing the title of Çiksha have been preserved, but they are only late supplements of Vedic literature. They are short manuals containing directions for Vedic recitation and correct pronunciation. The earliest surviving results of phonetic studies are of course the Sam?hita texts of the various Vedas, which were edited in accordance with euphonic rules. A further advance was made by the constitution of the pada-pa?ha, or word-text of the Vedas, which, by resolving the euphonic combinations and giving each word (even the parts of compounds) separately, in its original form unmodified by phonetic rules, furnished a basis for all subsequent studies. Yaska, Pa?ini, and other grammarians do not always accept the analyses of the Padapa?has when they think they understand a Vedic form better. Patanjali even directly contests their authoritativeness. The treatises really representative of Vedic phonetics are the PratiÇakhyas, which are directly connected with the Sam?hita and Padapa?ha. It is their object to determine the relation of these to each other. In so doing they furnish a systematic account of Vedic euphonic combination, besides adding phonetic discussions to secure the correct recitation of the sacred texts. They are generally regarded as anterior to Pa?ini, who shows unmistakable points of contact with them. It is perhaps more correct to suppose that Pa?ini used the present PratiÇakhyas in an older form, as, whenever he touches on Vedic sandhi, he is always less complete in his statements than they are, while the PratiÇakhyas, especially that of the Atharva-veda, are dependent on the terminology of the grammarians. Four of these treatises have been preserved and published. One belongs to the Rigveda, another to the Atharva-, and two to the Yajur-veda, being attached to the Vajasaneyi and the Taittiriya Sam?hita respectively. They are so called because intended for the use of each respective branch (Çakha) of the Vedas.

The PratiÇakhya Sutra of the Rigveda is an extensive metrical work in three books, traditionally attributed to Çaunaka, the teacher of AÇvalayana; it may, however, in its present form only be a production of the school of Çaunaka. This PratiÇakhya was later epitomised, with the addition of some supplementary matter, in a short treatise entitled Upalekha. The Taittiriya PratiÇakhya is particularly interesting owing to the various peculiar names of teachers occurring among the twenty which it mentions. The Vajasaneyi PratiÇakhya, in eight chapters, names Katyayana as its author, and mentions Çaunaka among other predecessors. The Atharva-veda PratiÇakhya, in four chapters, belonging to the school of the Çaunakas, is more grammatical than the other works of this class.

Metre, to which there are many scattered references in the Brahma?as, is separately treated in a section of the Çankhayana Çrauta Sutra (7, 27), in the last three sections (pa?alas) of the Rigveda PratiÇakhya, and especially in the Nidana Sutra, which belongs to the Samaveda. A part of the Chhandah? Sutra of Pingala also deals with Vedic metres; but though it claims to be a Vedanga, it is in reality a late supplement, dealing chiefly with post-Vedic prosody, on which, indeed, it is the standard authority.

Finally, Katyayana’s two Anukrama?is or indices, mentioned below, each contains a section, varying but slightly from the other, on Vedic metres. These sections are, however, almost identical in matter with the sixteenth pa?ala of the Rigveda PratiÇakhya, and may possibly be older than the corresponding passage in the PratiÇakhya, though the latter work as a whole is doubtless anterior to the Anukrama?i.

The Padapa?has show that their authors had not only made investigations as to pronunciation and Sandhi, but already knew a good deal about the grammatical analysis of words; for they separate both the parts of compounds and the prefixes of verbs, as well as certain suffixes and terminations of nouns. They had doubtless already distinguished the four parts of speech (padajatani), though these are first mentioned by Yaska as naman, or “noun” (including sarva-naman, “representing all nouns” or “pronouns”), akhyata, “predicate,” i.e. “verb”; upasarga, “supplement,” i.e. “preposition”; nipata, “incidental addition,” i.e. “particle.” It is perhaps to the separation of these categories that the name for grammar, vyakara?a, originally referred, rather than to the analysis of words. Even the Brahma?as bear evidence of linguistic investigations, for they mention various grammatical terms, such as “letter” (var?a), “masculine” (v?ishan), “number” (vachana), “case-form” (vibhakti).Still more such references are to be found in the Ara?yakas, the Upanishads, and the Sutras. But the most important information we have of pre-Pa?inean grammar is that found in Yaska’s work.

Grammatical studies must have been cultivated to a considerable extent before Yaska’s time, for he distinguishes a Northern and an Eastern school, besides mentioning nearly twenty predecessors, among whom Çaka?ayana, Gargya, and Çakalya are the most important. By the time of Yaska grammarians had learned to distinguish clearly between the stem and the formative elements of words; recognising the personal terminations and the tense affixes of the verb on the one hand, and primary (k?it) or secondary (taddhita) nominal suffixes on the other. Yaska has an interesting discussion on the theory of Çaka?ayana, which he himself follows, that nouns are derived from verbs. Gargya and some other grammarians, he shows, admit this theory in a general way, but deny that it is applicable to all nouns. He criticises their objections, and finally dismisses them as untenable. On Çaka?ayana’s theory of the verbal origin of nouns the whole system of Pa?ini is founded. The sutra of that grammarian contains hundreds of rules dealing with Vedic forms; but these are of the nature of exceptions to the main body of his rules, which are meant to describe the Sanskrit language. His work almost entirely dominates the subsequent literature. Though belonging to the middle of the Sutra period, it must be regarded as the definite starting-point of the post-Vedic age. Coming to be regarded as an infallible authority, Pa?ini superseded all his predecessors, whose works have consequently perished. Yaska alone survives, and that only because he was not directly a grammarian; for his work represents, and alone represents, the Vedanga “etymology.”

Yaska’s Nirukta is in reality a Vedic commentary, and is older by some centuries than any other exegetical work preserved in Sanskrit. Its bases are the Nigha??us, collections of rare or obscure Vedic words, arranged for the use of teachers. Yaska had before him five such collections. The first three contain groups of synonyms, the fourth specially difficult words, and the fifth a classification of the Vedic gods. These Yaska explained for the most part in the twelve books of his commentary (to which two others were added later). In so doing he adduces as examples a large number of verses, chiefly from the Rigveda, which he interprets with many etymological remarks.

The first book is an introduction, dealing with the principles of grammar and exegesis. The second and third elucidate certain points in the synonymous nigha??us; Books IV.–VI. comment on the fourth section, and VII.–XII. on the fifth. The Nirukta, besides being very important from the point of view of exegesis and grammar, is highly interesting as the earliest specimen of Sanskrit prose of the classical type, considerably earlier than Pa?ini himself. Yaska already uses essentially the same grammatical terminology as Pa?ini, employing, for instance, the same words for root (dhatu), primary, and secondary suffixes. But he must have lived a long time before Pa?ini; for a considerable number of important grammarians’ names are mentioned between them. Yaska must, therefore, go back to the fifth century, and undoubtedly belongs to the beginning of the Sutra period.

One point of very great importance proved by the Nirukta is that the Rigveda had a very fixed form in Yaska’s time, and was essentially identical with our text. His deviations are very insignificant. Thus in one passage (X. 29. I) he reads vayÓ as one word, against va yÓ as two words in Çakalya’s Pada text. Yaska’s paraphrases show that he also occasionally differed from the Sam?hita text, though the quotations themselves from the Rigveda have been corrected so as to agree absolutely with the traditional text. But these slight variations are probably due to mistakes in the Nirukta rather than to varieties of reading in the Rigveda. There are a few insignificant deviations of this kind even in Saya?a, but they are always manifestly oversights on the part of the commentator.

To the Sutras is attached a very extensive literature of PariÇish?as or “supplements,” which seem to have existed in all the Vedic schools. They contain details on matters only touched upon in the Sutras, or supplementary information about subjects not dealt with at all by them. Thus, there is the AÇvalayana G?ihya-pariÇish?a, in four chapters, connected with the Rigveda. The Gobhila sam?graha-pariÇish?a is a compendium of G?ihya practices in general, with a special leaning towards magical rites, which came to be attached to the Samaveda. Closely related to, and probably later than this work, is the Karma-pradipa (“lamp of rites”), also variously called sama-g?ihya- or chhandogyag?ihya-pariÇish?a, chhandoga-pariÇish?a, Gobhila-sm?iti, attributed to the Katyayana of the White Yajurveda or to Gobhila. It deals with the same subjects, though independently, as the G?ihya sam?graha, with which it occasionally agrees in whole Çlokas.

Of great importance for the understanding of the sacrificial ceremonial are the Prayogas (“Manuals”) and Paddhatis (“Guides”), of which a vast number exist in manuscript. These works represent both the Çrauta and the G?ihya ritual according to the various schools. The Prayogas describe the course of each sacrifice and the functions of the different groups of priests, solely from the point of view of practical performance, while the Paddhatis rather follow the systematic accounts of the Sutras and sketch their contents. There are also versified accounts of the ritual called Karikas, which are directly attached to Sutras or to Paddhatis. The oldest of them appears to be the Karika of Kumarila (c. 700 A.D.).

Of a supplementary character are also the class of writings called Anukrama?is or Vedic Indices, which give lists of the hymns, the authors, the metres, and the deities in the order in which they occur in the various Sam?hitas. To the Rigveda belonged seven of these works, all attributed to Çaunaka, and composed in the mixture of the Çloka and trish?ubh metre, which is also found in Çaunaka’s Rigveda PratiÇakhya. There is also a General Index or Sarvanukrama?i which is attributed to Katyayana, and epitomises in the Sutra style the contents of the metrical indices. Of the metrical indices five have been preserved. The Arshanukrama?i, containing rather less than 300 Çlokas, gives a list of the Rishis or authors of the Rigveda. Its present text represents a modernised form of that which was known to the commentator Sha?guruÇishya in the twelfth century. The Chhandonukrama?i, which is of almost exactly the same length, enumerates the metres in which the hymns of the Rigveda are composed. It also states for each book the number of verses in each metre as well as the aggregate in all metres. The Anuvakanukrama?i is a short index containing only about forty verses. It states the initial words of each of the eighty-five anuvakas or lessons into which the Rigveda is divided, and the number of hymns contained in these anuvakas. It further states that the Rigveda contains 1017 hymns (or 1025 according to the Vashkala recension), 10,580–1/2 verses, 153,826 words, 432,000 syllables, besides some other statistical details. The number of verses given does not exactly tally with various calculations that have recently been made, but the differences are only slight, and may be due to the way in which certain repeated verses were counted by the author of the index.

There is another short index, known as yet only in two MSS., called the Padanukrama?i, or “index of lines” (padas), and composed in the same mixed metre as the others. The Suktanukrama?i, which has not survived, and is only known by name, probably consisted only of the initial words (pratikas) of the hymns. It probably perished because the Sarvanukrama?i would have rendered such a work superfluous. No MS. of the Devatanukrama?i or “Index of gods” exists, but ten quotations from it have been preserved by the commentator Sha?guruÇishya. It must have been superseded by the B?ihaddevata, an index of the “many gods,” a much more extensive work than any of the other Anukrama?is, as it contains about 1200 Çlokas interspersed with occasional trish?ubhs. It is divided into eight adhyayas corresponding to the ash?akas of the Rigveda. Following the order of the Rigveda, its main object is to state the deity for each verse. But as it contains a large number of illustrative myths and legends, it is of great value as an early collection of stories. It is to a considerable extent based on Yaska’s Nirukta. Besides Yaska himself and other teachers named by that scholar, it also mentions Bhaguri and AÇvalayana as well as the Nidana Sutra, A peculiarity of this work is that it refers to a number of supplementary hymns (khilas) which do not form part of the canonical text of the Rigveda.

Later, at least, than the original form of these metrical Anukrama?is, is the Sarvanukrama?i of Katyayana, which combines the data contained in them within the compass of a single work. Composed in the Sutra style, it is of considerable length, occupying about forty-six pages in the printed edition. For every hymn in the Rigveda it states the initial word or words, the number of its verses, as well as the author, the deity, and the metre, even for single verses. There is an introduction in twelve sections, nine of which form a short treatise on Vedic metres corresponding to the last three sections of the Rigveda PratiÇakhya. The author begins with the statement that he is going to supply an index of the pratikas and so forth of the Rigveda according to the authorities (yathopadeÇam), because without such knowledge the Çrauta and Smarta rites cannot be accomplished. These authorities are doubtless the metrical indices described above. For the text of the Sarvanukrama?i, which is composed in a concise Sutra style, not only contains some metrical lines (padas), but also a number of passages either directly taken from the Arshanukrama?i and the B?ihaddevata, or with their metrical wording but slightly altered. Another metrical work attributed to Çaunaka is the ?igvidhana, which describes the magical effects produced by the recitation of hymns or single verses of the Rigveda.

To the PariÇish?as of the Samaveda belong the two indices called Arsha and Daivata, enumerating respectively the Rishis and deities of the text of the Naigeya branch of the Samaveda. They quote Yaska, Çaunaka, and AÇvalayana among others. There are also two Anukrama?is attached to the Black Yajurveda. That of the Atreya school consists of two parts, the first of which is in prose, and the second in Çlokas. It contains little more than an enumeration of names referring to the contents of its Sam?hita. The Anukrama?i of the Charaya?iya school of the Ka?haka is an index of the authors of the various sections and verses. Its statements regarding passages derived from the Rigveda differ much from those of the Sarvanukrama?i of the Rigveda, giving a number of totally new names. It claims to be the work of Atri, who communicated it to Laugakshi. The Anukrama?i of the White Yajurveda in the Madhyam?dina recension, attributed to Katyayana, consists of five sections. The first four are an index of authors, deities, and metres. The authors of verses taken from the Rigveda generally agree with those in the Sarvanukrama?i. There are, however, a good many exceptions, several new names belonging to a later period, some even to that of the Çatapatha Brahma?a. The fifth section gives a summary account of the metres occurring in the text. It is identical with the corresponding portion of the introduction to the Sarvanukrama?i, which was probably the original position of the section. There are many other PariÇish?as of the White Yajurveda, all attributed to Katyayana. Only three of these need be mentioned here. The Nigama-pariÇish?a, a glossary of synonymous words occurring in the White Yajurveda, has a lexicographical interest. The Pravaradhyaya, or “Chapter on Ancestors,” is a list of Brahman families drawn up for the purpose of determining the forbidden degrees of relationship in marriage, and of indicating the priests suitable for the performance of sacrifice. The Chara?a-vyuha, or “Exposition of the Schools” of the various Vedas, is a very late work of little importance, giving a far less complete enumeration of the Vedic schools than certain sections of the Vish?u- and the Vayu-Pura?a. There is also a Chara?a-vyuha among the PariÇish?as of the Atharva-veda, which number upwards of seventy. This work makes the statement that the Atharva contains 2000 hymns and 12,380 verses.

In concluding this account of Vedic literature, I cannot omit to say a few words about Saya?a, the great mediÆval Vedic scholar, to whom or to whose initiation we owe a number of valuable commentaries on the Rigveda, the Aitareya Brahma?a and Ara?yaka, as well as the Taittiriya Sam?hita, Brahma?a, and Ara?yaka, besides a number of other works. His comments on the two Sam?hitas would appear to have been only partially composed by himself and to have been completed by his pupils. He died in 1387, having written his works under Bukka I. (1350–79), whose teacher and minister he calls himself, and his successor, Harihara (1379–99). These princes belonged to a family which, throwing off the Muhammadan yoke in the earlier half of the fourteenth century, founded the dynasty of Vijayanagara (“city of victory”), now Hampi, on the Tungabhadra, in the Bellary district. Saya?a’s elder brother, Madhava, was minister of King Bukka, and died as abbot of the monastery of Ç?ingeri, under the name of Vidyara?yasvamin. Not only did he too produce works of his own, but Saya?a’s commentaries, as composed under his patronage, were dedicated to him as madhaviya, or (“influenced by Madhava”). By an interesting coincidence Professor Max MÜller’s second edition of the Rigveda, with the commentary of Saya?a, was brought out under the auspices of a Maharaja of Vijayanagara. The latter city has, however, nothing to do with that from which King Bukka derived his title.