A History of Sanskrit Literature Part 16

To the Rigveda belong the crauta manuals of two Sutra schools (charanas), the cankhayanas and the Acvalayanas, the former of whom were in later times settled in Northern Gujarat, the latter in the South between the G.o.davari and the Krishna. 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 cankhayana crauta Sutra. The latter, which is closely connected with the cankhayana Brahmana, 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 Brahmanas. It consists of eighteen books, the last two of which were added later, and correspond to the first two books of the Kaus.h.i.taki Aranyaka. The crauta Sutra of Acvalayana, which consists of twelve books, is related to the Aitareya Brahmana. Acvalayana is also known as the author of the fourth book of the Aitareya Aranyaka, and was according to tradition the pupil of caunaka.

Three crauta Sutras to the Samaveda have been preserved. The oldest, that of Macaka, 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 Panchavimca Brahmana. The crauta Sutra composed by Latyayana, became the accepted manual of the Kauthuma school. This Sutra, like that of Macaka, which it quotes, is closely connected with the Panchavimca Brahmana. The crauta Sutra of Drahyayana, which differs but little from that of Latyayana, belongs to the Ranayaniya branch of the Samaveda.

To the White Yajurveda belongs the crauta Sutra of Katyayana. This manual, which consists of twenty-six chapters, on the whole strictly follows the sacrificial order of the catapatha Brahmana. 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 crauta 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 cakha, which represented the later sutra schools (charanas) not claiming a special revelation of Veda or Brahmana. The crauta Sutra of Apastamba forms the first twenty-four of the thirty chapters (pracnas) into which his Kalpa Sutra is divided; and that of Hiranyakecin, 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 Maitrayani Samhita is the Manava crauta Sutra. It belongs to the Manavas, who were a subdivision of the Maitrayaniyas, 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 Brahmana 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 crauta Sutra attached to the Black Yajurveda, but it is known only in a few MSS.

The crauta 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 crauta Sutras. It agrees to a considerable extent with the Gopatha Brahmana, 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 Grihya regularly presupposes the crauta Sutra, the Vaitana is dependent on the domestic sutra of the Atharva-veda.

Though the crauta 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 gra.s.s for the reception of offerings to the G.o.ds. 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 crauta 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 cla.s.sed 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 (darcapurna-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 Agnishtoma ("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 cla.s.s, 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 ma.s.s of detail, where the smallest of minutiae 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 Brahmanas, the authors of the Grihya Sutras had only the authority of popular tradition to rely on when they systematised the observances of daily life. As a type, the Grihya manuals must be somewhat later than the crauta, for they regularly presuppose a knowledge of the latter.

To the Rigveda belongs in the first place the cankhayana Grihya 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 cambavya Grihya, which also belongs to the school of the Kaus.h.i.takins, and is as yet known only in ma.n.u.script. Though borrowing largely from cankhayana, 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 Brahmana is the Grihya Sutra of Acvalayana, which its author in the first aphorism gives us to understand is a continuation of his crauta Sutra. It consists of four books, and, like the latter work, ends with the words "adoration to caunaka."

The chief Grihya Sutra of the Samaveda is that of Gobhila, which is one of the oldest, completest, and most interesting works of this cla.s.s. Its seems to have been used by both the schools of its Veda. Besides the text of the Samaveda it presupposes the Mantra Brahmana. 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 Grihya Sutra of Khadira, belonging to the Drahyayana school and used by the Ranayaniya branch of the Samaveda, is little more than Gobhila remodelled in a more succinct form.

The Grihya Sutra of the White Yajurveda is that of Paraskara, also called the Katiya or Vajasaneya Grihya Sutra. It is so closely connected with the crauta 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 Grihya Sutras of the Black Yajurveda only three have as yet been published. The Grihya of Apastamba forms two books (26-27) of his Kalpa Sutra. The first of these two books is the Mantrapatha, which is a collection of the formulas accompanying the ceremonies. The Grihya Sutra, in the strict sense, is the second book, which presupposes the Mantrapatha. Books XIX. and XX. of Hiranyakecin's Kalpa Sutra form his Grihya Sutra. About Baudhayana's Grihya not much is known, still less about that of Bharadvaja. The Manava Grihya Sutra is closely connected with the crauta, repeating many of the statements of the latter verbally. It is interesting as containing a ceremony unknown to other Grihya Sutras, the worship of the Vinayakas. The pa.s.sage reappears in a versified form in Yajnavalkya's law-book, where the four Vinayakas are transformed into the one Vinayaka, the G.o.d Ganeca. With the Manava is clearly connected the Kathaka Grihya Sutra, not only in the principle of its arrangement, but even in the wording of many pa.s.sages. It is nearly related to the law-book of Vishnu. The Vaikhanasa Grihya 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 Kaucika Sutra. It is not a mere Grihya 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 Grihya 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 crauta Sutras. They describe forty consecrations or sacraments (samskaras) 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 Grihya ceremonies, the rest belonging to the crauta ritual.

The first of the sacraments is the pumsavana 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-karana) 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 -carman, for a Kshatriya in -varman, and a Vaicya in -gupta. Generally in the third year takes place the ceremony of tonsure (chuda-karana), 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 Vaicya. 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 invest.i.ture 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 princ.i.p.al 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 G.o.d 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-naya, "leading round"--and the newly kindled domestic fire was to accompany the couple throughout life. Offerings are made to it and Vedic formulas p.r.o.nounced. 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 Samskaras are still practised in India, invest.i.ture 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 G.o.ds (deva-yajna) of melted b.u.t.ter in fire (homa); the libation (tarpana) to the Manes (pitri-yajna); offerings (called bali) deposited in various places on the ground to demons and all beings (bhuta-yajna); and the sacrifice to men (ma.n.u.shya-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 Grihya ritual, a baked offering (paka-yajna) is made, while, according to the crauta ceremony, cakes (purodaca) 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 Grihya Sutras deal is that of funeral rites (antyeshti) 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 Vaicya 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 gra.s.sy 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 craddha, or "offering given with faith" (craddha), of which it is the special object (ekoddishta), 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 sapinda ("united by the funeral cake"). After the lapse of a year or more another elaborate ceremony (called pitri-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 craddhas, which take place at fixed periods, such as that on the day of new moon (parvana craddha), 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 craddha.

From all these offerings of the Grihya ritual are to be distinguished the two regular sacrifices of the crauta ritual, the one called Pinda-pitri-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 craddha-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 Grihya Sutras, ill.u.s.trating 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 Smriti, 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 (cakha) 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 cla.s.ses. 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-Paninean character of its language and other criteria, Buhler has a.s.signed this Dharma Sutra to about 400 B.C.

Very closely connected with this work is the Dharma Sutra of Hiranyakecin; for the differences between the two do not go much beyond varieties of reading. In keeping with this relationship is the tradition that Hiranyakecin 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 Hiranyakecin 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 Hiranyakecin.

The third Dharma Sutra, generally styled a dharmacastra 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 Grihya 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 Sayana 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 clokas, is probably a modern addition, and even the third is of somewhat doubtful age.

With the above works must be cla.s.sed 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 Ranayaniya branch of the Samaveda, and k.u.marila'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 Brahmana. Though ent.i.tled a Dharma castra, 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 cla.s.s. 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 pa.s.sages 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 castra of Vasishtha. 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 trishtubh metre being frequently employed instead of the later clokas 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. k.u.marila states that in his time Vasishtha'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 Vasishtha, in citing Vedic Samhitas 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. Vasishtha gives a quotation from Gautama which appears to refer to a pa.s.sage 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 Vasishtha which actually occurs in the published edition of the latter. Hence Vasishtha'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-castra. Of the numerous quotations from it in Vasishtha, six are found unaltered or but slightly modified in our text of Manu. One pa.s.sage cited in Vasishtha is composed partly in prose and partly in verse, the latter portion recurring in Manu. The metrical quotations show a mixture of trishtubh and cloka verses, like other Dharma Sutras. These quoted fragments probably represent a Manava dharma-sutra which supplied the basis of our Manava dharma-castra or Code of Manu.

Fragments of a legal treatise in prose and verse, attributed to the brothers cankha 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 Paracara. The statement of k.u.marila (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 pracnas, which, as internal evidence shows, cannot be earlier than the third century A.D. It refers to the cult of Narayana (Vishnu), 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 (grihya-dharma). It deals with the religious duties of the four orders (acramas), 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 ma.s.s 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 cla.s.s. 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. Invest.i.ture 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 G.o.ds 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 culva Sutras. The thirtieth and last pracna of the great Kalpa Sutra of Apastamba is a treatise of this cla.s.s. 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 const.i.tute 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 cla.s.ses called Vedangas ("members of the Veda"). These are ciksha or phonetics; chhandas, or metre; vyakarana, 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 cla.s.s 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 Aranyaka (vii. 1) already mentions ciksha, or phonetics, a subject which even then appears to have dealt with letters, accents, quant.i.ty, p.r.o.nunciation, and euphonic rules. Several works bearing the t.i.tle of ciksha have been preserved, but they are only late supplements of Vedic literature. They are short manuals containing directions for Vedic recitation and correct p.r.o.nunciation. The earliest surviving results of phonetic studies are of course the Samhita texts of the various Vedas, which were edited in accordance with euphonic rules. A further advance was made by the const.i.tution of the pada-patha, 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, Panini, and other grammarians do not always accept the a.n.a.lyses of the Padapathas when they think they understand a Vedic form better. Patanjali even directly contests their authoritativeness. The treatises really representative of Vedic phonetics are the Praticakhyas, which are directly connected with the Samhita and Padapatha. 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 Panini, who shows unmistakable points of contact with them. It is perhaps more correct to suppose that Panini used the present Praticakhyas in an older form, as, whenever he touches on Vedic sandhi, he is always less complete in his statements than they are, while the Praticakhyas, 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 Samhita respectively. They are so called because intended for the use of each respective branch (cakha) of the Vedas.

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

Metre, to which there are many scattered references in the Brahmanas, is separately treated in a section of the cankhayana crauta Sutra (7, 27), in the last three sections (patalas) of the Rigveda Praticakhya, 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 Anukramanis 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 patala of the Rigveda Praticakhya, and may possibly be older than the corresponding pa.s.sage in the Praticakhya, though the latter work as a whole is doubtless anterior to the Anukramani.

The Padapathas show that their authors had not only made investigations as to p.r.o.nunciation and Sandhi, but already knew a good deal about the grammatical a.n.a.lysis 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 "p.r.o.nouns"), akhyata, "predicate," i.e. "verb"; upasarga, "supplement," i.e. "preposition"; nipata, "incidental addition,"