its texts, though the classical/medieval tradition assigns them to a separate cat-
egory, the Smr.ti texts. Indeed, the older ones among them (BS ́S, Va ̄dhS ́S, etc.) are
still composed in late Br. language. The Su ̄tras are descriptive and prescriptive
texts that deal systematically, in the proper order of ritual procedure, with the
solemn ritual (S ́rauta Su ̄tra), with the domestic rituals (Gr.hya Su ̄tra), and with
the rules of proper behavior as a Veda student or as householder (Dharma Su ̄tra).
(There also are various later additions to all Vedic texts, Paris ́is.t.a.)
The older Su ̄tras such as BS ́S, Va ̄dhS ́S explain the complicated ritual step-
by-step and at great length, in clear prose and by quoting the Mantras in extenso.
Even if a ritual that is described later in the text is built out of ritual blocks
described earlier, these older Su ̄tras still describe such complex rituals in extenso.
Later Su ̄tras make increasing use of the referring technique which points back
to earlier parts of the text by quotation (“as said earlier”) and of using just the
initial words of a Mantra (pratı ̄ka). The later texts use shorter and shorter
(nominal) clauses, a technique seen in its apogee in Pa ̄n.ini’s grammatical Su ̄ tras,
the As.t.a ̄dhya ̄yı ̄.
The most important Su ̄tras include the early BaudhS ́S and Va ̄dhS ́S, the some-
what later A ̄pS ́S (with many quotations from other texts), all of the YV; the early
KS ́S of the RV, the LS ́S and JS ́S of the SV, and the rather late VaitS of the AV. The
S ́S of the White YV, the late KS ́S is the one most developed one along the lines
described above.
The contents of the S ́rautasu ̄tras follow, by and large, the scheme first set out
in the Mantra collection of the Yajurveda Sam.hita ̄s, and the individual rules
follow those of the Bra ̄hman.a style texts (Tsuji 1952).
The Gr.hyasu ̄tras
The Gr.hya Su ̄ tras (GS) often form part of, or actually are, an appendix to the
S ́rauta Su ̄ tras, and some of them refer back to ritual details described earlier in
the same text or even in the S ́rauta Su ̄ tra. Their contents, however, often are very
old. Some of the rites of passage (sam.ska ̄ra, Pandey 1957, P. V. Kane 1930–62,
Gonda 1980a), such as burial and marriage, have been described already in the
RV and AV, and some of the details may in fact go back even to the Indo-
European period, for example the offering of three meat balls (later, made of rice)
in the anniversary rituals (s ́ra ̄ddha) for one’s three immediate ancestors
(Schrader 1919), or the cult of the fire, or the marriage ceremony; other items,
such as the initiation of the student by a girdle, are of Indo-Iranian age (Avest.
aißiia ̄
.
hana, Ved. mekhala ̄).
By and large, the GS deal with the rites of passage form birth to death (Stenzler
1864, Hillebrandt 1897, Apte 1939, transl. Oldenberg 1886/1892), or rather,
from one’s conception to one’s dissolution in the vague group of ancestors (pitr.).
The GS thus are a cyclical set of rituals variously arranged as starting with mar-
riage, with initiation to Veda study (upanayana), or even with pregnancy.
Nvedas and upanis.ads 87